Question
I have a large, producing mulberry tree in my back yard.  About 5 feet up, the trunk splits into two sections.  One of these sections is clearly dead (ie., no berries, no leaves, no shoots, etc.) yet I hesitate to cut it since I do not know exactly WHERE or how much to cut and do not want to damage the rest of the tree. I am afraid that if I do nothing, that will ultimately damage the tree, too.  Any thoughts or help you can provide will be appreciated!

Answer
Prune the dead branch off about 1/4 inch from the trunk. This will leave a branch collar and the wound will heal over by itself. If the wound is more than 6 inches across after the cut I would paint the area with a wound dressing. This will keep water from getting into the wound. On wound less than 6 inches across I would leave natural and not paint.

On large trees it is best to make the first cut about a foot from the trunk on the under side then cut the branch off from the top leaving a stub about a foot long. Then you can prune off the stub and the heavy limb will not split the bark on the trunk.
Here is a web link to how to prune trees with a drawing of the large limb pruning method.
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/trees-new/text/pruning.ht...