Hi y’all! Looking for variety recommendations for the sweetest and most productive mulberries for central NC. Wondering if any of you all have tested a lot and have reccomendations!
Silk Hope and Oscar have both been great for me.
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I am in southern middle TN…zone 7b.
I have Gerardi dwarf, Silk Hope, Oscar, Kip Parker, Lawson Dawson.
Adding Shelli and a Red Mulberry if grafts done this spring are successful.
Most of mine are young trees and the fruit in the first couple years (when they are growing strong) is not near peak flavor.
My Gerardi is starting on year 4 now.
Last year the fruit improved much over year 2 fruit. Complex fruity flavor both tart and sweet… excellent. Much like a really good blackberry.
I got a few berries off my year 2 Silk Hope last year and they were very good too. I bet they will be even better this year.
My others are younger trees… nothing to report yet on fruit quality. May get some this year but would not expect it to be up to peak flavor yet.
If you want a tree that is beautiful and compact and produces gobs of delicious fruit… highly recommend Gerardi dwarf.
Late winter I prune mine to a height of 8 ft tall… it is probably 7 ft wide… one pruning does it for me with Gerardi.
Gerardi has a very compact growth habit… leaf nodes are very tight… 1 to 1.5 inches. It sets lots if fruit in a small amount if space.
Ripe Gerardi berries and fruit set.
TNHunter
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I’m in eastern NC.
I tried a “Pakistan” mulberry but the deer and winter killed it before it ever did anything. They also severely damaged my Valdosta but it was able to grow through the damage and is now doing very well.
It has long internodes and is extremely vigorous, putting on several feet of growth each season. Seems to leaf out a bit early but not too bad.
The berries are fairly large, and when fully ripe (not just black, but with some yellowing of the stem and when they basically fall off the tree when picked) they are some of the best tasting berries of any kind I’ve had. The tree is very productive, I have it almost in full sun and there’s not much competition nearby which likely helps.
Valdosta seems to be more of a subtropical than temperate mulberry. The leaves are very large and not generally lobed, and the tree seems to like all the heat and rain it can get.
I’ll be testing out Siam Jumbo this year. I’ll probably get Silk Hope next year as it’s an NC native that is supposed to be a good all-rounder.
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