Mulberry: the king of tree fruits (for pigs)

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.

<img
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.

Whitman farms is great. I would have no worries about those plants being true.

I have a black beauty M Nigra in a pot. Super slow growth habit and the fruit do almost seem attached to the branch rather than a stem. Supposedly Oikos Tree Crops has seedling M Nigra that Ken claims are hardy to much of Michigan (zone 5). We spoke about it on the phone at one time and he said he is sure they are M Nigea and that unlike grafted varieties they will survive here.

I also have I Everbearing. My original goal was to keep it pretty well trained, but between its growth rate and a neighbor who seems to think he is permitted to jump the fence and hack my tree it hasn’t gone well…I will be giving it a pruning once it is dormant this autumn. I leave much of its fruit to birds because of how big it has gotten.

Additionally I have a newer Sweet Lavender (pale non-staining purple fruit) and a Kukuso (Korean mulberry). These two are new enough that I have only sampled the fruit just this year and both were quite good

I grew up with seedling M Albas in my yard and used to love climbing the trees and eating the fruit.

Thanks, Scott. I see Lucille’s name everywhere on the Internet, in relation to mulberries, so I’m really quite excited about the two cultivars. Finding conflicting info about ‘Noir de Spain’ in relation to its height, but, that’s what pruners are for, I guess :slight_smile: I have very optimal growing conditions, and my neighbor’s Morus nigra grew like weeds. But, I’ll have to check with him to see what cultivars he has. They were all very good, but boy, that nigra was significantly better.

in las vegas, they grow painstaingly slow.
they do very well in cali, and grow so much faster.
and yes, Ms Whitman is a good source of plants and info

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Those are good picks,Patty.Thinking about it,I’ll probably get another Black Beauty to replace the one that died and grow the plant in a container. Brady

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Thanks, Raf, appreciate the confirmation about Lucille. Brady, hope you can keep the ‘Black Beauty’ going in a container. I’ll check with my neighbor to see what nigra he’s got.

My Black Beauty is in a container and it’s done well for me. I have found that planting off center and putting something else, in its own pot, on top of the soil has helped me to keep it happy.

Scott

And you are very welcome Hoosierquilt.