New Mulberry Trees

[Tom]

I spent a few hours today planting a couple of new mulberry trees in one of my leopard tortoise enclosures. My biggest fear is that the gophers will tunnel in, destroy the roots and all my hard work will have been for nothing. The man at the nursery told me that the gophers don't like wild garlic or rosemary, so I planted two rosemary and two garlic plants around each of the new trees to see if it works.

Check it out:

 

[BrianWI]

What type of mulberry?

 

[Tom]

What type of mulberry?

It was labeled Morus alba. Fruitless variety. They grow really well here and provide lots of much needed shade in summer, but they drop their leaves so the torts can get full sun in winter. Some people describe their growth as like a "bad weed". The leaves are great tortoise food too.

My main problem is keeping the pocket gophers from killing them. Its war on gophers here 24/7/365.

 

[Anyfoot]

Do you manage to grow wild garlic there Tom with success. Where ever I get it from it grows in the shade and very moist ground. Usually dense woodlands, and it carpets the woodland floor. Grows like wildfire.
Love to see some photos of these gophers some time. Not something I'm familiar with.

 

[Tom]

Do you manage to grow wild garlic there Tom with success. Where ever I get it from it grows in the shade and very moist ground. Usually dense woodlands, and it carpets the woodland floor. Grows like wildfire.
Love to see some photos of these gophers some time. Not something I'm familiar with.

This will be my first time trying to grow the garlic. The nursery is just down the street from me, and they grow and propagate it there, so I think it will work. I'll know in a few weeks, I suppose.

I kill the gophers and put them in the freezer to feed to reptiles later on. It never occurred to me to take their picture… I'm sure you can look them up on an internet search.

Here is an old thread from a few years ago showing my ongoing war with the gophers:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/gophers-last-day.22814/

 

[Anyfoot]

If you struggle with the garlic, I'll bet it thrives once the mulberry has cast shade. I'll check on your war with gophers.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Do you use any type of fertilizer or anything?
I planted a dwarf black Mulberry last year and although it looks healthy, it does not thrive or make fruit.
It looks exactly the same.
Not growing at all.
It's about 5' tall and skinny with limp, pencil thin branches.

 

[dmmj]

good call on the non fruiting variety those things make a mess and attract birds and their waste

 

[bouaboua]

BEST luck on the gophers.

 

[Tom]

Do you use any type of fertilizer or anything?
I planted a dwarf black Mulberry last year and although it looks healthy, it does not thrive or make fruit.
It looks exactly the same.
Not growing at all.
It's about 5' tall and skinny with limp, pencil thin branches.

I've tried it with fertilizer in the hole and without. It doesn't seem like it makes any difference and they guy who sold me the trees said its not necessary.

I think it is like anything else I plant. Some plants just thrive and make it, while other either barely hang on, or die, even when everything seems the same. My cactus stands do this too. I'll grab pads off the same parent plant and stick them in the same dirt near each other and one will take off and sprout, while the other just sits there not doing much. Its a mystery that I don't have an answer to. I just plants lots of stuff, take good care of it, and hope for the best.

 

[BrianWI]

It was labeled Morus alba. Fruitless variety. They grow really well here and provide lots of much needed shade in summer, but they drop their leaves so the torts can get full sun in winter. Some people describe their growth as like a "bad weed". The leaves are great tortoise food too.

My main problem is keeping the pocket gophers from killing them. Its war on gophers here 24/7/365.

We have Morus alba here, the white mulberry. It is an invasive. They are extremely common, but they aren't fruitless. They put out a ton. Someone must have developed a fruitless variety.

Here I battle rabbits. There are probably 100 of them in the acre around my outbuildings right now.

 

[Pearly]

Do you use any type of fertilizer or anything?
I planted a dwarf black Mulberry last year and although it looks healthy, it does not thrive or make fruit.
It looks exactly the same.
Not growing at all.
It's about 5' tall and skinny with limp, pencil thin branches.

Ed if your garden soil is anything like my Mom's... I doubt anything other than tropicals will grow/thrive there. Unless you commited yourself to constant soil ammending with loads and loads of compost. And I mean: LOADS!!! My Mom's garden soil is like digging into a sand mixed with ashes! And she has automatic sprinklers, and pretty St Augustine lawn growing front and back, gorgeous tropical palm trees, shrubs and perennials. There are few annuals that have proven to grant seasonal color... So things do grow! And grow well. But... Any plant needing some winter chill or heavier/stickier soil... will not grow unless you put lots of effort into it

 

[Tom]

We have Morus alba here, the white mulberry. It is an invasive. They are extremely common, but they aren't fruitless. They put out a ton. Someone must have developed a fruitless variety.

Here I battle rabbits. There are probably 100 of them in the acre around my outbuildings right now.

We have cotton tails here in numbers too. I trap those and feed them to the birds of prey. The grounds squirrels are a problem to. Pound for pound, ground squirrels are one of the toughest animals alive. I feed them to the bigger snakes and gators.

 

[BrianWI]

We have cotton tails here in numbers too. I trap those and feed them to the birds of prey. The grounds squirrels are a problem to. Pound for pound, ground squirrels are one of the toughest animals alive. I feed them to the bigger snakes and gators.

I trap em, get tons. I feed them to me. But I miss enough that the next year there are more. They have killed a lot of my trees.

 

[Tom]

I trap em, get tons. I feed them to me. But I miss enough that the next year there are more. They have killed a lot of my trees.

I have a friend that grew up in TX and ate lots of rabbit as a kid. He keeps promising to make me some and cook it up right, but no luck yet. How is it? Any special way to cook it?

 

[BrianWI]

I like Shake N Bake rabbit.

 

[alex_ornelas]

Try egg shells on the floor I know it wards off snails might do the same

 

[Oxalis]

Nice mulberry trees! Good luck with the local troublemakers. We have rabbits in our yard, but they can't get into the tort garden so at least Steve's plants are safe. They eat everything though, and I mean everything! In Steve's enclosure, I just this spring planted a small, ornamental Morus rubra (red mulberry) shrub, which is supposed to be fruitless, so I'm hoping it really takes off next year. It's still tiny so I figure it's growing more roots in its first year. Steve tried a leaf and seemed pleased so I think it will be a good addition. I just love your enclosure photos, @Tom!! Also, thanks for posting the link to the "Gophers Last Day" thread; nicely done!

 

[BrianWI]

Do you use any type of fertilizer or anything?
I planted a dwarf black Mulberry last year and although it looks healthy, it does not thrive or make fruit.
It looks exactly the same.
Not growing at all.
It's about 5' tall and skinny with limp, pencil thin branches.

Sometimes a good hard pruning will kick them into gear.

 

[Tom]

Nice mulberry trees! Good luck with the local troublemakers. We have rabbits in our yard, but they can't get into the tort garden so at least Steve's plants are safe. They eat everything though, and I mean everything! In Steve's enclosure, I just this spring planted a small, ornamental Morus rubra (red mulberry) shrub, which is supposed to be fruitless, so I'm hoping it really takes off next year. It's still tiny so I figure it's growing more roots in its first year. Steve tried a leaf and seemed pleased so I think it will be a good addition. I just love your enclosure photos, @Tom!! Also, thanks for posting the link to the "Gophers Last Day" thread; nicely done!

I enjoy seeing other people's enclosures and ideas. I'm frequently inspired and get lots of neat ideas from them. Hoping to return the favor in some way.

As fun as it was blowing up half the yard, the little SOB survived! I tried to blow him up again two days after that video and failed again. I finally discovered the "Black Box" gopher trap and had the little varmint dead in my freezer within 15 minutes of deploying "The Black Box". I defrosted him and fed him to a particularly mean snake, just to punish him some more for tearing up my yard.