Mulberry: the king of tree fruits (for pigs)

Here is the picture of my Persian mulberry from Willies. I have it grew in a pot . Is it or is it not a black mulberry?

in my eyes, it is definitely not blac mulberry. Sorry.
hard for me to say if it is an alba, a rubra, or a cross between the two, but am quite certain it is not a morus nigra.
the straight and slender stem is quite conclusive, as well as the long petioles.
but it is just me, and i am actually the type of person who’s happier proven wrong, than proven right.
so inviting to hear from others who might disagree.

Thank you. It is better to find out sooner than later. After I saw your comments of thecityman’s mulberry tree, I had already guessed mine is not black mulberry neither. We both bought trees from same place, Willis. I actually called the nursery talked to a gentleman name Jay after I received the shipment in April to confirm that my tree is Persian mulberry (he said it is a local variety also called black beauty) because, for my limited knowledge, black mulberry can’t be hardy to zone 5 and this one was listed zone 4 , also regular white mulberry tree does not have 3" long fruit. I could be wrong, but I will be happy for whatever it is as long as it does bear 3" long fruit .

I bought some mulberry nigra seeds recently , do you know if I grow the tree from seeds, will the seeding comparable to its parents?

i am so sorry Annie, but i have never heard of morus nigra’s being grown from seed. Perhaps it happens in the wild, or in laboratories, but i have not experienced it nor come across in my own mulberry studies…
also, i agree with you, zone 4 might be way too cold and damp for morus nigra’s…

Honestly, the teeth on the edge of the leaf pattern makes me think they sold you a red mulberry (morus rubra).

See this document:

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thanks for this helpful source. My eyes are not keen enough to distinguish the leaf patterns. From what was shown, though, red mulberry buds seem to be a bit larger and longer(relative to stem caliper). compared to white mulb buds, and the latter is what could see from the pic postde by @IL847

Useful document. Worth saving. Thanks Matt.

Matt, it is a good article, Thanks for sharing it. Mine looks like red mulberry judging from the leaves, not shine at all. Time will tell when it starts to fruit. Do you know how soon in general mulberry will fruit?

I actually have no good answer for that question. I believe it can vary by species and plant. My Illinios Everbearing red-white hybrid fruited the first year after transplant, standing only as high as a 6 foot tall whip. But I have noticed wild trees do not fruit until they are fairly sizeable (roughly 10 feet tall). Both red and white mulberries (and myriad crosses) grow in the river valleys and at the edge of forests here back East. These trees persist among mixed brush, eventually sending out low curving branches that reach horizontally for more sunshine. These side branches fruit readily, and offer the best pickin’s. Rare mature specimens can be found, which fruit profusely all throughout the canopy, which makes for a spectacular site if you look up at the tree while standing near the base of its trunk.

They can also grow in open or abandoned lots like weeds-- even in cracks in the sidewalk-- really anywhere.

this is why some hate them
whereas others, like the crazy guy typing this , writes odes and poetry about them :smile:

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That would be me

Hi, guys, it is a fun thread. I have learned a lot here from you guys’ post. Among all the berries, mulberry is my number 1 choice of berry. I have a lot of volunteers pop up every year, my next door neighbor has a very large unknown name mulberry tree. Do any of you know if mulberry can be grafted ( how easy to graft) ? If so , I might just need to look for few scions in the spring time.

I’m also interested in grafting tips wrt mulberries. I’ve only ever grafted once, so I need practice. The birds have given me lots of rootstock, and there are a few local wild trees that I think are worth propagating.

Dormant scion on dormant barefoot stock, veneer or z graft worked for me. I also had luck bark grafting some root sections onto scions. Done in April, planted out in May.

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Okay,thanks Jesse.I’ll be trying again next year.Z graft is new to me.Recently watched a video demonstration.Veneer is the same as side graft,isn’t it? Brady

Maybe I missed it somewhere in this thread, but I was wondering if anyone has had good luck budding mulberries (either T or chip). I’ve got some dwarf Girardi that I quite like and a ton of volunteer seedlings of unknown parentage that I might like to try some bud grafts with. But Girardi is so small and relatively slow growing that I’d rather not cut it for the buds if they don’t have a reasonable chance of success.

Thanks for sharing any experiences.

I also wrapped the entire scion in parafilm.

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close up of grafted Collier

Next post shows that vigorous growth- mulberry don’t know when to quit in z5!

I am a bit concerned as I see Collier listed for zone 5b-6… we shall see what this winter brings. I may bring some into the cellar to give these 1st year trees a chance.

I have had some success this summer rooting semi-lignified cuttings from my Northrop mulberry and a fruitful seedling I discovered a town over on the road side,these will be coming in for the winter, as I had 100% mortality on a run of rooted cuttings I planted out last year.

You can see the two smallet starts to the left, I grafted in roots directly to the scions using bark or rind grafts. I have used this technique when I lack rootstock, just borrowed some small root sections from the one stock plant that had sufficient size.

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Well, I finally decided to succumb to the Mulberry growing, and have ordered a ‘Black Beauty’ and a ‘Noir de Spain’. I ordered from Whitman Farms. They happened to have both available (only ‘Noir de Spain’ and ‘James II’ show up on their site, but Lucille did tell me she had ‘Black Beauty’ as well, so I was able to add that to my order), so I’m hoping that is what they truly are. Whitman is a Top 5 Dave’s Watchdog nursery, http://www.whitmanfarms.com/ , and Lucille I guess is a real mulberry expert. So, hopefully, they’re arrive in good shape, and do well here, and be what I expect them to be, cultivar-wise. We’re top Morus nigra growing conditions here in Vista, so very excited to have them in my garden. I remember Muberries fondly as a kid growing up in Fullerton. We had a neighbor that had a huge Mours nigra growing on the corner of their lot. We’d swipe the mulberries and eat them until we couldn’t eat any more, then start throwing them at each other because they would stain clothes so badly. Sort of an early ‘60’s version of paintball, lol!! Man, would I get into trouble coming home with all those purple-red stains! Hoping I can keep them pruned down to a reasonable height. I think ‘Black Beauty’ stays relatively low - 15’ or so, hoping ‘Noir de Spain’ isn’t a huge, huge Morus.