In my new place there is finally a spot for mulberry. I started to read about them and got totally confused. Is there any worth having mulberries that will survive in zone 5 without winter protection? My zone is 6, but I really do not want to worry about the tree to get frozen in unexpected cold (I have a persimmon for it! 
)
The dwarf is preferable. Early production as well. Any suggestions?
Thereās not a lot of choice for dwarf, but I ordered this one, rather petite when it arrives, but I am very pleased with it so far. It rates down to zone 5 so it might make it there in Ma. Anyway the price is hard to beat for a chance to grow dwarf. The only other choice I know of is Girardi.
Dennis
Kent, wa
Dwarf Everbearing Black Mulberry Tree - Morus nigra
Regular price$21.99
Will it survive zone 5?
Does it fruit already? If so, do you like berries?
A dwarfing mulberry is rare and a mulberry that lives in zone 5 is rare. Girardi was mentioned but some claim that goes to zone 6 only. Morus Nigra Dwarfing mulberry is another one claimed to be dwarfing but is claimed to not be a true Morus Nigra and there is a lot of varying information on it. Black Beauty is dwarfing but only grows to zone 8 or 9. Even dwarfing mulberries will get 12+ feet so dwarfing is in the eye of the beholder. The big name for the colder zones is Illinois Everbearing but in rainy areas it suffers from popcorn or whatever they call it. It also gets 35 feet. That said it is only double that of the dwarfs
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Hm, when I say dwarfing I do not mean 6-8ā, 12-15 works works for me. Actually, if it grow slow, even 35ā may be OK, if it starts producing at 6-10ā tall. There is enough space for a large tree, I just do not want the whole space to be occupied. And probably will not want it for the next 15-20 years. After that, I will probably will not care 
How does a dwarfing mulberry occur? Is there a root stock for that? We have so many mulberry trees here in southern IL zone 7, its as if they pop up like weeds. Its finding one produces mulberries that can be challenging. Seems like most donāt produce. Iām planning on trying to air layer a few that produce. But I could try and graft them also if there is a dwarfing rootstock for mulberries. One thing I can say for sure seasoned mulberry is awesome firewood, it burns very hot. I save some for those cold snaps in February.
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Girardi is not the fastest grower because it likes to crop so heavily. There is a member on here that makes videos called something dog that loves the Girardi. I believe Rossman used to be on here and has made videos on his too. I did not keep mine and when I had it I had it in the garage during a super mild winter so I am not the one to ask too much. In my experience mulberry is super early to crop. Think second or maybe even same year you get it.
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The company rates it for zone 5, since I got the seedling this month, it may be a few years before I can answer the second question!
Dennis
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Maybe you really want I E then, if you top it at 10ā and control vertical growth by tiring down 3-4 scaffolds you can create a very nice tree. I waited longer than I should have to top mine. When I saw it was growing to tall it was already 25ā, well beyond a comfortable picking height. So I eventually got it to grow more horizontal but it was a challenge after 15 years of vertical growth. But itās now a family favorite and produces about 70 lb of fantastic fruit each year.
Dennis
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The following website is chalk full of great information. Growingfruit (this website) is mentioned on the Thank You page. I had a quick read through but need to go back and study it more in depth.
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Janās Best Dwarf Everbearing seems appealing to me for some reason. She does sell cuttings, but this mulberry is being growing zone 9B, although said to have survived a zone 5 winter - so might work here in zone 7 IDKā¦
Link to Janās video
I am growing black mulberry here, but weāre west coast and zone 9a. I have read about true morus nigra not surviving zone 5-6 winters, so I am a little skeptical. Sometimes nurseries get extremely enthusiastic when they think they are going to sell a lot of trees. IE is a very good tasting mulberry, and it should be hardy in zone 5-6. One of the problems with the true black mulberries (morus nigra) is that they canāt really handle the humid, rainy summers in the Eastern part of the country. They get diseases, problems,and die. Many are calling mulberries āblackā mulberries because the berry is black. That is not botanically authentic and can lead to problems. I find the albas to be very bland and not worth growing. I would be careful. Unless you find other evidence, I would be reluctant to invest a lot of $ and 10 years into something so questionable.
Just my 2 cents.
John S
PDX OR
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Hereās are pics of my 25 year old IE, you can see that itās quite high about 18-20ā even though I topped it. But at least the majority of growth is now happening in an umbrella shape. By late summer the tips of each limb will be touching the ground as fruit loads up. Typically birds and squirrel take the top limb fruits. So itās actually not a bad shape considering that if I had no top limbs we would have to fight for any fruits.
Upclose fruits loading up on each limb
Notice the limb tips are now about 4-5ā above ground after my fall pruning.
Dennis
Kent, wa
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@anon89542713 you can grow any nice Rubra hybrid in z6 and top it at 15 feet (or less if you want); one issue though is Rubra hybrids have a lot of dark fruit and birds will get their share so they might leave purple poop stains near or on your house - one thing to consider if it will be close to the house
Gerardi/girardi is naturally dwarfing and would also be a good choice
Do you like pure sweet mulberries or sweet/tart complex flavors? I would start there
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The place I am planning for the tree is far away from the house and even from the lawn. So poop is good! (Fertilizer). I didnāt know there are sweet-tart mulberry, I would prefer them to the plain sweet. Can you recommend the sweet-tar variety?
There is another thread talking about this but the standard is Illinois everbearing (IE) but there are newer cultivars that some feel are better tasting: silk hope, corral, Kip Parker, Lawson-Dawson, stearns, Varaha, etc
Oscar is another that has high quality berries and may be a hybrid of Morus nigra (the consensus best flavor but not cold hardy)
IE is a big producer, has big berries that are hard to beat taste-wise and is cold hardy but others with more mulberry knowledge than me favor silk hope and Kip Parker
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If you want to at someone who has grown Girardi for along time after my post I remembered it was Zendog who makes all those videos about his mulberries and one of them is Girardi.
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Strudledog from north GAā¦ has been growing Gerardi for many years. Check his YT vid.
My Gerardi is in year 3 now.
Some people, some locations call it a slow growerā¦ but that was not the case for me.
I grafted Gerardi to a 3 inch nasty white mulberry stumpā¦ 4 scions 8 budsā¦
All 8 of those buds grew over 6 ft the first season. Now i keep it around 8 ft max with one pruning late winter.
It produces lots of nice fruitā¦ it has a nice fruity flavor and good level of sweetness once black ripe. No tartness when fully ripe.
A little tartness if you eat them about half red half black.
I have silk hope now in year 2ā¦ the berries have a more complex sweet/tart flavorā¦ it has been a shy bearer so farā¦ next year may be when it kicks in and priduces more.
I started a Oscar this springā¦ cant wait to try itā¦ hear they taste like a very good blackberry.
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The other thing is that mulberries are, moreso than many other fruits, site specific. For me, Illinois Everbearing was productive, but just ok for taste. Kokuso is a much larger, more productive and tastier berry for me, but its ripening window is shorter.
Beautiful Day was a disappointment and Black Beauty is wonderful but as it must remain a potted plant its production is slight.
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