I don't cut mine back. I only trim out a branch here and there to make the tree more symmetrical. It's the biggest shade tree for my rain forest tortoises.We've had some nice weather this week so i got outside and raked leaves and started cutting the mulberry trees back.I put the leaves at the base of 2 large maple trees and let them decompose there.View attachment 264302 View attachment 264303 Here is the first tree that I cut backView attachment 264304 View attachment 264305When I got it to this point I looked at itView attachment 264306 and decided it would do better this summer with a little more cuttingView attachment 264307 Supposed to have 2 more days of nice weather and then back to our average winter temps.
A few years ago my tortoise partner planted a row of white mulberry trees all along the front of the Aldabran yard, and advised me how to trim them so they would grow horizontally instead of vertically. I did trim them the first couple years, but then last year I took my hedge trimmer to them. It's easier that way. The shade mulberry is fruitless, but the hedge mulberries produce fruit. So I'm hoping that by using the hedge trimmer on them it cuts back on the fruit.