The I E mulberries I manage at different sites often succumb to a canker disease I have yet to identify. The condition is so wide spread, I'm thinking others must have similar issues- at least on the East Coast. It can be fatal but takes a while. It may always be fatal, actually. The cankers don't ooze or show any clear signs of fungal activity. At first there are discolored splits in the bark and then branches start to die off. Couldn't find anything similar in the Sinclair, Lyon and Johnson tomb.

Kill it!? I will do no such thing! As I said I find it to be a lovely tree with a tropical feel to it, and one of the few trees remaining after they cleared the woods; it offers a bit of privacy. And unlike the pesky maples and stalks growing up through my fence and into my yard, it seems content to stay on the edge there for the past few years at least (been here 12 years, just now noticed it). Why on Earth would I try to kill it? (Hell, even if I wanted to, I'm far too lazy.) And I don't really care if it feeds the birds or not -- they have plenty of dogwoods, poison ivy, blackberries, field corn, and as I've discovered, mulberries for that. Just because it supposedly doesn't do something for birds, does not make it a "waste" tree! Just because anything does not conform to your wishes or desires does not make it a "waste" organism! That's entirely the wrong attitude to have, no offense. I digress, I don't think it's a Tree of Heaven anyways. I looked up pictures of both Tree of Heaven and sumac and they look so close as to be in the same family, perhaps the same genus, but I've not the time to look into it. Tree of Heaven looks to have spurs at the base of the leaves and the leaves of this tree are smooth. I was thinking it might be a staghorn sumac, but actually smooth sumac looks closer. I might have to wait til fall to figure it out, and then research how to propagate it. Since this forum sucks at resizing pics, here's some on photobucket (click to embiggen) : Assuming that's poison oak growing up it. Provides a nice screening effect but it might need to go if it interferes with my tree. They certainly do seem to be mulberry *trees*. Funny, I heard of mulberry bushes but not mulberry trees before. This is an excellent discovery; I can use some of the leaves to grow tomato hornworms! I was thinking about buying a mulberry and then I find two barely on the edge of the property, what luck! I just wonder howmany the killed when they tore up the trees. Neat how the leaves change shape/ are asymmetrical as you go up the stem; that's really different from a lot of plants: Still dunno what this thing is: I have to admit it's pretty in it's own way with the splotchy leaves like that, but it's invading my personal space a tad too much. Someone said to dig it up? CBA with that; too much like work and far too much of it. Like I said, it went crazy after they cut the trees down; I guess the trees were out-competing it / shading it out. It runs the length of the fence with a big ole stand of it at the edge of the farmer's field which is creeping into my yard. I figure I'll just chop it down and throw it on a compost heap if I start one (as long as it's not in seed, I'm guessing). And the entire time I was taking pictures a bird was chattering raucously above me. Figured I pissed it off somehow, then I caught of a bit of movement: 99% sure it's a fledgling oriole; he was hopping from branch to branch. Only caught glimpses of the dad as he flitted about; hard to take pics of him with the light behind him.

Hard to tell from pictures, but as just a general thing...I used to hate to cut down existing trees when I bought a new house. But over the years that has changed. My new rule is to not let myself be stuck with a previous owner's design unless of course it was a good design I wanted to keep and it was well executed. Nursing plants/trees back to health is not easy and I've had little success. I mean they are what they are and a plant that's had a rough life for many years is never going to be a prize. Spending a bunch of time and effort working a design around a poor plant, nursing it, and it never looks great. Meanwhile the rest of the yard starts looking great and now the poorly looking plant looks even worst. After having gone thru that a few times I'm much more likely to remove the plant right away. Sometimes I cut them down right away just so I won't be tempted. Unless you really want a mulberry in that spot I'd remove it. If you want a mulberry but in a different spot I'd plant another. They grow fast with a lot of water. If the new design isn't to be started for a few years, or will be done in phases, then no harm keeping the trees and practicing on them.

I see a lot of both types of the black cane Ann talks about, but usually under different circumstances. The black canes at the end of winter is just something we in cold zones put up with, and I do fairly ruthless pruning in late March to get rid of any suspect canes. This sounds like what you have JJ, and it doesn't have to be anything special to cause this blackening, just normal winter damage. This means a lot of my roses get pruned to the ground, and it can take until now or even early June for new growth to pop up from the roots (presuming an own-root plant). If you need the space, you can shovel prune, but I don't assume any rose is dead till I do the official "death march" some time in June and pull their tags. There shouldn't be any problem with the soil and replanting there, at least in the US, since this is a function of the canes themselves. The other type of rapid moving canker is obviously more vicious, and I see it mostly in bare root or potted roses in their first year. If they come in with the slightest bit of black on the ends, that black seems to grow till the entire cane dies no matter what I do, and the survival depends on if it can grow its own canes to replace these or not. This is a particularly bad year for what I call "the Black Finger of Death", since both Regans and Edmunds roses came with pretty extensive canker to start with, though both companies have said they'll replace what dies, particularly nicely stated from Regans. Michael has speculated this might be a form of verticilium wilt, among other possibilities, but the solution is the same. Prune below the canker, sterilize the pruners, and be very very vigilant throughout the summer. BTW, the epsom salts were a good idea but didn't seem to make a difference, particularly if they start at such a disadvantage. Cynthia