Good friends/neighbors (He’s an Army helicopter pilot) across the street are being re-assigned to Savannah. They’ve become enamored with mulberries, after sampling mine for the past couple of years, and will be wanting to plant some at their new home.
Wondered if anyone in the group, who’s growing in a similar location/climate/zone could give recommendation on what varieties have done best for them… and nursery recommendations… JF&E, others?
I grew up on the zone 7/8 interface in east-central AL, and native M.rubra was my only experience with mulberries as a kid… they were good, but I’m sure some of the hybrids or albas may be even better/more productive at Savannah…
Youtuber strudeldog11 (also a forum member here) is in northern GA and he has a couple vids on Girardi Mulberry (links below). I think in one of those vids he walks thru his collection of various mulberries and talks about them, what had done well there, what has not, which ones he likes, etc…
He prefers sweet/tart mulberries… not (sweet only) types. I agree with him on that.
If you like your tree just make cuttings after it fruits and stick the cutting in a jar of water with 2 inches in the kitchen window…it will set roots in a week. Change the water daily.
As far as what does great in your area Shangri La it comes from Naples FL.
If you want a really big mulberry Pakistan.
If you want something really special Noir of Spain.
Regardless of what you choose call Lucile at Whitman Farms. She has been selling mulberries for years and is a wealth of information. Her trees are immaculate.
If you want to go off book then there is Worlds Best and others. I think some vendors are selling World’s Best now. I am trying it in zone 6B but it should work in your area just fine.
I’m in 6b…almost 7a. I know what works here. Just wasn’t sure about 8b.
M.nigra selections like Noir of Spain are unlikely to fare well in the humidity of Savannah GA.
Reviews I’ve seen from trusted friends on ‘World’s Best’ have been less than glowing, but it may perform better in 8 than in 5 or 6.
While I respect - and have ordered from - Lucille, I’m probably not sending these folks to the PNW for a mulberry when they can get varieties that originated and/or have proven themselves within a couple hundred miles, and in the same Zone, from JF&E or other Southeastern nursery (but NOT TyTy!).
Pakistan and Shangri-La were already on my list of potential recommendations, but I’ve not grown Shangri-La here; I’ve tried Pakistan - not sufficiently winter-hardy in z6. but I figured it would be fine at Savannah.
Didn’t know if anyone on the list had grown some of the south GA and upper/mid-FL selections, like Valdosta or Wacissa, which JF&E offer, along with standards, like IE, Silk Hope, Gerardi, etc.
I’m not really that close to Savannah here in 7B North Carolina, but I have grown Shangri-La and didn’t care for it. The fruit is insipidly sweet with no tartness at all. It also comes out of dormancy too early - mine leafed out very early and was killed by a late frost, when my other mulberries were still weeks away from leafing out. I like Oscar and Silk Hope much better - both for flavor and better resistance to late frosts. Maybe the latter would be less of an issue in 8B.
Silk Hope is tops here. Biggest berries, great flavor with good sweet/tart balance, long bearing season, and no Popcorn DZ(yet). Would be hard for me not to recommend SH to my friends… and maybe even propagate one for them as a housewarming gift.
I second Lucky_P. I had Kokuso and Silk Hope. Kokuso has a beany taste and no tart. It didn’t taste good to any of us. Silk Hope is amazing. I would consider SH the perfect balance sweet and tart for me. I grafted another one but one provided more than my family can eat.
Silk hope… the one still missing from my collection of over 30 cultivars… i’ll get it one day.
The last ones i got besides the different types of himalayans and long type ones were shandong and shelly mulberry. All supposed to work pretty well in cooler areas as they are hardy until -23Celsium (from China and Ukraine)
I plan to start silk hope and Girardi here at my southern TN location… and may try a Jans Best… perhaps Oscar too.
I want some low easy to pick varieties… for my grand babies to have easy access to… I dont have any grand babies yet… but expect that will change in the next few years. Girardi and Jan’s best should work for that.
I think silk hope and oscar make larger trees.
I bought a Illinoise everbearing from OGW a few years back… still have the IE label that was on the tree… when it produced fruit it was actually a white mulberry… no real flavor at all… just mildly sweet. I know now that I do not like those… sweet-tart is my preference. I am going to try and graft girardi… to completely change varieties this coming spring.
I’ve tried pakistan and shangrala and the both get clobbered by late frost; No fruit and seriously damaged and even killed to the ground. Unless you’re by the coast or in a protected area not prone to light frost I would not recommend them
Good that the story of Prokazin is spreading! But let’s keep the name of the cultivat right: it is 'Shelli no150 ', usually just Shelli. Not Shelly, since the name is an abbreviation of Shelkovitsa Leonid Ilyich. SHEL L I .
Well there is little chance of it being other cultivar so close named and looking exactly like ‘Shelli’. I checked from Prokazin’s catalogue and his own pictures, looks pretty darn close. Shelli is supposed to be really good tasting, big, and yilding enough for it to be a real winner.
Morus nigra (aka black mulberry) is by far the best tasting mulberry, if not fruit imho. I’m growing it in very humid Miami Florida and had fruit for the first time last year. It’s slow growing but I encourage anyone wanting to get into mulberries to try growing it
I subscrive completely @chriso
Morus nigra is by far the best one i have in taste.
2nd tier would be any of the long berry types i have saharanpur/white pakistan, red himalayan, taiwan long fruit mulberry and pakistani.
Between the others i have the more common in the market there in America should be illinois everbearing, gerardi, my shangri la is pretty good also.
Then there are quite a few good ones more available in Europe, Shelly/shelli, sangue e latte, between others
Agree that M.nigra is tops, but mulberry enthusiasts have tried, over and over, to grow it successfully in the humid Southeastern US, with little to no success.
Perhaps you’ll be lucky with yours, chriso, but I also question whether you have a true M.nigra.
lets see how it behaves when the Spring comes