I have a couple of what I suspect were those (“Dwarf Everbearing”) that were sold to me as Gerardi. They are quite a bit inferior.
I note that the seller identified these on the tag as Morus nigra. Your tree does not look like an M. nigra to me. M. nigra has the best-tasting fruit (if you like sweet-tart), but they are very hard to grow outside of the west coast.
I agree with everyone else who says to graft over them or replace them with Gerardi (which is probably an alba / rubra hybrid). Gerardi is easy to grow, is much more dwarfing, much more productive, and has bigger and tastier fruit. So basically better in every way, and more in line with what you were probably looking for to begin with.
I am pretty certain that the reason Gerardi is a dwarf is because of the characteristic short distance between nodes, not because of the rootstock. That is also what is responsible for its heavy productivity (more nodes to produce fruit). So it should still be dwarfed regardless of rootstock.
I bought mine from Whitman Farms and I am pretty sure that they are grafted to standard alba rootstock. I am pretty sure that @TNHunter has grafted some of his to standard rootstock, so he may be able to weigh in.
I think the cultivar often sold as “Dwarf Everbearing” is pretty easy to root, and the ones I bought (originally sold to me as Gerardi) were on their own roots. But the real Gerardi is extremely difficult to root – you’ll probably need to graft if you want to reliably propagate them.
That is good to know about the dwarfing aspects of Gerardi Dwarf. I am hoping for a smaller tree that will be easier to pick. I got my scion wood from Brambleberry Permaculture Farm and they seem to be very meticulous and honest in correctly labeling their varieties.
I also bought a small Gerardi Dwarf in a pot from them last fall and planted it out, and can see the graft union, but don’t know what it is grafted to. It is just budding out now. I will ask Darren, the owner, when I go there to get some plants in the next couple of weeks what rootstock he uses.
Hopefully some of the dwarf everbearing cuttings will root, since it is supposed to be easy to root. I have not given them any real TLC, but some things just have a real will to live and reproduce, so maybe I will get lucky.
Thanks for the useful information.
Sandra
As long as you don’t have too many late frost/winter warm spell problems, zone 8b should be warm enough for Cooke’s Pakistan mulberry, too. I have yet to taste Gerardi, but I really love my tree. It is productive and it fruits for nearly 3 months straight for me without pruning. The berries are large (up to 3" long and .5" in diameter) and taste good. They aren’t the most complex, but still good and sweet nonetheless.
I find that as long as its fruit doesn’t get frosted off in the spring, it usually doesn’t grow too much and stays somewhat manageable. Now, if it’s berries ever get frosted off, it grows like a vicious beast.
Unfortunately, my trees are leafing out now so I won’t be able to get good cuttings for a couple months, but I will have plenty when I do.
I bought this exact tree from the same vendor about 5 years ago.
I have good news and bad news. It does get better. Mine tasted just like you describe on year one. Also the fruit was very small. Around year 3 or 4 the fruit was comparatively larger and was actually quite tasty. That said… It wasn’t tastier than my Illinois Everbearing, and the fruit is still much smaller than even that tree. This tree does have a very interesting form and we’re keeping it in a pot basically as an ornamental which once in awhile gets a small amount of good tasting berries.
@Jujumama … I did my first graft a few years back. I had a 3 inch diameter white mulberry that I did not like… whacked it off and grafted via bark graft 4 scions of Gerardi mulberry to it.
I had some scion left over after making that graft and tried rooting them… one month in dark on bottom heat… 1 month in sunny window… the scion pushed growth, leaves stems fruit for a few weeks then died…
I checked and none of those cuttings had a single root on them.
I would say that Gerardi is definately in the hard to root group.
This spring… i grafted scion of Gerardi to Burnt Ridge russian mulberry rootstock (whip/tounge) and that graft is looking successful now. Buds pushing thru parafilm.
My original Gerardi on that large white mulberry stump… I prune it back down to 8 ft tall each winter… it usually puts on 2-3 ft of growth each year.
First year berries on gerardi were not impressive… it fruited but was also working hard on getting established growth wise.
Second year fruit improved a lot… nice fruity flavor and mildly sweet…
Third year fruit… wow big improvement… complex fruity flavor sweet and tart as good as any blackberry I have ever had.
I suspect it will take any mulberry a few years to get to peak flavor.
@TNHunter Wow, that grafted Gerardi looks beautiful! I have a Russian alba mulberry that I planted many years ago that only has very small not very tasty fruits. I had planned to chop it off and graft to it. I will try to do it like you have done when grafting. Hopefully something will take.
Thanks for the encouragement and information. I will look forward to some tasty berries in a few years!
Sandra
Well I have had my leaves look like that from temps in the 40s but with high winds. Likely it was wind chill damage, also I’ve had a frost around 40* also. Doesn’t have to freeze to cause leaf damage especially on tender leaves.
IIRC “wind chill” doesn’t affect plants, although winds can cause damage by drying them out. But temperature differences can be significant even within a few feet, I’ve seen 3F differences even between the same spot ground level vs six feet up. But if your trees are in an open field, they’re likely experiencing colder than your back porch, definitely if your porch is under a roof.
Pretty sure even the M. macrouras took 30F while leafing out at my spot without any noticeable damage
I’ve got some cuttings going, but trying to figure out what cultivar it is. Seems unlikely to find two large fruited monoecious trees within 300 feet unless somebody planted them.
I have a couple in my yard that I have observed changing from female to completely male, and another one thats started making a few male flowers this year. I really want to know what causes females to go male, that way I could induce male flowers on a desirable cultivar and make some really good mulberry crosses. I think part of it is stress related hormone changes, but thats really just a guess.
I’m still not convinced these “seedlings” aren’t ’Tice’, but I can’t find any mention of that variety throwing male flowers. For now I’m calling the bigger tree in more sun ‘Pithlochocco Grande’ & the one with low branches I collected pollen from ‘Pithlochocco Two-Spirit’. Here’s a pic of fruits w/scale:
I made my second ever attempt at grafting about a month ago, and it seems to have been a success. Several grafts later, I now have “Old Coloma” and “Kaester” M. nigra (on “Shagri-La” rootstock) and “Australian Green” (on “Pakistan” and “Shangri-La”) in my collection.
Today I received cuttings for M. nigra “Persian” and “Black Beauty”, M. alba “Tehama” and “Four Seasons”, and M. alba x rubra “Silk Hope” and “Hicks”. I’m putting the cuttings in water for now. I ran out of rootstock and only planted new Shangri-La cuttings a few days ago.
Am I correct in assuming I can directly plant the albas but the rest should be grafted?
Albas are definitely the easiest to root in general. A friend of mine with a commercial nursery now almost exclusively grafts his mulberry scion onto unrooted alba cuttings & then sticks them in a pot of soil to root. I have an ‘Astralian Green’ on alba roots now I did at his place back in February, but YMMV.
Also, FYI what gets passed around as ‘Black Beauty’ is often actually an alba. Compare the bud size & color to your ‘Persian’
