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Hi all, this might be a silly question but is it too late in the season to propagate a mulberry tree if it’s already got berries on the branches? I was hoping to take a cutting or try my hand at air-layering but time got away from me and now I wonder if I’ll have to wait until next spring.

Hey all.

So I planted three ‘Chicago Hardy’ fig plants last Summer and for the winter I covered with large garbage cans, cut a hole in the bottom, filled with shredded leaves, and then placed a bag of topsoil on top. I was hoping this would protect my plants from winter. We had a cold snap last winter that hit -11, if I recall correctly. This killed the plants down to about six inches above the roots. They all survived and are growing nicely, but I don’t think fig plants can produce figs if growing basically from the ground.

That said, I want figs and will get technical. I need something electric that produce a real low amount of heat, but I can snake it onto the base of the plants and then wrap the whole plant up in burlap like a mummy and weigh it down. I figure a tiny amount of electrical heat in a wrapped space would help the branches survive winter. Question is, what can I use? There’s pipe warmers you can wrap around pipes: maybe that could work? I don’t want it to get too hot and burn or cause a fire. I just want the branches to survive so I can get figs.

Anything garden-safe that can be used to help them survive?

Does anyone have any practical examples of a (preferably current) system like chinampas outside of the subtropics? I’m currently clearing a lot of invasives (not invasives that readily root from cuttings or grow in water) and was playing with the idea of using them to create chinampas style beds because otherwise I have no use the massive amount of biomass other than leaving giant pule of it all over the place