That graft union looks EXACTLY like every other grafted Morus nigra I've seen, so listen to lucky, and don't cut below that! Your rootstock is probably a seedling Morus alba... I still don't understand why they don't just graft these things really low for a nice bushy plant, that way the ugly graft union would be hidden, and the plant would make for very easy picking as well. I guess they're assuming everybody wants a tree-shaped mulberry, and a tall Morus alba rootstock is the only quick way to achieve that! Don't know why some buds stayed 'dormant' last growing season, hopefully you will get better growth this year! And don't worry too much about the shape, it will develop nicely over time with some pruning here and there. Those make nice thick, full plants.

This is j0nd03. I can't log in with my old username for some reason. Toro, your tree is looking might happy! Mine has actually flowered the last two years but did not bear fruit so I guess it is a male. I have four other blackgums planted on the property so hopefully at least one of them gives me some babies in the future!

Agree with ken - wait until spring. You can check viability before it leafs out by scratching the bark with a thumbnail and if it is green under the bark, it should grow. If not, deadwood. hortster

I figured out how some of the plants got lifted. I pulled a chamaecyparis out of the ground today. It was ugly... got lifted... most of it was brown. I never really cared to look at this thing. Anyhow, the ground around this plant was frozen. Inside the planting hole was a cup of water. You could literally put your hand down into the water and feel the ice on the rim and bottom of the hole. The ground is frozen, the plant is warm enough to melt the ice which filled the hole with water. that's surprising in that particular location because it's on a slight hill. I don't think my clay was the issue here. Out in the field it drains well... even after a hard rain you can walk on it hours later and you won't get your feet wet. The snow melted a week ago and it's been good the last week with no wet weather. But the field remains soggy. I got my shovel out and went poking around. In spots you cant dig anymore than 3-4" deep because the ground is frozen causing the water to sit on top. There are spots in my field where I have puddles which is very unusual. The shovel can't even break the ground in these spots. I took another look at the two pungens I planted last October and they are browning up pretty fast. I'm going to consider those gone, even though they have green buds. I don't know if these pungens are sitting in a bowl of water or not... but I'm not going to pull them out of the ground to see just in case. I tried digging down the side of one just to see, but it was frozen solid. All my older plants look to be ok... It looks like I'm going to only be planting in spring and praying that the first winter for these plants will be mild. Once the roots get into the surrounding soil they will be ok, it's just a matter of getting them established and through the first winter so this won't happen again.