Here is the last photo I took of the pakastan on wild mulberry. I checked last night and all three trees I grafted are showing good signs. This one was grafted a few days earlier than the other two.
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My main concern with the pakastan is winter hardiness. There is a wide range of opinions and experiences. Maybe because of misidentified pakastans??
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Fortunately by us doing these experiments they will pay off significantly for other grafters later. They will learn from our mistakes whatever those might be. Your grafts look excellent!
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Yes, it really will answer questions we have. Thanks, I am hoping that there are some female pakastans catkins hidden in those leaves, giving me the opportunity to taste one. I also plan ( I know, counting chickens before they hatch) on taking some scion wood before it gets really cold here.
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Looks good,This is the one I really am curious to see, it would allow you to use OO as an interstem for the Che on mulberry roots.
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If we are right about mulberry it may be a better rootstock than osage orange. We will know shortly and may find out why no one is using it as a rootstock. May have che the size of mulberries or maybe the size of hedge balls! Could be the rootstock will not influence the fruit at all.
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Lol, Che the size of a hedge apple would really be something.
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They will likely make a gmo for that soon enough.
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Probably in the works in some lab as we speak.
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Clark, Jason, and all,
Update, Pakistani, Kokuso, Gerardi, and Short internodes M.Alba from Raf. all took and buds out well on large wild Mulberry understocks. It would be a treat if the Pakistani grafts survive Zone 5. Omaha.
Tony
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Sure would make my sorry looking squirrels happy to find a big che fruit. They don’t have nut trees just hedge apples. The squirrels are about as big around as a stick. If they got a che fruit like that they would have heart failure they would be so happy. The hawks, owls, etc. stay on the squirrels here so they are not the pest they are in some areas. The bobcats climb trees so they are not safe from them either.
That’s those flat land varmits, squirrels and raccoons that are long and lean, the chubby slow ones don’t make it.
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Clark,
I just found this video on how easy mulberry started from a green cutting. Once the grafts take, you can take the cuttings and have a upick mulberries farm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdm5ARzrFbc
Tony
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Wow that’s does look easy to grow the mulberries that way Tony. I’m interested how the che will winter over. I got some from edible landscaping a couple of times and the rootstock was not hardy enough to survive here for more than a couple of years both times.
Clark,
If our Che grafts take on wild mulberry understocks, I will do winter protection by cover them up with some tarps and leaves inside for insulation or a light bulb for severe cold like -4F to -15F. Once they are big enough and hardened, they will be on their own.
Tony
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Tony, thank for posting this video. Mulberry is one of my favorite fruits, I will try to grow more using this method.
Tony,
I suspect some are hardier than others. According to the rare fruit growers they can take down to -20 F http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/che.html. They also said there are no known cultivars in the USA but the che we are growing are very different from one another. Sounds like che can be grown like mulberry from cutting http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/2006-64-1-che-chewy-dollops-of-maroon-sweetness.pdf
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Some Mulberry root easy some do not
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Clark,
At least We have 3 varieties if the grafts take, a seedless Che from Strudeldog or Phil, a male and a female from Hidden Springs nursery. BTW, I took some fresh buds out cuttings of the male Che and scrapped about an inch on both side on the bottom end of the cuttings and dipped them in powder root hormones and they are growing to 2-3 inches now. I will post some photos later after work. If these two cuttings live then the Che is not so hard to propagate from green cutting.
Tony
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