I love mulberries. Unfortunately in Australia there are so few named varieties.
Does anyone grow white mulberries from seed? I have been told they can take 10+ years to fruit, is that true? I am also told that they can change gender a few times so it is easier to just buy a cutting grown plant.
Has anyone grown white shahtoot mulberries? Thy are very sweet, perhaps lacking much depth of flavour, but they don’t stain, the birds don’t bother them, and the kids love them.
The white mulberries have naturalized and cross-bred with our native red mulberries for decades here in America. The birds crap out the seeds, and they grow wild like weeds.
I have seen wild red-white hybrid mulberries go from nothing to 10-foot tall fruiting trees in the span of just three years. Usually it takes longer than that, but some are precocious.
@Matt_in_Maryland
My experience is the same as what you said Matt. 1 in 100 of my wild mulberries are white and they are not as hardy as the reds. I literally have 100 mulberry trees.
The literature says that the albas are more cold hardy than the rubras.
Matt,
That’s what they say about the white mulberries when I read about them also. I’ve read that whites are everywhere in some places. I can only observe what we see. Strongly suspect they need much more water also because I saw die back on the white mulberry during the severe drought. Remember I’m speaking about our seedlings here. The red mulberry is at least 100:1 more prevalent in Kansas than the white since the environment favors it. Nature does not always play by the rules. It’s possible the alba numbers may be down strictly because of water or it could be we have a seedling strain nothing like the trees others are growing. I’d love to hear about others experience with white mulberry. Our white mulberries can be very good but occasionally some berries I eat have an off flavor which I find odd. Our seedling trees are hybrids of other seedlings so after many generations they are fast growing and hardy. I select for fruit numbers and size and graft over some of the males to select females.
Neither reds or whites exist around here. I’ve seen zero mulberries here except for one wild white I brought from my old place (apparently a male) and two Traders I planted 9/15 (hoping for some fruit this year but have my doubts).
Does anybody here know how to properly distinguish between albas and rubras? I feel like whenever we have these conversations, people end up confusing white-fruited mulberries with morus alba and black/purple-fruited mulberries with the rest. I’ve got lots of white and purple fruiters around here, but I’m pretty sure they are all the same species (alba).
I’m suspecting since mine are seedlings they could hybridize and be both but I have nothing to confirm that except a few white fruiting types that are light purple.
In my area I doubt there are many pure alba or rubra . Most will resemble alba but some resemble rubra . Some I can tell are mixed . Rubra have large heart shaped leave with a rough feel to them . Hope this helps .
Someone posted in another thread the ways to distinguish between the two. They have interbred in the Eastern U.S. for decades.
I am wondering my IE which is a hybrid of alba & nigra？ can reseed itself？
I just realized I posted a link to this very same thread.
Illinois Everbearing is a Alba Rubra cross . Lots of misidentified mulberry species out there . IE has the large heart shaped leaves of Rubra .
These are white mulberries. If you look at the top you can tell the tree top was killed by the last severe drought. The mulberries are later than some of my others.
Hi Clark’s doggo
The dog likes mulberries as well! Here are a few I picked today off of one of my unnamed seedlings. Good sized, sweet , juicy fruit!
I love mulberries! Delicious!
Nice. Sounds like a good day all around
Those mulbs look awesome, great size👍🏻
I have 2 mystery mulbs too. Love them.
