I am a fan of mulberries but be advised that a mulberry too close to your house can lead to a car, deck , or sidewide covered with purple bird droppings.
I am a fan of IL. everbearing . I get good takes when grafting it compared to other varieties .
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Does anybody know if it is possible to keep a Illinois ever bearing Mulberry tree pruned into a bush shape rather than a standard single trunk three that will reach to the skies. I have one planted that is about 7 foot tall, and is growing fast but I want to keep it pickable from the ground .
You can but from what others have said be prepared to prune it 3 or 4 times a year. I’m growing some in containers, but also will be planting out and trying to keep it fairly small. What I did is buy some root stock and I have three cultivars on one rootstock. I’ll try and make three scaffolds. I have two like that. One will be in ground and one will stay in a container. They have different cultivars so 6 different ones. I may switch them around and put the three best tasting ones on one tree. Also see which can survive my winters, may limit my options. One huge experiment. I have a couple other trees in containers. Only room to plant one out.
I’m looking for IEB scion if anybody wants to trade. I have these to offer besides my stone fruit.
Kokusa Korean
Beautiful Day
Oscar
Silk Hope
Wellington
Geraldi Dwarf Mulberry
Sweet Lavender
Contact me for other fruits I have.
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I can help you, Drew.
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Here’s something I found a few years ago.Most Mulberries like to grow a lot,so like Drew pointed out,they need to be pruned much to keep them at a desired height.
I just checked on YouTube and there seemed to be a number of videos about this.bb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=8&v=TJQeNqwBls8
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I am very keen to keep my mulbs pick-able and under 10’ tall. Is that possible? The ones I grow are so vigorous, producing shoots that can exceed 8’ in a season! Summer pruning strategies/pinching tips seem like a good bet to reduce vigor. I have also been thinking about a biannual pollarding plan, I would head back to a basic scaffold structure and get a good harvest every other year. By alternating which limbs were pruned, an annual bearing could perhaps be possible…
My local IE mulberry tree was planted in Buckfield 25-30 years ago by an ethusiastic octegenarian orchardist, David. I visited that tree to collect scion wood several times over the years, and also stopped by to collect some fruit. “The birds cant keep up with it,” David said. Which seemed true, as any time I came by between July and October the were alway fruit for the picking from this generous tree. Easy to get a couple quarts just from the lower hanging limbs on a 35’ tree.
The flavor is very good, comparable to blackberry.
I was somewhat surprised when I came by to find that the tree had been removed, all that was there was a 23" stump and later found out David had also passed away…
I heard the had been a windstorm that damaged the tree, which had already been ‘repaired’ with cables. I will miss David, and somehow feel that remembrance in the trees I have grafted from his tree…
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A pick came across on the web. Somewhere ?
Mulberry .
Looks like a full time job !
They seem to fruit on new wood. (Current season growth)
So maybe cutting the new growth back to a few buds each winter would work ?
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Drew, can you compare the mulberries you do have?
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No, wish I could! All will produce fruit this year, but even first year fruit is not great for many fruits. I know my choices were based on what people like with the exception of Silk Hope. I have seen many negative responses to that one. And zero to the others. Silk Hope was gifted to me as it looked great from descriptions, but I saw a few personal accounts where it was stated to be rather bland. Sometimes you have bad years and I have learned I have to try myself. So sure what people say you should take into account, but final verdict needs to be your own taste. Many a fruit described as bland was great for me!
Oscar has been the most praised. Wellington and Kokusa Korean tied for second most praised. Of course excluding Morus nigra trees. Speaking of which I have a seedling that was produced by a nigra tree in an area farther north than my location in zone 6. In Bulgaria. The tree was in trouble and produced male and female flowers so all genetics come from this tree. It is one foot tall, going on 2nd leaf in the spring. This has potential for us in colder zones. All those in zone 7 should have no trouble growing. I grew it out from seed the tree is famous really with two articles about it on the net.
Tsarigradska mulberry seedling from Vratsa Bulgaria
It’s possible it could be a male plant. i will just have to wait and see…
For now I’m protecting it from temps lower than 25F. I have high hopes for this extremely rare mulberry. It for sure is a Morus nigra too!
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I can say that for me Kokuso (Korean) is #1 in size and taste. Illinois Everbearing is a very close second in flaveo (but not size) and when I don’t prune the heck out of it (I pollarded it a couple years back) it produces 10X the fruit of Kokuso (Ie trunk diameter is 5", Kokuso is about 2.75")
Beautiful day is white and though I haven’t gotten much off it, its sweet and I don’t recall noting any of the grassy flavors I’ve found in wild whites.
Sweet Lavender is small and I’ve got it potted (in a huge pot) and I only got 3 fruit off it last year. One was terrible (spoiled) 1 great and 1 not quite ripe.
My pitiful morus nigra needs rejuvenation (which will mean repotting and babying this next year. Fruit is small (1/4th Kokuso in size) and yummy.
I pull at least 100 seedlings a year in my tiny yard, I can’t imagine the genetics that must be contained within (there are at least a half-dozen other “wild” trees in the neighborhood)
Scott
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I’m intrigued…Are the leaves on your Silk Hope lobed (Silk Hope has lobed leaves)? Maybe that is a mulberry that is heavily influenced by climate. I live in zone 9a and I prefer Silk Hope over Illinois Everbearing. Illinois can be a little on the dry side, while Silk Hope is juicy. On the flip side, many report favorably on Shangri La…Here in Florida it has no flavor.
By memory yse they are, look like fig leaves which is related. Both are in the family Moraceae.
Yes, i think you’re right. heck some I can’t grow that are not nigra like Shangri la Pakistan mulberry etc. They need warmer temps. I tried but I killed Shangri La. Too much trouble, If I’m going to go to the trouble of protecting a plant it might as well be a nigra!
Yes, and I decided to try it, and it is hardy enough to grow here. I’ll make my own mind up.
Wife and daughter love the Illinois Everbearing Mulberries. Bet it goes good with vanilla ice cream.
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Im interested in getting some Illinois everbearing for my property. Does anyone sell seedlings or know how to get some?
Common tree sold online.
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Im zone 4b. If I were to get rootstocks for cold hardy mulberries and graft Illinois everbearing scionwood to it what would be recommended? I don’t have anything against buying trees, but now that I‘m into grafting and creating many trees for a little money, it’s hard not to want to graft if all possible.
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Many state tree nurserys ,sell mulberry seedlings, cheep.
These could be used as rootstock.
Russian rootstock is sold for about 3.75 at Burnt Ridge whose URL was already posted.
Mulberries are easy to graft. I grafted unto two Russian rootstocks.
Kokusa Korean, Beautiful Day, Oscar, Wellington and Sweet Lavender One has three, the other two. I also grafted Geraldi Dwarf Mulberry unto Silk Hope.
If you have local mulberries, you could use those too or other sources mentioned. Just giving all options. You’re near the zone limit for mulberries. All the ones I listed are fairly hardy, worth trying. Mine survived in zone 6a/5b in fabric containers. Some say containers take away 2 zones. Illinois is hardy too. I plan to graft it any second. I’m behind in grafting. I did the others last year and they all have fruit this year. Every one of them!
I plan to dry the white ones. I heard they are best dried. My dehydrator is going to be on all summer! The white are the most hardy btw. Beautiful Day and Sweet Lavender are whites.
I got all the scion here, next winter, just ask, offer any you have etc. Or just ask. Some sellers may be out there too? I don’t know?
I will have some, but my plants are small in containers, so never will be big. I plan to prune them to keep small. As I do all my fruit trees in containers or in the ground.
Anyway I’ll have a couple pieces available of each cultivar. Have to pass it forward remember!
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I have a 3rd year Illinois Everbearing that the entire family is loving this year and wish we had more. Question, "Should I graft or root more IE or plant another winner like IE? What is your “winner” mulberry variety? Besides IE…already onto that.