Pakistan Mulberry - Different Varieties?

Researching mulberries got me more lost than I was prior to researching. Holy moly there are lots of different varieties it seems, but yet not. I’m looking for most likely a Pakistan variety. The kids absolutely love our existing mulberry and I wand to expand with a few more trees, but his time with just as great tasting fruit but much larger.

But going to any nursery, it seems like they’re listed as Pakistan Mulberry without any note on what exact variety it is. How would one find a place that sells mulberries where they label them correctly. I understand that most, if not all, are out of stock for the year, but I’d like to be ready in the fall to make some correct orders.

Any tips, or pointers to threads in the forum I can use to further my confusion or hopefully solve my mulberry “issue”.

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MockY,
IIRC, Mike McConkey, at Edible Landscaping Nursery at Afton VA was instrumental, along with the late Dr. A.J. Bullard, in importing the original ‘Pakistan’ mulberry from Islamabad. I’d say that if you order from ELN (where I got mine, many years ago), you’d get the real thing.

Ahh… but I see you’re in CA… pretty sure CA regs prohibit shipping in almost any sort of fruit/nut… maybe ALL plant materials… from outside the borders of the state. Lo siento. Maybe other west-coasters can recommend a reliable source for a true ‘Pakistan’.

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Edible Landscaping Nursery does not mention on their website that they can’t ship to California. Only that they won’t ship to Canada, Italy, Japan, Netherlands. I do think you’re right though, but I’ll ask them directly what the deal is.

It is supposedly easy variety to root. You can get cuttings from fellow Californians now and have a small tree by the end of the fall.

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I certainly would not mind one bit if someone would to share some. I’ll obviously pay for shipping any any other costs necessary to get my hands on one or more specimens.

It is, I have two plants I rooted from scion. I have not confirmed it’s a Pakistan yet. Always a chance of mix up.
I have a morus nigra seedling and I heard nigra’s will not root from cuttings. I plan to air layer off a plant to experiment with. It’s plenty big enough being 5th leaf this year, no flowers yet. Nigra’s grow slow, it’s working out great in a container.
For those who don’t know many consider the best tasting mulberry, probably because it has some acid. Never had one yet, so can’t say for sure? It’s not really hardy here so i have to protect it in the winter. It does not mind waiting in the dark garage all winter. Easy peasy! At first it only produced the multi-fingered fig leaf, now it has both those and spade leaves. It’s not your typical looking mulberry for sure. Taken June 2019.

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@Drew51 — you have a bit of wood sorrel in your pot (bottom left). Heart shaped leaves… I snack on that regular, a nice sharp almost lemony flavor.

Is it actually possible to grow Pakistan Mulberry in a container (like some do figs) and just bring them in over winter ? Does the container size keep it from getting over sized ? or do you still have to prune it heavily.

I would love to try some of those… I am not a big fan of container gardening mostly because I have so much field to plant stuff in… just never needed it. I might try that for some of those Pakistan mulberries.

TNHunter

Well I hope to find out! :slight_smile: I would not have thought of it but @tonyOmahaz5 I think has. He inspired me to try it. Many have it here so it was easy to get cuttings and I have rooted 4 of them out of six.
It’s interesting that mulberries and figs are in the same family. Both are deciduous and don’t require light in the winter. So yeah I keep them with my figs, a Pakistan, Nigra, also Marion Berry, New Berry. I also have a few pomegranates which are also deciduous. My Pakistan is only 2 or 3rd leaf. No fruit yet. I’m patient.
Here it is right now, my Pakistan. Color is weak as it was underexposed to sun. Now just getting used to it. Luckily I have a south facing garage and can open it up without have to shuffle plants in and out. Pakistan will be a problem starting early, you will have to shuffle. Keep it as cold as possible, well to 25F, no colder.
I managed to keep it from getting too much weak growth. Color is funky although I just fed it, hopefully will improve. All the same it is growing like a beast! Plant has been pruned back to keep small, and will be pruned 2 or 3 times a year.


Everything out of the garage lived and is growing. Though behind this pace setter. You can see the figs are just starting to form first few leaves.