The first sentence of that article states that mulberries are barely edible. I doubt the author has tasted many mulberries, they are certainly not all created equal. Some mulberries have extraordinarily fantastic flavor.
The article is about silk, not fruit.
America also went cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs in 1962.
i hope so as i have a russian mulberry and a illinois everbearing i just bought last summer. may see some berries from the russian soon.
I wonder why there is soil mounded up around the trunk?
Figs have been in their own little bubble for a while, demand is driven by speculation of eBay prices. There’s much more interest in growing fig trees for cuttings rather than fruit, but also far fewer people participating online as a result.
That was a good catch, I didn’t notice. Maybe to protect. I have a couple of trees that are not hardy in zone 6.
I like EBay for figs, I picked up so many for 99 cents, and not from unknown sellers. The last one was from Dan Foster. Petite Negra cuttings. I got a Galicia Negra plant for under 10 bucks. If they even sold that at nurseries I would have to pay between 20 and 30. $11.01 is the most I usually bid, sure I have to wait for the super hot items, but that is fine, as often I eliminate them from my list as they turn out to be all hype. Often I can try unusual, but not hot varieties. For under 10 bucks I picked up Ni Black, Slidell Black (a good one found in Slidell LA), and Carini Italia some for under 4 bucks, just cuttings, that is fine. I might get rid of all of these, if i don’t like them, or too similar to other figs I have, no big deal, pocket change bought them. EBay member for 19 years.
Often I contact sellers after if they have more and make deals out of EBay, EBay hates that, but can’t stop you. When you pay you can get the email address you paid and contact them that way. Dan Foster gave me A small Maltese Beauty plant he thought too small to sell, I got lucky to get it, but got it all the same. It’s doing great! He would not even take money for postage. And you yourself helped me out. Yeah I just gave away the Florea you sent me. I cut it up and sent it to two guys. One guy was looking for bulk cuttings, so sent him 12 for a few cuttings of Smith. I have no room, and even though Florea has many advantages, the taste was not great. Unk Teramo almost fruits as early and is much better. Some really like the taste, but for me, it was not there. I culled out Atreano yesterday too, a great grower, huge figs, not very good. The better figs have spoiled me!
Felt like a high school essay that got quickly summed up when the author hit 500 words.
There are more sellers than buyers now it seems! I hope sellers like Dan Foster who wait until they have verified what they have to sell will make it through the ups and downs until things stabilize and the hobby becomes attractive to “regular” folks again.
It’s strange to me how many members on the fig forums nowadays think it completely normal to “flip” a variety as soon as they can, it is really risky when you figure they put themselves in a position to represent the group (for their own financial gain of course) and people who get ripped off are probably not going to want to participate after that, especially if the person who “on accident” ripped them off is popular or has alliances with other sellers.
I guess I’m old-school now, still trialing to find the best for my climate but dealing with the newer “my anonymous sources are unimpeachable” sellers made it harder since you think you can trust them and then they send you something that is mislabeled for a premium price, “on accident” of course. Pictures of ripe fruit really mean everything when money is involved, though its not the money that is important to me (just them)… my biggest losses are time, space, and the other missed opportunities to reacquire the variety or grow something else before I have any idea there is a gap in the plan that needs filledl.
I’ve wanted to try out Galicia Negra because of the interior color, but there just hasn’t been much info shared from those growing it, and it has been “out” for at least 5 years now so I take that as a sign it is not precocious and will probably skip it. Carini is similar to EBT, assuming the Italia part was just tacked on like I suspect and not a new variety, can’t find anything on “Carini Italia”. The Slidell one looked like Celeste to me when it was first distributed, although from an heirloom tree I don’t believe there are strains that never drop like other people do… More likely the climate it is growing in or it just hasn’t been observed long enough.
If I understand my mulberry history correct, the silk mulberries would have been mainly male with some female exceptions. I also understand that this is why most of the mulberries in much of the country now are either Morus alba or Morus alba x rubra, with most cultivars coming from discovered trees in the wild.
Yet sold as Nigra.