My World's Best Mulberry

I made a video about my mulberry that that I call affectionately " World’s Best ". If I was kicked out of my property and I could only take one plant it would be this. Since I made the video I have been getting tons and tons of messages asking me what variety it is. I can only say that I don’t know but I did make a video about what an expert has told me about its parentage. Going by the expert ID of the plant, there is zero possibility it is a domestic hybrid since domestic hybrids mostly come from the wild. The reason it can’t be a domestic hybrid is because one parent is Morus Macroura. By making this post I hope to curb some of the messages I keep getting asking me to identify the variety when I don’t know myself.

This is my original video that has created the curiosity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxHmg2T2qtI&t=18s

This is the video I made this morning about the parentage and where it came from.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5T3XqaNHYk

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Bryce,

How hardy is this WBM? I would like to graft them to my Girardi as an interstem to keep them small.

Tony

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Hardy climate wise or overall? I find it generally hardy and easy. I have never grafted them so i have no idea. Climate wise i have only proven it to zone 6.

I will give you a gingle in January for some scionwoods and trial them here in Z5 to see if the can handle the cold. I trialed an extra potted Pakistan mulberry inground which I buried 2 extra feet of the trunk deep inground just incase the top died back to the ground and it did at -19F but it resprouted up from below the soil line. I will keep on taking notes each year to see how low of the temp without any died back. A cool project.

Tony

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I will have plants sometime in spring. I can’t part with scion because i need it for rooting.

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Hi Bryce,

I’m sorry if this was mentioned in the videos, I watched them but my kids were making noise the whole time, but are these self-fertile? I actually had the guy I paid to take down a dead tree of mine also cut the neighbor’s wild mulberry (with permission, due to my own SWD concerns). If I absolutely had to I know places where mulberries grow and could find a wild pollinator.

I think I heard you mention they fruited three times a year for you. Was that down in FL or up in WV? I’m in Connecticut, zone 6. This bush is definitely interesting. Do you sell the plants?

I suggest against self fertile mulberries. They are hermaphrodites and can cause weeds everywhere. Female mulberries still produce berries even though the seeds are sterile so no pollination is needed. I do have a male red mulberry I am trying to pollinate them with. I will have plants ready sometime in the spring if you’re going to still be wanting them.

And they fruited multiple times in West Virginia as well.

Bryce, I’ve PM’ed you and emailed you but still have gotten no response.

Please PM me

Scott

I was told by several people this and haven’t seen anything. Ill pm you right now.

I just looked and i see a message did come from you.

That works for me. I assume the yield is lower this way?

I assume they get SWD? Do you know when they fruited in WV? The only berries I’m currently picking are wild blackberries growing in neighbor’s yards and there’s some SWD, but it’s not yet overwhelming.

I’ll definitely want some plants in the spring it’s only a matter of whether or not my wife will let me get them.

Don’t know what SWD is but fruiting should be the same just no sterile seed unless a male is near.

SWD is the invasive fruit fly that saws into ripening soft fruit and lays its eggs. It’s the reason I haven’t planed fall raspberries at my new house. Their favorite fruits are brambles but they’ll attack other soft fruits like elderberries and blueberries. This pest builds up its population every year and by the fall it’s usually quite high, leading to complete or near-complete infestation in the fall.

I know those. We do have those here but i havent had bad problemd with them. Damaged fruits go to the chicken and we have lots of predatory insects. I am probably going to do late season vinegar traps.

How small does that keep em, Tony?

Ross,

My 2 Girardi are at 7 feet tall. I will top work one to WBM at knee level and keep it at about 7 feet tall buy the dwaft under stock (interstem) and pruning if necessary.

Tony

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Hey Tony, thanks for the info, how old is your Gerardi? Just wondering how long it’ll take mine to get 7’. I’m in 9A South Louisiana.
Also, will the dwarfing Gerardi continue to dwarf everything grown above it? If you were to graft Worlds Best onto Gerardi then a different cultivar on top of the Worlds Best, would the top most cultivar continue being dwarfed? Hope my wording isn’t too confusing.

My two Girardi were grafted onto 2 large wild mulberry rootstocks 4 seasons ago at knee high and now they are about 7 feet tall. I have used interstem in the past for imcompatibility of some species but now I wanted to use it for dwafness. I think if you graft something on top of the WBM then that maybe also slow down the growth. I may do some experiment like that down the road.

Tony

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I don’t know Tony. My Spring cutting grew (2) leaders that are 5-feet tall.

Dax

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