I had a 10ft IEM in central ND, it died to the ground last winter. Its starting to grow back from the roots but not sure if Ill dig it out or not yet… Might try a trader.
I figured this was good place to ask if you all think this is possibly a white mulberry. It’s in a shady spot and I can move it in the fall. The leaves are very much a mulberry shape but I didn’t think they volunteered so easily here. If it is, will it probably fruit as is or will it have to be grafted? Thanks!
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A tree that big should be covered in fruit… I’m terrible at leaf ID, Mine are loaded and about the same size.
Your black raspberries look good. I keep losing canes here and there. I have to figure it out.
Around here all the wild mulberries are Morus rubra and have red berries that turn purple or darker when ripe. I’m in SE MI. I’m about 136 miles from you, and you are a lot more north than me, explains some of the late ripening,
With my mulberries the fruits formed right with the leaves.
The leaves look too small to be mulberry. Remember though I suck at leaf ID!
Rubra does have smaller leaves, so could be? It should have fruit but maybe rubra is different?
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I’m going to guess you have a male morus alba there. Mine push leaves with fruit forming as well.
A close up on the leaves would help, but blowing things up as much as I could leads me to believe it is a mulberry.
If it is a male (and therefor unfruitful), graft it over to a fruitful female.
Scott
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It took a bit, but here are some pics of the leaves. Grafting might be what I’ll have to do but does anyone know how to shock them into the sex change?
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I have seen large trees change sex on one limb after a storm broke off a large limb . New limb bore fruit . I have seen this on 2 different trees . I also have a tree that changed fruit color after cutting back . Went from black to white / lavender . Again on new growth .
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This spring I planted a Kokuso. It never leafed out. I have tried three different Illinois Everbearings from various nurseries and all three winter killed. One made it two seasons, before succumbing in this last rough winter. How far north have the rest of you been successful? We are about right on the 45th parallel. I had hoped something would succeed and I could then graft onto some of the wild mulberries coming up in my orchard. Maybe I should try a scion exchange this next winter if they are not too difficult to graft successfully.
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My Kokusa from Burnt Ridge never leafed out either.
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I had three first year graphs of Illinois ever bearing that didn’t make it through this winter and two of three collier in madison wisconsin area…This was an exceptionally horrible winter
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tried grafting illni. on my no name russian. so far, nada! my northrop from cricket hill finally fully leafed out after a late frost nipped the buds as as they were leafing out for the 1st time… supposedly cold hardy, once established, to -40f according to st. lawrence nurseries. ill post on here if it makes it thru our winters. haven’t heard too much on their flavor. anyone have a fruiting northrop? also how does one tell if you have a male or female mulberry?
I planted a IE a few years back and it grew moderately for 3 years. The fourth winter was our test winter with several nights down to -38 C. It died to the ground, but did send one weak shoot up later that did not survive the following winter. Easy come easy go, it did give me an honest effort. Yesterday Wiffletree started selling trader, I purchased one. Today they are sold out. At $60 they definitely understand it is a sellers market. I’ll let you know how it makes out.
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im in zone 8b WA State all mulberries had minor dieback this year. we had a mild winter with 7 inches of snow. last winter it was much colder and we had more dieback. I think figs are harder than mulberries. They all seem to have some sort of dieback. there isn’t one mulberry that was more hardier than another. However, im concern more about diseases that affect certain mulberries.
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For north plantings try the Russian Mulberries. They are naturalized all over Kansas and Nebraska and are very hardy, more hardy than eastern and european and pakistani type mulberries.
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That may be the case at your location with the varieties that you grow, but I can assure you that there are indeed mulberries that are hardier than others.
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yes i understand i was talking about for my area zone 8B WA state i am unable to test the real hardiness of mulberries. there wasnt one mulberry that had less dieback than another with the varieties that i grow. however, others in zone 5/6 would be great at determining that. as Paulinakanas was pointing out as i heard Russian mulberries should be hardier they are commonly used as rootstocks.
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I’m not sure that a zone 6 planting will really test hardiness, other than substantiating some of what’s already known, about varieties like the true/original ‘Pakistan’, which was imported from Islamabad, where the lowest recorded temperature was 28F… it will not reliably survive most KY winters… unless planted with graft union below grade, you’ll lose it sooner than later.
Some degree of winter tip dieback is common here, even on native mulberries( and escaped M.alba) as well as varieties that originated locally or at sites farther north. It’s just a fact of life.
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Last winter (2019-2020) one of my two Trader Mulberries died so now I just have one. The one that died was inside my main fenced area, nicely mulched and cared for. It was the smaller of the two (but both were healthy to begin with). The second, still alive and looking good going into this winter, is out in the field, roughly mulched with little extra attention. It does have a fence surround to keep critters away. It it makes it through this, rather mild, winter - it’s fourth - I’ll plant another. Sue
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