Success Rates for Rooting Mulberries

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We propagate mulberry trees to plant in our orchard and to sell locally. Since rooting success of mulberries can vary greatly between cultivars, we thought it would be useful to share both our success and failures.

Our data below is not scientific and we have experienced failure where many others have success, but we hope the information below will help you decide whether to root or graft. As we collect more data, we will update the list.

In general we root our mulberries in a peat/perlite mix in 9" tall pots. We use rooting hormone and wrap the exposed top in parafilm for humidity control. Put on bottom heat for two weeks without light. Attempts noted with an asterisk (*) indicate up to four weeks without light.

To learn more about what we are doing with Mulberries, please visit our Mulberry Talk series on YouTube.

And to see what mulberry cuttings we have available, follow the links below or visit our mulberry cutting page.

UPDATE: We are done with propagation for winter 2022/2023!  Our biggest lesson learned this year was to double the amount that our cuttings were in darkness. Instead of just two weeks, we extended the time without direct light to almost four weeks. Using this strategy we saw dramatic improvements in rooting success for Kip Parker and Illinois Everbearing. We will definitely be extending darkness across the board next year. 

Have a great summer!  See you later this autumn!

Mulberry (Attempts) Success Progress Videos
Australian Green (3) 0%
Australian (12) 67% 4wks, 8wks
Beautiful Day (9) 11%
Big Red (15) 53% 4wks, 8wks
Boysenberry (6) 100% 4wks, 8wks
Black Prince (13) 15% 4wks, 8wks
Buluklu (10) 80% 4wks, 8wks
Callie's Delight (9) 22% 4wks, 8wks
Contorted (0)
David Smith (9) 11% 4wks, 8wks
Delight (6) 33% 4wks, 8wks
Dwarf Everbearing (12) 75% 4wks, 8wks
Early Bird (2) 0%
Easter Egg (10) 30% 4wks, 8wks
Exotica (5) 40% 4wks, 8wks
Firm Red (10) 70% 4wks, 4wks
Florida Giant (6) 50% 4wks, 8wks
Four Seasons (9) 22%
French Syrian (12) 58% 4wks, 8wks
Galicija (15) 60% 4wks, 8wks
Gerardi (10) 0%
Grover's Best (9) 100% 4wks, 8wks
Hick's Everbearing (4) 100% 4wks, 8wks
Hunza Black (4) 25%
Illinois Everbear. (22) 9%
Illinois Everbear.* (15) 80% 4wks, 8wks
Issai Dwarf (14) 93% 4wks, 8wks
Italian (8) 13% 4wks, 8wks
Jan's Best (12) 83% 4wks, 8wks
Kip Parker (14) 21% 4wks, 8wks
Kip Parker* (9) 89% 4wks, 8wks
Kokuso (4) 75% 4wks, 8wks
Lakeland (9) 67% 4wks, 8wks
Lebanese Heart (8) 88% 4wks, 8wks
Lawson Dawson* (5) 20% 4wks, 8wks
Long Red (10) 40%
Madhava* (4) 50% 4wks, 8wks
Maple Leaf (14) 86% 4wks, 8wks
Maui (25) 96% 4wks, 8wks
Middleton (8) 88% 4wks, 8wks
Miss Kim (18) 44% 4wks, 8wks
Northrop (0)
Oscar (14) 71% 4wks, 8wks
Pakistan (9) 78%
Pandora's Box (2) 0% 4wks, 8wks
Paradise (5) 100% 4wks, 8wks
River View Russian (0)
Riviera (12) 92% 4wks, 8wks
Rupp's Romanian (16) 31% 4wks , 8wks
San Martin (14) 14% 4wks, 8wks
Shangri La (9) 67% 4wks, 8wks
Shelli (10) 100% 4wks, 8wks
Silk Hope (7) 0%
Sophie's Fave (6) 17%
Sweet Delicious (5) 20% 4wks, 8wks
Tehama (8) 88% 4wks, 8wks
Thai Dwarf (14) 100% 4wks, 8wks
Thomson (4) 0%
Tice (18) 44% 4wks, 8wks
Valdosta (8) 25% 4wks, 8wks
Varaha* (4) 50% 4wks, 8wks
Wacissa (6) 0%
Weeping (4) 0%
Wellington (5) 0%
White Persian (6) 0%
Wonder Berry* (5) 40%* 4wks, 8wks
World's Best (30) 80% 4wks, 8wks