Thanks. I planted mine in 2018. I fear that if they are not established now, they’ll never be.
That’s not saying that I couldn’t get them to perform better if I treated them different. For example, I’m guessing that I might get better quality if I prune harder so that there’re fewer berries per leaf. If there were no other choices, that’s what I’d do. But other standard-sized varieties seem to perform better, even when young. For example, an Illinois Everbearing planted in 2021 is already producing much better fruit. Yes, it is a pain to harvest because I have to keep scaffolds >7’ above the ground to avoid deer; but on the other hand it produces enough fruit when mature that I can share with the birds and still have plenty for myself.
Meanwhile, I’m at the point where I don’t want / can’t manage any more work. And I already produce more of most fruits than I can really easily use. Much of what I’ve planted is experimental – which apple, pear, peach, fig, persimmon, chestnut, raspberry etc will grow and taste best here – so culling the underperformers should be routine now. So my best choice would be to remove the marginal Gerardi berries and use the space for something else.
Interesting Ram, I think my Silk Hope is in its third leaf from grafting and this is the first year its made mature and ripe fruits. I like it. I’d call the flavor good. The quality of the fruit is excellent. But my wife and I both prefer the Pakistan on the same tree by a good margin.
It’s a nice contrast because it has more acidity than the Pakistan.
I’d heard others bad talk it a bit and was wondering whether it was going to be a dud. But I like having some portion of my tree of it. These are based on my first impressions. Maybe they will get even better in successive years.
I’ve added a few other varieties also but none of my others are fruiting yet.
I think Gerardi taste better in a hotter climate but it also takes some time to fully develop good flavor.
First year my Gerardi fruit was quite bland… nothing you would want to keep.
Second year, it had a nice fruity flavor and good level of sweetness… but nothing complex, no tartness.
Third year (last year, we had a hotter and dryer than usual season) and my Gerardi berries were excellent. Great complex fruity flavor, plenty sweet, and a nice balance of sweet and tart.
Year 4… most of its fruiting period was cooler and wetter… and the fruit is not as good as last year. Still good, very enjoyable to eat, but not outstanding like last year.
I bet for those south of me… or just hotter, dryer… they would see that excellent flavor more often than I do.
I got a stick of a thai dwarf from someone that used it to protect the plant i ordered from shipping. So I rooted it and got fruit within 2 months. Now it’s about 4 ft tall, 2 more months later. Really tasty! May leave it in a pot though in case it’s not really dwarfing.
The reason I prefer Silk hope is that it doesn’t have any off flavors.
Pakistan has a slight vegetal flavor that doesn’t go away unless it is dead ripe.
Gerardi has also been very impressive this year. It was not good in the first few years.
I see what you mean, I don’t mind that much though unless they are so underripe that the color, texture, sweetness and such are also not great on Pakistan.
Silk Hope is just poorer sugar/acid balance before it is fully black.
Yeah, thanks. You’re a lot hotter than me. What I really need here is fruit (whatever species) that performs OK in a short-season, cool-ish climate. FWIW, 80’s are common here in summer, 90’s not unusual but not the norm. I’m right on the water, which moderates the temps both summer and winter. In summer, it’s not unusual for temps here to be 10 F cooler than a few miles inland.
@jrd51 … Lawson Dawson tasted good mid May here when it was still quite cool and rainy. The tree was only about 1 year old at that point. I am expexting to be impressed with it next year and after.
Also big bonus for me (with my late frosts)… LD retained its leaves and first flush of fruit in a late March cold night… when all my other mulberries leaves and first flush fruit got toasted. LD is about 20 ft from Oscar… and Oscar got toasted and LD did not.
LD is the only name left on my wish list. I started cuttings of Oscar and Silk Hope this year. Planted Shangri-La last year, Kokuso and Illinois Everbearing (after losing an older tree in a storm) a few years ago. My only problem is figuring where to grow them all.
@Phlogopite … the odd thing was that night… the low temp shown by my two back porch merc thermometers was 35F.
There was no frost on the grass or on my truck windshield.
It is not that far from my back porch to the mulberries in my orchard… 70-80 yards.
Silk Hope, Oscar, Kip Parker, Gerardi… all lost all leaves and first flush of fruit… it took them about a month to regrow… and that second batch of growth had leaves but no berries.
Silk Hope had the most damage… some of the branches that got the first flush of leaves and fruit toasted… did not leaf out again.
The Lawson Dawson ortet is located about 10 miles from me, near the Christian/Hopkins county line, at the intersection of Lawson Dawson Rd. with KY Hwy 109, between Hopkinsville and Dawson Springs, KY.
Zone 7 (depending upon whether you trust the latest USDA hardiness zone map.) Has proven to be winter hardy for Buzz Ferver in z4 at Barre VT.
Lucky_P, thanks so much for sharing and introducing this variety to everyone. It was one of the best tasting mulberries out of the varieties we grow. In fact, I’m trying to propagate more of these now to share at our little farmer’s market. It was also a pleasant surprise to find out they ripen over a longer period… or everbearing as they say! -Mark
Do you have impressions on fruit from your Kaester? Too early to know? I’m considering a trial of that in zone 7, which might just squeak by for hardiness.
FWIW, I removed my three Gerardi mulberries today. They were very productive but just bland. I have an Illinois Everbearing nearby and it is MUCH better. I also have a Kokuso and a Shangri-La nearby, and I added Silk Hope and Oscar this year. To avoid deer I have to grow them with the lowest scaffolds >7’, but I’d rather pick great fruit on a ladder than mediocre fruit with my feet on the ground.
FWIW, Illinois Everbearing is VERY brittle. I lost an entire tree a few years ago and a major branch on a new tree in a recent storm. I’m making it SOP both (1) to support the central leader so it cannot break, and (2) to prune the tree so that wind is less likely to break it.
Silk Hope is not a strong grower. I see the same problem in SoCal. It also doesn’t fruit much so I would stick with Tice, much prettier fruit, tastes better than most, vigorous growth habbit.
‘Silk Hope’ is, for me, the most difficult mulberry to graft with any success. I just get very few ‘takes’.
I will say, however, that my big Silk Hope tree here has struggled for several years with a severe case of mulberry/white peach scale. Other trees in my plantings seem to have thrown it off, but SH is having a tougher go of it
they were in 4x9 tree pots… they cooked 
