Great tip! I’ll try that with my Pakistan mulberries. I haven’t had much die back but I have had issues with fruiting. Currently have a lot of mulch around it with good amount of moisture in the soil.
When I visited Burnridge last fall, Michael gave me tour of his orchard. He grows his Pakistan mulberries in rows and cuts them back heavily to keep the fruit low.
He used to be a proponent of mulching – even has a video extolling its benefits. But what I gathered from our conversation is that he has now changed his mind.
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You’re referring to his practices only to mulching mulberries or toward mulching in general? His blueberries were heavily mulched last fall. He raved about how much moisture retention and weed suppression he has because of it.
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No, just mulching Pakistan mulberry.
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I mulched mine last year, maybe early fall or late summer, and it looks to be having a great crop this year. Maybe its too recently to have ruined everything yet 
I won’t be surprised if this one tree outproduces my 20 feet of, admittedly poorly managed, thornless blackberries.
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Your climate is likely a lot milder than his. He is up on a mountain and gets really cold earlier in Fall and later in Spring.
I really like how productive mulberries are. Which is why I went crazy this year with so many new varieties.
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Are we talking about Johann? I thought he was between us, and listed in zone 8a like me.
I’ll expand beyond plums if that’s ok:
- flavor grenade pluot is very precocious (but very late season within type). just mentioning it as a random data point because it’s stood out for me
- summerland sweet cherries are precocious. pair them with a precocious rootstock like gisela and they should be even more so. can be very early season, for example santina if you can find it. reliable, good taste, disease free. I would pay special attention to these as they were bred somewhat local to you, that’s always a plus
- sour cherries ditto. “surefire” was my only fully loaded stone fruit this year
- peaches can precocious, reliable, heavy bearing, great taste etc. but you need to handle leaf curl. they tick so many boxes that I think spraying for this is worth it
- Japanese plums early golden, shiro, methley, Hollywood, satsuma, beauty, all pretty precocious and reliable, varying harvest times, some early
- euro plums aren’t generally precocious or early but once they start bearing they’ve very reliable and easy with late blooms and some self fertility. try getting one on k1/vva1 roots to speed up production. Oregon used to produce a large fraction of the world’s euro plum export crop. not any more but the potential is there
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You may have received this mass mailing from One Green World titled “Unique Collections-Japanese Plums”. There was one generic photo and one description for all the varieties listed.
Unique Collections - Japanese Plums
$34.95
Prunus hybrid
Available Varieties: Black Splendor, Burgundy, Eldorado, Formosa Andy, Formosa Fruitwood, Opal, Redgold, Y309-240, Y312-281
Rootstock: Nemaguard, a semi-dwarf rootstock
Pollination Requirements: Requires another Japanese plum for cross pollination.
Bearing Age: 2-3 years after planting
Size at Maturity: 10-15 ft. in height.
USDA Zone: 6-9
I sent them an email asking for specific descriptions. This was their non reply:
Thanks for reaching out and we apologize for any frustrations in regards to the lack of information on the Unique Collections Japanese Flowering Plum trees. The reason they do not have individual descriptions is that they are brand new and somewhat experimental. We apologize for any inconvenience and wish you a great day!
Opal, Burgundy, Eldorado and Black Spendor are certainly not ‘brand new.’ Anyone know anything about Formosa Andy, Formosa Fruitwood, or the numbered varieties?
Wondering if anyone has encountered this on any of their blueberries? So far the internet seems to think it’s blueberry rust, but this is an earlyblue variety which is supposedly ‘resistant’ to rust. I have 9 other blueberry varieties growing on a berm and this is the only one afflicted. Other than the rust it is covered in lots of berries nearing readiness. True to its name it is quite early. If anybody know what this is and how to treat it I’d be happy to have that information.
I was talking about Michael at Burntridge. Sorry for the confusion.
I think Johann is in a valley. Even worse with all the cold settling in his place.
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I think of Burntridge as Olympia. I guess if I go there I’ll know.
Burntridge is actually in Onalaska. Up on the side of a mountain.
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I can take a guess about them being connected to Andy Mariani and Fruitwood Nursery,respectively.Also,there is a Red Gold Nectarine,but haven’t heard of a Plum with that name,so looking it up online,a business sells the fruit,3 for $10.Looks to be something like a Pluot.
Maybe brand new to them.Thanks for bringing this up.
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Thanks, Brady, for your ideas. My mistake, which I corrected above, was that this was an email from One Green World, not Burntridge.
This is my ungainly-looking 12-year-old Avalon peach, set back a few times by deer…now about 15 ft tall. Started out getting PLC in my fungal climate. No curl in past 5 years. Fruits every year.
Behind it are alder trees, stripped of leaves in this year’s tent caterpillar invasion.
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nice! I thanks for posting.
What do you think of the fruit?
Juicy and sweet - better than Frost. I think the brix is about 12 - which is considered sub-par by peach-growing regions, but good enough for me!
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