Interesting! Here is a picture of the leaf underside and the buds. The bottom of the leaf is a bit rough and i dont notice any hairs.
This is a mulberry growing on the fenceline. I suspect its white mulberry because there are a number of them around. The leaf top is a glossier, darker green than the one i bought and much smaller in size. The fruit this Spring was only barely sweet and not at all tart.
Good evening. I have a black mulberry tree in my yard also. I live in Williamsburg, VA, zone 7b. The tree was already growing in my yard at the edge of the woodline when i bought my house 11 years ago.
Welcome to the forum, @BonokaOrchard !
Do you mean the species Morus nigra (“true” black mulberry), or do you just mean a mulberry tree that produces black fruit?
Black mulberry refers to Morus nigra
We have a lot of them in central Alabama and they are huge and produce an abundance of fruit. Today is May 7th and there are dark ripe berries everywhere on the ground and the trees are still loaded. Wish I could figure out how to post pictures.
Before you hit reply on the right side theres an up arrow to upload photos.
Shellie, there are also limitations on what you are allowed to do when you first join and one of those restrictions is posting photos. That changes quickly as you read posts, reply, send likes, etc. It is built in protection of the forum for security from certain entities. We’re glad to have you and just keep using the threads here and all the restrictions will automatically go away.
The original topic title was confusing so I added the term (Morus nigra). Some mulberry trees that have black fruit are not Morus Nigra.
There’s a TON of mulberry in my neighborhood growing everywhere, even a white mulberry. I’ll have to take some pics in case ones an actual black one.
Morus nigra fruit does have a very short peduncle that is similar (although shorter), but even without a visual scale size to make a more qualified guess, some things don’t quite add up.
Timing: I’m in zone 9a and the fruit on my large tree is still mostly green, with only a few pink fruits, and not a single black fruit. It is also very difficult to pick ripe nigra fruit without making a juicy mess.
Leaves: The leaf margins are not nearly bold enough. Also, the leaf shape doesn’t seem quite like Morus nigra. The leaf surface of your tree actually appears more rubra-like…so I feel your tree has a good amount of rubra genetics.
Buds: I’m not seeing any large dark buds that are indicative of nigra, but I really don’t have enough visual information to pass judgment.
In my opinion, nigra fruit is overrated. Yes, it is quite flavorful if picked at its optimum stage, but if eaten when over-ripe it can be quite nasty. Also, the fruit clings to the branches and is difficult to pick without squishing. Every year I generally leave most of the fruit for birds and critters to enjoy because I deem it to be just too much of a hassle to pick.
Shellie, I grew up in east central AL (Lee, Chambers, and Tallapoosa counties). You don’t have Morus nigra (Black mulberry) there.
But…some of the very best Morus rubra ( Red mulberry) I ever sampled were growing in Lee Co.
We are trying with this King James here. It’s been in ground about a month and so far it’s been happy.
You might want to hit that nigra with Captan. The brown discoloration on that leaf looks suspicious – you wouldn’t want it to spread.
Apparently, nigra in the South might not be impossible, but protecting the tree from leaf infections when it is young is probably a good idea. Check out this post: Eastern US Black Mulberry sighting (Morus nigra) - #52 by Livinginawe
Thanks for the catch, hit it with a bit. Yeah I took some soil from the root area of my other mulberry tree because I read somewhere some did that and it helped get their nigra established in northern Florida