That species is housed at the Davis station. In recent years, Davis has gotten picky over to whom they’ll bother sending germplasm, claiming their program is resource-strapped and overwhelmed with requests.
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I think for a fruit farm business like I have researching varities would be ok. Is that not the case?
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Put in a request. I hope they’ll oblige you.
I’ve requested material several times over the years. I believe they only ever sent me one package, with a partially-filled order. I was happy to receive it. Wish I could get more. Their stonefruit and fig collections must be among the world’s best, if not the very best.
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Thanks Matt that’s great information. Hopefully after I trial and error fruit varities for a few more years I’ll get better at growing some of it. I’m doing really well with some of it such as pears , blackberries, and sour cherries but I have a lot of opportunities to research and get better on other types of fruit. I have a lot to learn! Always tell everyone I’m a amateur professional because my farm is in place but in order to actually do this for a living i need to get better at it.
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Hi Clark,
do you mind to explain/show your farm a little more? What are you planning/doing there? Please answer only if convenient to you but I am interested 
. Maybe you already did? Then pointing me to it would be helpful 
I do think about buying some land for fruit growing purposes myself. It is quite difficult since here land is sparse and expensive plus regulations are quite harsh even for amateur growers. For instance you are not even allowed to raise a fence without permission…
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This will give you an idea of some of our experiments Che, mulberry, osage orange, fig grafting. Now I’m moving past what didn’t work to what does work which is grafting mulberries. I could easily top work 30+ Adult male mulberries and technically 30+ adult females. I have lots of smaller mulberry trees to graft over that are smaller than 6 feet.
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I think with the GRIN sites all to varying degrees tightening their policies, a fair bit depends on who you are and what you are asking for…
if you can claim some rationale beyond “random hobbyist” that may increase your likelihood, but also if you are asking for more rare or unique stuff…clark if I were you (and this is just my gut hunch) I would omit IL Everbearing and Geraldi, for example, and get them in random trades here, saving your “ask karma” for stuff there isn’t a dozen people on this site alone carrying.
Absolutely not telling you what to do, but it seems the more common the things I’ve asked for in the past couple years, the more likely I’ve been to get a letter suggesting they only share with researchers and commonly available varieties should be sourced elsewhere.
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Thank you since sounds like good advice. I’ve had a farm business for years but we did not always grow fruit. We grew grains for years.
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I ordered some more obscure poms 3+ years ago and received them. I ordered some others 2+ years ago and they sent me a note that they wouldn’t be sent. I also ordered 3 types of mulberries from them I had never seen elsewhere 2 years ago and those never arrived and I never got any type of notification beyond the automated response from their web site.
I was honest that they were for trials in my small suburban 7A lot, so I understand if that fell outside what they felt they should support. I do think if you are going to trial those mulberries them for possible commercial farming in your area, that is probably closer to their mission. I hope they send them to you.
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By the way you may want to add Easter Egg to your list, since it had done well in some tastings and is interesting in terms of color so might do well at farmers markets, etc.
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That sounds great. I’m not sure which ones will survive zone 6/5. I’m trying to sort through them.
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The top 4 cold-hardy tasty mulbs - according to info I’m tracking on this forum - are:
Oscar
Geraldi
Kokuso
Illinois Everbearing
By this I mean good mulbs that can survive humid climates. The straight morus nigras are said to be tastier but are suitable only for Calif and warm arid areas.
I have eaten IL Everbearing and can confirm it is delcious. Too bad my tree was just killed by Ambrosia beetles.
I haven’t had Oscar or Kokuso but others here say they are winners too.
I should get my first taste of Geraldi soon…
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Thank you Matt. I may just wait until next year and see if I can get 3-4 varities from friends. There is no hurry. I’ve got some great seedlings I might tbud some males with.
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Do they ship fig cuttings year around? are they dormant cuttings?
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It will say on the page if they are bud wood or dormant cuttings. They do both. If you need to you can contact them. I decided I will wait to order mine until I can get dormant cuttings.
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I was able to order in past, but I don’t believe UC DAVIS will send out any materials to individuals anymore, I was denied the last couple years on Pomegranates, Mulberry, and Persimmon, with an explanation of a write up of research/testing to Cultivars, which I actually do in my opinion. Other USDA repositories do still send out material but unless you are a university or such I doubt UC Davis will send anything. The requests for Fig cuttings was the main reason, and I understand why they shutdown, but wish they would still distribute some of the other Genus.
Clark, If you contact me in Jan. I can send you some Mulberry.
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Phil,
Have you try to grow any Jujube or pawpaw?
I don’t recall you mentioned any of these two fruits in your collection.
Tony
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Tony,
Yes I grow both, my larger Jujube are at my cabin so I don’t get to eat many, and not sure I have straight on which Branch is which on some of the multi-grafts anymore I have had bad luck loosing Jujube to below the graft in late spring freezes. I think I only have 4 cultivar so I don’t focus on them like some fruits.
Pawpaw I think I have about 10 cultivar grafted and some seedlings, I might have lost a few to ambrosia beetle this spring, but at least one seem to be re-sprouting from trunk above graft, but still a setback. I have only fruited a couple cultivar of my grafted to maturity and a couple others had fruit set but dropped them. I am not sure between Ambrosia beetle and fruit drop this might be 1st year in a few I will have to forage some native wilds if I want any this fall. I lost access to the main patch I frequented when The place sold a couple years ago.
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Just a FYI - UC DAVIS has nothing to do with this.
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Thank you for the offer. I think it would be best then if I keep it simple and contact you later if I go that route instead of submitting a request. Since I have a farm orchard I figured that was who they were trying to help with the program. Sounds like they primarily provide material for college research.
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