Do you have more than one named mulberry variety near you? Can you share roughly when your varieties first and last ripen? I understand this may change year to year and definitely from location to location, but a relative ripening chart would be very useful!
I am particularly curious about silk hope / stearns / Gerardi Dwarf /Lawson dawson, but I think this could be a good source for other varieties as well.
Also might i request to add sunlight amounts given as well.
I’ve noticed the ones in more shaded areas are a little slower than all of those in full sun.
The relative order of ripening times for mulberry and many fruiting plants is dependent on local ecology. USDA hardiness zones are often not enough to distinguish them. If you want answers for your location then add it to the title of your thread.
Not exactly what you’re looking for, but the GRIN website has a bunch of data on the USDA accessions, probably from the collection in Winters,CA. This page has Brix data for a given harvest date for many accessions. You’ll have to search the accession number to find the cultivar name, e.g. Illinois Everbearing is DMOR 17, but you might be able to get an idea on the relative ripening order. How well that applies to your area I wouldn’t be able to tell you.
Would it be the case that in one location IE would ripen in May, and another area July? Yes, for sure.
What about IE 2 months after Lawson Dawson and in another area 2 months before Lawson Dawson? This I’m sceptical of.
For peaches I always see varieties with ripening dates relative to red haven and something similar for other plants too (grapes, blueberries, etc.). I would suspect some similar relative ripening chart could be developed for a relative ripening time to IE. However, based on @Melon’s comment, the amount of sunlight (and other growing conditions) will have an affect on the relative ripening time too, and even what rootstock it’s on too. But I’m very happy with a rough estimate to start!
I’m a novice when it comes to plants though, so please let me know if this assumption is incorrect.
I have not made/kept those sort of records … maybe next year… (Yeah, right, like I’ll remember to do that a year from now! lol)
I can provide approximate initial ripening order here: crappy M.alba - Lawson Dawson - IE/Stearns/M.rubra - Corral/Kip Parker - Silk Hope
But… It is a continuum, and may vary from year to year
Looking back through photos on my phone, i have pics of ripe Lawson Dawson fruits in 19 May 2024, and ripe Stearns berries on 3 June 2024 & 2025.
Also have 2023 pics of Popcorn Disease- infected IE fruits on 23 May and 7 June
Thank, I appreciate it!
I’m particularly interested in which stays fruiting the longest to have maximum bird satiation time so keep us updated.
I’ve been on vacation for the past 10 days or so. Have not checked the trees out back (Silk Hope, Kip Parker, Corral), but Illinois Everbearing and Lawson Dawson have been finished since before I left. ‘Stearns’ is putting on a third - albeit small - flush of fruit, with quite a few green berries showing throughout the canopy (17 Jun).
Edit/Addition:
Picked the last 3 or 4 berries from Stearns on 3 August… so, pretty much 2 full months of fruiting.
