it is not the short internodes one. The latter pics are of the real morus nigra(standard persian).
the short internode variety is not as good, but still worth having since it is quite early, and blends well with the other early one-- the pak mulb. Had i opted to just grow nigras, we won’t have berries during apr and early may
That’s probably the thing about the age of the tree.There are a few fruit holding and some are turning color.I found a couple on the ground that had some red and the flavor was delightful.I’m not sure if any will reach full ripeness during the present season,but at least this gives me reason to expect more with the Pakistan. Thanks,Brady
that some of the fallen fruit have some red to it sure indicates some degree of maturity. Could be that it has reached ‘puberty’ just now. We have a much longer growing season here, apart from having longer daylight hrs and hotter summers, so probably explains why ours have matured sooner than yours.
good thing about pak’s is that the berries have the slightest of sour notes even when immature(red/pink stage), and already quite edible at that stage so no need to wait for the purple/violet stage.
flavor is much more complex though at the purple stage.
hope to hear from you about yours reaching purple stage this year, and if not, then almost certain you’ll have some by next year, considering that it has shown some progress this season, and the stems will have matured a lot after another year of ageing. Btw, don’t prune your pak. If you feel you need to , then probably safer to lop off the vertical/apical stems, but minimize pruning the laterals, since(like its closest cousins, the jujubes) maturing laterals are where fruiting occurs.
keep us posted!
Here a couple still on the tree this morning.It looks like the ants like these.Cutting off their entrances is difficult with all the surrounding plants touching the tree. Brady
congrats! evidently, your pak stems took all those years to finally reach maturity. Can safely say you’ll have more and better berries next year, and virtually guaranteed henceforth
7 foot persian mulb initially grafted low, which the nursery trimmed and repotted to a 15 gallon after many years of growth, apparently concealed behind other mulbs in the nursery.
one of its branches a few days earlier with berries tucked neath foliage
two year old gerardi(left), and 3 year old black beauty mulb, both not much more than 2 feet tall.
gerardi/geraldi, the other mulb we don’t prune
I have to report,my Geraldi Mulberry fruit are the blandest thing I grow.Even an unripe red Wellington has more flavor.
The little neighbor boy who used to eat them,has left them alone.Now they hang on the tree or fall off and I’m not sure if the ants are going after those.
I’ll probably keep the plant,just to see if things get better. Brady
where we’re at, there is some tart to geraldi berries, but certainly lack the firework flavor bursts typical of nigras. They are quite sweet to our taste, though, so it could also be a regional thing/dependent on growing conditions.
Hi! I am a huge mulberry fan, i have a few varieties already and always looking for more. I am located in both England and Portugal and i’ve been looking for the himalayan (red long fruit mulberry),the saharanpur (white long fruit mulberry) and the gerardi dwarf for years, havent found any nurseries in Europe selling them 
. At the moment the varieities i have are: Oscar mulberry, shangri-la, wellington, pakistan and at least 3 diferent morus nigra (king james/chelsea, AGM, Charlton HOuse, a variety coming from Germany, another coming from Italy, and a very large Portuguese one on my family farm - this one is centenary. In terms of taste, for me nothing beats the morus nigra, and the Portuguese variety is by far the one that produces the biggest, juicest fruits. I’m happy to swap cuttings, air layers with the other ones if anyone interested.
Best one at the moment is the fruit of nigra in my portuguese variety, big, juicy, spicy! Gonna try to post pictures
did you just say centenarian?? Wow! am sure many people here would like to see a picture of a 100 year old nigra tree!
wish i could vouch for the saharanpur and gerardi, but they are just too far behind what you are already growing! Totally understand though you’re probably just like many fanciers–having that desire to make the collection complete.
also wishing could trade with you but it is illegal to send budwood to private addresses in usa, and quite certain England and EU will have similar restrictions. Probably best you contact burntridgenursery.com or whitmanfarms.com. They usually sell both( or at least one of those) you’ve listed. Got to warn you though that mulberry identification is still quite dubious here in usa.
Hi juju, yes, its a problem to get plant material from the outside the EU, i can easily move plant material between the EU (Portugal, Spain, Uk, Germany, etc), but not from the outside, however i already got a few cuttings in the past from the US through Ebay, from karenkenks or something like that, got all her mulberry varieties (silk hope, shangri la, oscar, saharanpur, black beauty), tried rooting them and grafting them… Only shangri la and oscar cuttings manage to survive and root… Lol! Was planning to contact just fruit and exotics nursery but they are quite clear in their page they dont ship to outside the US. Morus identification is also very dubious in Europe… You can quite easy be buying a morus nigra from a nursery and get a morus alba… So people, are missing the “real deal”… Regarding morus nigra, yes I have several locations but i do believe they are all the “same animal”. I believe my portuguese cultivar is better than my other nigras because: 1. Its older, 2. Gets mediterranean weather (well defined seasons, very hot summers, cold winters), 3. Type of soil. The history of this nigra is integring, was there in the time of my great grandfather and it was already very old then. 20 years ago in a storm it completely collapsed, was removed and only 1 branch leftover was left in the ground wich is the current tree. I am trying to propagate it but its not easy… No sapplings in the area! Unsucessful in rooting cuttings! Unsucessful in grafting so far. I fear another storm kills it and the trunk is already angled down also.
i know it is just a picture, but got to hand it to you—i have NEVER seen anything like it. It is beautiful!
have seen one in some Greek webpage depicting an 800 year old tree, but it had a much smaller canopy, presumably damaged by lightning or windy weather when the pic was taken(the longer a tree lives, the chances of it getting hit by a ‘big one’ increases…)
if you compare the branches, even the main trunk, of my fruiting ~10 year old ‘spring chickens’ to those with smaller caliper branches of your tree, mine are too smooth, coddled and pampered i feel they need to be shipped to mulberry boot camp for several decades more.
you are not the first person to say that, and i too, am beginning to have my doubts about the fancy schmancy names as noir, black beauty, etc.
i have successfully grafted nigras to albas, but they take forever to grow decided to buy the biggest, hence oldest specimens could get my hands on. Have never been lucky with marcots though, but not that it should matter, considering the laggard growth
btw, fruits are rarely available even in farmers markets here, and on the few occasions that they are, nigra berries are sold for 20$/lb.
again, thanks for posting, and feel free to post more!
Thanks for the reply juju, my father still tells me stories that in his childhood the tree was soo massive that it could handle 10 adults on its branches. I dont remember the tree on its former glory, but i am adamant to preserve it as possible. No idea on its real age, no one in the village is either. It has always been there and no one knows of any other nearby. Do you have the red himalayan elongated variety? If so, hows its taste like?
probably much more than ‘just’ a century old if it had trunks bigger than what you posted!
btw, had several elongated varieties but not sure if had the red himalayan. I culled through several varieties over 4 years due to lack of space, and contingent to tree size-to-productivity ratios. I remember having the sarahanpur but it wasn’t worth the space it occupied considering its vigor(relative to quality of the fruit). I now just have two kinds of black beauty( a true nigra and an impostor alba/alba cross), noirs, persians, pakistani, and gerardis. Couldn’t remember much about the quality of those that have tried and removed, perhaps due to getting bedazzled by the nigras.
i actually almost removed the pak but granted a reprieve when it started fruiting thick and long ones, which tasted better than sarahanpur. The gerardis i still have not because it has stellar taste(which is just average), but because the specimens bear quite densely, considering the bushy ornamental growth.
it is supposedly from the himalayas too, and may be related to other elongated mulbs.
Gonna try to find the gerardi and elongated varieties in Europe again. Lol!
Stopped by a nursery an hour or so from the house and saw an unusual mulberry today.
I’m kicking myself as I should have, at least, taken a picture of it
It was called “paper dolls mulberry” and it has white-edge variegated leaves. They had 2 plants and each was under a foot tall.
Plants were small and I wanted to research it a little before getting one.
Anyone else seen one?
Scott
