Dwarf Mulberries

Hi again:

I am also looking for the latest advice regarding dwarf mulberries with the intent to grow in a container. I have seen Dwarf Black Issai, Gerardi, and Black Beauty (<12 ft tall?). Of these what has been your experience? Are there other varieties you would endorse ahead of these? Thanks!

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I have issai and it pretty much sucks. Mine is only second year and I have admittedly not harvested much from it but right now berries are small and poor flavor.

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gerardi is ok, when grown in sunny las vegas, but may not bear same-quality berries in colder regions.

i have tasted issai and was not impressed. Black beauty is excellent, and to me is the best of all berries-- but only if you obtain a true Morus nigra. Many nurseries name their Morus alba’s “Ever-bearing Black Beauty”, or simply just “Black beauty”, and are mediocre to fairly ok(at best). Wet soil renders the berries(of fake black beauty) watery and bland.

gerardi and morus nigra are two of the slowest-growers have grown. Painstakingly slow where am at, so they could be considered ‘dwarfs’.
have seen multi-centenarian nigras posted by our european members, and they are rather large trees, so the dwarf label is only because they grow super slow.

photos abound on this page — Purple reign - #21 by jujubemulberry

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Here is a video of what I grow. I call it the World’s best. I don’t know what the real name is but it produces first year from cuttings and produces tons of large fruits reliably. I grew these in containers with not much issue at all. Since they are a bush they don’t make a good tree specimen. Fruits I would say are jelly like in flavor. I make cuttings in February through March and will have plants in April on. World's Best Mulberry - YouTube

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I tried mulberries in containers two years running, and both times they failed to leaf out. All ‘dwarf’ mulberries. One year they got faked out by the false spring in December.

Both times the buds swelled, and then failed to progress. The buds then became sappy, and the tree slowly died. Cutting back did not help.

Very nice mulberries. Will these grow in cooler zones?

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I have Issai ,not impressed ,the only good thing about it so far is that it roots from cuttings really easy and grows fast, I am going to try using it as root stock for grafting better varietys to.
Fruit of Issai not worth the space so far.

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I have tested them in Hedgesville, West Virginia zone 6b with even better results than I get here in Florida. From one plant my mom who lives there says she still has jellies and a freezer packed with berries from this past season. I think she did better with one plant than I would with 10. They got down to 0 degrees which is rare for there and we thought for sure it would have died and it came through the winter just fine. I have never tested them colder than 6b.

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I’m interested…zone 8a. I’ve killed an Issai and I don’t know if my Black Beauty will awaken in the Spring. It sounds wonderful to me! Did you develop this mulberry?

I wish I developed it. Most cultivars are discoveries. This cultivar going by the backstory from the source I got it from says it was brought over from Thailand from an older lady at this time roughly 30 years ago or so. I have been growing this for around 15 years or so. Being a mulberry lover in general I have not found one that is better than this one. I did have an expert look at it to tell me it is a macroura hybrid. I tend to think it is a macroura x alba. Before moving here around 4 years ago I lived in a trailer park where I kept them in pots and in the woods in the ground. When I moved here I took the potted ones and planted them in a row for my hedge. In the front of my yard I did another hedge row but I took the cuttings and rooted them on a string line one foot from the property line directly in the ground in a perfect line. I find cuttings are best made if it is still cold out and placed in dirt. When it warms up they sprout and grow. Colder it is better the cuttings do and better fruit production.

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Wow! I would love to have one of these. We have wild red mulberries that grow well here and I’ve got an Illinois Everbearing that fruited a bit this year and a Shangri La that I got this year that hasn’t fruited, but I don’t have much hope that my nigra is going to survive. I really love mulberries. I’ve grafted and air layered some of the red mulbs in the woods and going to plant them out for easy access. Your bushes are beautiful!

Katy

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My grandfather had a big mulberry in his yard in Maryland. I think climbing and eating those are what inspired the mulberry to be my favorite tree. It truly offends me when people hate mulberries. They call them messy and hate purple bird poop. I myself think it is a versatile tree that can be used for shade, climbing, and getting a rich source of multiple types of antioxidants. I have lots of trees, bananas, and other plants. If I had to walk away from here with only one plant it would be my world’s best. Not only do they produce more on small bushes than do most trees but they also produce more berries than most any other berry source plant. These pretty much fell into my lap and I will never get another chance like this again in my life. I did buy a Freedom blackberry which seems to be my mulberries version of the blackberries so I am excited to see how well that does next year.

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Yeah, when I was young my dad would drop me off at the mulberry tree while he went to check his cows. I would climb up in that tree and sit eating until he came back! Love them. I also have Freedom blackberries and they are wonderful too. Prolific too…almost weedlike in their suckering though. I’ve had to dig them out of my strawberries and asparagus beds.

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I would be happy to trade mulberry for freedoms.

Your “Worlds Best” sounds very promising. How does it taste, sweet or sweet-tart?

I am in 7a and try to grow mulberries myself. Got my hands on Wellington, Shin Tso, Mulle, Chelsea and Sham Dudu (both morus nigra) and different morus nigra (no varieties). It all are still very young trees though.

Next year I hope to grow some seedlings from morus nigra, cause a very generous member send me some collected seeds. Some say morus nigra seeds are not viable but he already managed to raise some seedlings form fruits of a very special morus nigra tree. I would count true nigra as dwarf mulberries, since they are said to grow very slow. So I am still on topic :sunglasses:

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The World’s Best is very sweet. It is a macroura hybrid but I think macroura x alba. I may get it genetically tested one year.

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Would love to but PAF’s are under patent. As I understand that I am not able to share. Any input on this? However I would pay for a mulberry tree or I will purchase PAF for you.

Bryce, how big your World’s best bushes grow when planted in the ground?

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I would like to do a deal with you. I’ll get back with you later…my little dachshund just had emergency surgery yesterday. Don’t want you to think I’m not interested but I have to choose what to think about right now!!

I am also interested in a plant or two. I also have Prime Ark freedom blackberries that I need to dig out of my garden beds if you want some. Later is good as black Friday has done in the wallet until the end of next week.