Red Mulberry: Cornfed Edition

[cornfed]

I found this Red Mulberry, or Morus Rubra, on my very first yamadori expedition. On April 2nd I walked a wooded area that is known to deer on our family farm. As a first excursion, it was as much about learning as it was about finding perfect bonsai specimens.

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Take lesson no. 1... take a photo before you dig up a tree! I sadly forgot to do that, but here is the potted tree.

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And lesson no. 2... this takes all day. I returned home in the late afternoon and began potting five trees I acquired, but the familial pressures were mounting up as I was gone most the day and dinner approached. As I was in a rush, I didn't even take a photo of the root system.

I potted it in a mix of about 80% sifted pine bark with #2 Grit and a touch of sphagnum peat fines. I am guessing the tree is a mulberry due to the orangish tint of the root.

Lesson no. 3 was to not leave a tree that looks like a branch on the ground, as my dog can't tell the difference. The more vertical branch was a casualty of this lesson.

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This one was much slower to bud than the other trees on my bench. On May 2nd, the buds began to show more drastic signs of life. It just might make it...

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[cornfed]

 

[ochong]

Good stuff. I had to cut down a 40yr old mulberry earlier this year, but I found a small white mulberry hiding in the edges of some rhododendron that looks worth keeping. I think i might have noticed a smaller one nearby as I was mowing this evening. Projects this weekend!

 

[cornfed]

I hear they are fast growing and hardy. I've heard nothing but good things about Mulberry as bonsai. Plus... It reminds me of my mulberry tree growing up in the farm.

My brother has one in his yard, I'm gonna air layer the s#*/ out of it.

 

[cornfed]

She's really going now!

 

[cornfed]

126 days after collection, this mulberry was getting a little unruly. I've been giving it a weekly dose of 20-20-20 liquid fertilizer. Temps have been high, 80-90F. It has been on a bench with full sun from 10am - 4 pm.

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I gave it a trim today. I noticed some leaves yellowing and figured maybe there is too much competition for light in there. I selected strong branches in places I thought I might like to have a branch someday.

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46 days left until fall.

 

[cornfed]

While most of the trees from my optimistic 2021 noob tree journals have since moved on, this mulberry is still kicking! (at least I think it is).

While I put it in this training pot last year, I am going to repot it again this year into better soil. I have some Akadama now, where I didn't before.

Or should I throw it into a 5-gallon pot with pinebark substrate so it can grow more?

I don't know, do you have an opinion on where to go from here?