Bones ? 
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Just to agree with other posters. I went through 4 or 5 different varieties of mulberry and they all got zapped by late frosts. Illinois everbearing, shangri-la, Pakistan and a few others. Silk Hope was the only one that leafed out late enough. I found it also benefitted from strict pruning to encourage fruiting, and discourage branch growth. Rabbits girdled it last year, but for the South East, I give it 2 thumbs up.
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Hey so has anyone done any studies on which rootstock delays bud break in mulberries?
What about studies on stone fruit? Yeah - I’m asking on any threads where people have come to the same conclusion- i just can’t prove it and don’t know which rootstocks to use to acheive this.
And would anyone be able to share scions that can handle 6B/7A with late frosts?
Thanks in advance.
Bill
I think you will like IE. Just beware it’s a fairly aggressive growing variety and can grow much taller than you might anticipate so you need to train this one to keep your scaffolds within easy picking height. Recently, I have been trying some new varieties grafting onto Morus Alba rootstock, but none others have fruited yet. Hopefully this year I will have a few others fruiting for comparison
Dennis
Kent, Wa
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The IE as you said is very aggressive and I’m pulling limbs down to see if I can manage its size. As of now it is fruiting heavily and has a great taste. It seems to start growing late enough to escape the early cold weather.
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Here in southern middle TN…
My Silk hope is out a little now…
My Gerardi has huge swolen buds but has not opened any yet. It is grafted to some kind of white mulberry rootstock (variety mixup by OGW).
My Oscar is a new start this year… it has been in ground 3-4 weeks now and has a bit of bud swell but not huge yet. It has not rushed out so far.
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I dont think there is one available. I think that is controlled solely by the top. I have IL everbearing grafted onto several hybrid seedlings(many have already leafed out), but my IL still have closed buds. Seems like dormancy is not controlled as much by the roots, and the chilling requirements are in the buds.
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wow, that’s a whopper!
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any pics?
Making a ton of nice mulberries! There were a couple huge ones I couldnt reach. Property owner said I could take some cuttings, hopefully they root!
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yeah, theyre nice size. red when ripe is somewhat unusual, though some in the photo appear darker. How’s the flavor?
Looking back at your pictures of the tree (I assume its the big one at the cemetery?) it seems to be a red mulberry or hybrid thereof. Im basing that mostly on leaf shape.
Then again, the leaves in your new pics look like straight alba (though nice fruit if so) and you mentioned a property owner, which wouldn’t imply its a cemetery. Fruit in clusters like that is an alba thing too.
Curious to know more, especially in terms of flavor
Leaves have a roughness to them, and the buds look like a rubra hybrid. Fruit is sweet but also has some nice tartness. Not bland at all, and there are some darker fruits but they were falling off at the slightly red stage as well. I’ll be keeping an eye on this tree. This is a really old yard tree on the edge of a alleyway. Seems to be slightly earlier than the rest of the random mulberries in the neighborhood. I wonder how old this tree is…it is huge…
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I spoke too soon about mine as a late freeze did kill back its branches. It didn’t die all the way to the ground though, so it’s still fared better than other mulberries I’ve tried here.
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Riverview from the defunct rolling river nursery has been bulletproof in z4 here. its 4 years old and about 8ft tall but hasnt fruited yet. also have Northrup that was 10ft when it got killed to the ground
from -40 3 years ago. its now 6ft again but hasnt fruited either. both got a heavy pruning 3 weeks ago so maybe this years the year. put in 12 trader mulberries here and up in the orchard but they’re only 6in. t.c trees so it will be awhile before those fruit.
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