could you please share your notes on the mulberries that you are growing i have been to your website which was helpful. but i want to know more details since your growing conditions in FL is different than mines. i wonder if certain cultivars perfer certain climates. i would like to compare notes. thanks!
The Miss Kim we bought last year fruited. The fruit seemed OK but the tree was in a pot in a hoophouse. We just moved it out to the Orchard so we’ll see how it does next year. Below is a link to some of the photos we took. - Mark
https://dingdongsgarden.com/collections/mulberry-cuttings/products/miss-kim-mulberry-cutting
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I have only tasted Silk Hope and I thought it was excellent off a first year bearing tree. It was about the same size as IE or Oscar but I think it might be bigger off a mature tree. Oscar might be a bit bigger than IE. The taste is similar but I haven’t had the opportunity to taste them side by side because Oscar quits before IE ripens. I didn’t get many Oscar this year because the birds get up earlier than I do.
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my mulberries will be ripening in the next few weeks i will share my notes. it will be my first time trying miss kim and oscar.
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Nice pics of Tehama berries on your website. I’m surprised you got female flowers on such a young tree.
The short answer: Absolutely.
The long answer:
(Hi Kim…I hope you’ll forgive my pointing out the amusing fact that you are posting on a topic about ‘Miss Kim’).
I live in North Florida, which is much different than tropical south Florida, so I probably can’t give you good information on mulberries grown in a tropical environment. You are blessed with a climate (in Seattle) that perhaps favors most cultivars, while the rest of the nation has to pay more attention to freezes, drought, chill requirements.
Chill requirement: In North Florida, where I live, seems to provide enough winter chill to make most mulberries happy. The few exceptions that I have first-hand knowledge of are some of the more northern-suited cultivars such as Hicks, Illinois Everbearing, Silk Hope, David Smith Everbearing, and Gerardi (I suspect that most mulberry cultivars slated for zone 4 and some zone 5 fall in this category).
After a warm north Florida winter, these mulberries have a difficult time “waking up” and appear to have an impact on their overall vitality. I’ve had to give up entirely on trying to grow ‘David Smith’ and ‘Gerardi’… they stayed in a weakened state of health until eventually, they didn’t wake up after winter. In my zone (9-a) ‘Illinois Everbearing’ struggles somewhat but still grows and fruits well if provided a bit of shade and plenty of water. ‘Silk Hope’ “wakes up” a couple of weeks before ‘Illinois’ and seems to do OK.
Late freezes: Late freezes, freezing temperatures after two weeks or more of warm temperatures in the seventies and eighties, can cause much disappointment for growing some of the more tropical varieties such as Shangri-la, Tice, Tice-like, Estero Giant, and the Thai-style mulberries such as ‘World’s Best’, Chiang Mia, Four Seasons, Maui, etc.
Soil: Morus alba cultivars can usually handle poorer soil and less soil moisture than Morus rubra and Morus rubra hybrid cultivars (such as Hicks, Illinois, Silk Hope, Varaha). Morus rubra and hybrids need richer soils and more watering to get established, but once established seem to do fairly well with drought and minimal fertilization.
Diseases: There are many disease pathogens prevalent in any environment, but many mulberries suffer greatly from “leaf-spot” disease pathogens that are more prevalent in warmer temperatures above 80 degrees F. Many of the Morus alba cultivars are affected by leaf-spot to varying degrees. ‘Miss Kim’ has probably been the worst cultivar that I’ve grown, but most “leaf-spot” problems are tied to the general health of the tree, and are usually remedied with better nutrition and water. Most of the Thai-style mulberries are well adapted to handle “leaf-spot” pathogens, but Morus rubra and most Morus rubra hybrids also do well with “leaf-spot”. Interesting (to me at least), my 15-foot-tall Persian (Morus nigra) suffered greatly with 'leaf-spot" diseases her first couple of years, but now doesn’t appear to have an issue with it throughout the whole growing season.
I’ve only grown less than twenty different cultivars. Jan Cloud Doolin, who lives much south of me, is attempting to grow more than thirty. She might be better able to answer questions about specific cultivars. I don’t believe she is on this forum but has many YouTube videos (not as many as you…yet). Also, Jan is more analytical about judging the taste and general fruit quality of various mulberries, and judging from watching many of your excellent YouTube videos, fruit quality is paramount to judging a fruit tree.
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Thank you Mark, for taking the time to share your notes.Yes, I do share notes with Jan Cloud Doolin. So she lives south of you, where the more tropical mulberries do well. she told me recently, miss kim is not growing well. IE doesn’t set very much fruits. Her best growers has been Jan’s Best Dwarf Everbearing, Tice, Maui, World’s best, Thai dwarf, Black Pakistan. She does grow others like maple leaf,valdosta,Florida giant,oscar,black beauty,boysenberry, wassica, Australian green like probably reviewing them this summer on her channel, Her tree are grown in ground and roughly 6-7 feet very healthy! unlike my pot grown mulberries.
I have miss kim and i hope to provide some notes on this post about how it is, so far it doesnt have any leaf spot disease. well none of my mulberries get leaf spot disease but i remember Jan mentioning leaf spot disease is common in her area and the leaves just fall down.
I also have another friend in FL, he has a black pakistan and its dropping all the time so he wants to graft over it. overall it is healthy but it just dont have any fruits. so it is really nice to see the differences in climate within one state like for example we are talking about FL.
My worlds best is very healthy productive it just not sweet. I really think it is best suited it where it is warmer. My friends in Arizona is growing it and he loves it. I would think Texas and CA would be ideal for this variety.
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Ok im a little slow at posting. mulberries are done for the season. so as i compare my notes with others growing this varieties in different states.
- small size fruits could be just a young tree. it wasnt large as the original miss kim was described. can anyone confirm it still has small fruit when planted in the ground?
- grassy flavor when picked same time as other black mulberries. its does ripen more makes it a little sweeter. i found this to be the same with some black mulberries. Some when pick not fully black is sweet other does need more time to ripen to sweetness. miss kim was not tart when black but rather bland. I really dont see much difference of this miss kim mulberry. perhaps its growth habit over the next few year can tell me more.
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My cuttings of Tehama rooted and are growing fast. I hope to get a large tree. I also rooted contorted and some kokoso mulberry off eBay. My Shangri la from Whitman farms is growing like gang busters. I put it in the river sand and thought it might go into shock, but it took off and put on lots of new growth. my other surprise was the cuttings of Thai dwarf from Oct are now 4 feet tall and made nice mulberry. I think it is worth growing. 
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I don’t see much difference in your description of Miss Kim and the one I have in the ground. I’m very underwhelmed with the taste and size. Mine were larger than yours but nothing to be excited about.
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thank you for confirming its good mulberry but not a stand out. similar to the other black mulberries im growing.
Kim and Mark… I watch Jan’s youtube vids often. That lady loves mulberries for sure.
Her Jans Best variety is one I would like to try… she describes the taste as sweet tart and that is what i prefer… it produces loads of fruit… she harvest it… prunes it again… and it fruits again… i like that too.
She is in “central Florida zone 9b”…which is how she ends most of her youtube vids.
What I am wondering is if her “Jans Best” would work well here in my south central TN location… zone 7a.
I found a mention online that it had survived a zone 5 winter… but no details on how it did after that. I also found where Jan mentioned that it had survived 21 degrees … i think that may have been her low temp since she has had it.
Here… we could get +5 to +15… at least the most recent 5 years. I have seen much colder … and a -17 once in my lifetime (mid 80s).
I have a gerardi that loves it here and has grown like crazy (over 6 ft the first season)… and plan to add a silk hope soon.
Do any of you know of any details on how Jans Best might do up in zone 7 ??
Thanks
TNHunter
im growing jans best in zone 8b and it did fine over winter. but xone 7b is colder so im not sure.
i havent had a chance to eat it, the birds ate it before i could. it does have a really nice dhape dwarfing than others.
Jan’s Best is in the same category of “early bloomers” as World’s Best, Thai Dwarf, Shangri-la, Tice, Chiang Mai, Dwarf Everbearing, and Maui. They do not have a “chill requirement” per se, but bud out after a two-week span of no freezing temperatures, especially if daytime temperatures during that period rise into the 70’s or 80’s. So it all depends on your particular spring climate and not so much on the USDA zone.
The other factor addressing the survivability of mulberries is their maturity. Mulberries are not very rugged in their first three years or so but can withstand much more extreme temperatures as they become mature. Pakistan is a prime example, as a first or second-year plant will show significant die-back if winter temperatures fall below 26 degrees Fahrenheit, but a six-year-old tree can usually withstand 16 degrees or colder.
But in general (to answer your question), extreme temperature fluctuations in winter are generally regarded as the most significant factor in the survivability of trees and not actually the coldest temperature reached in winter.
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@Livinginawe … thanks for the details.
Here we often get warm ups in March… followed by frost early to mid April.
I expect Jan’s Best would often bud out in March, set fruit, and then get frosted… probably 50 % of years anyway.
I have had many of those springs take out all peaches, plums, apples.
So if that happened… you loose all that (new early growth and fruit)… but do you know if it would bud and fruit again later … perhaps with or without pruning ?
Jan has vids showing hers fruiting… and when the first fruiting is over she whacks it back and it grows and fruits again. Multiple harvest thru the year.
Would a frosting in early April mess that up ?
If I lost the first crop about half the time… but got a decent second crop… later in the year… I could live with that.
@rubus_chief … thought you might be interested in the Jan’s Best details above. May not work for you or me…
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Jan is perhaps the best person to ask since I am usually too lazy to prune after a late frost. My Jan’s Best has produced a crop after the first one was wiped out, but not to the extent of fruiting that Jan seems to get by pruning.
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Yes - thank you; that is definitely a problem here
If I do get some Jan’s best, do I have it covered in leaves/winterized and blanketed till end of april?
wunderground lets you look historically at every actual temp in your location and I have to think about Jan’s best
https://www.wunderground.com/history/monthly/us/vt/south-burlington/KBTV/date/2021-4
I love www.growingmulberry.org 
such a fantastic site and you probably dont hear it enough, but thank you.
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I grow Miss Kim mulberry and have eaten the fruit. It is plump, jet black and tasty, like a good tangy-sweet alba mulberry should be. I sell scions and the trees also. https://peacefulheritage.com/shop/mulberry/miss-kim-mulberry-certified-organic/
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Will you have any Veraha cuttings soon? I live in Arizona and you can’t ship potted plants to me 
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