Yes very vigorous. Mine had leaves the size of dinner plates. They are also sensitive to water stress. When I tried to grow Pakistan in my greenhouse it dropped all it’s fruits before they ripened if there was any shortage of water.
I haven’t tasted a true M Nigra but I’m expecting way better fruit than a Pak type. I found the later no better than many wild types I’ve eaten in humid areas of the Midwest, ie Oklahoma and Illinois.
if you liked the weeping mulb, you will surely like nigras.
it tastes like a choice cultivar of blackberry that has been picked at its prime, but without the seeds , much sweeter, and more wine-like than any blackberry. The only caveat is that nigra berries are quite fragile, you have to pick them at such a narrow window when they are already good, but not too soft, else many of the cells will burst. I use foam paintbrush to nudge em off the stems. Probably the reason why it is rarely available as fresh fruit, and if ever, quite expensive. 20$ a lb in cali.
the other caveat is that it grows really slow, and it tempted and frustrated me with duds(fruit-drop at the red stage, at least here in the desert) the first 2-3 years, especially those obtained as recently-grafted sticks.
Many Geraldi Dwarf Mulberry grafts from Dithmar have failed and he could only send me one.
The plants have dropped their leaves now and I have started packing and
shipping.
I’m sorry to inform you but after checking my stock I have noticed that
I have only one Geraldi dwarf available. Some failed grafts stood among
the succeeded ones and were hard to distinguish from the rest so the
number of available plants was less than I assumed. My apologies…thx
for understanding…"
So …
I asked him if he can give me a Morus Macroura “Pakistian” instead.
He said yes, no problem.
I actually wanted 2 but 1 is better than none.
Excited to get these plants
It was a bit expensive … but thats not a frequent thing
that’s a strong list, congrats! The gerardi being labeled ‘rubra’ hopefully doesn’t mean much, as there are no rubra’s in the old world and gerardi supposedly didn’t originate from the americas. You could post pics of your future specimens so people here could chime in.
Your neighbor will surely be concerned about its growth too, but the exact opposite concern.
~ 8" per year maximum here in vegas…and the bigger they get, the growth spurts get shorter, ouch!
good thing is that the internodes also seem to get shorter, so there will be more nodes per unit stem length, which translates to more berries per unit length
even in mild and moist oregon, a gerardi will take more than a decade to reach 2 meters.
looking forward to it, as it is really nice to have an international exchange of ideas and experiences
and speaking of exhanges in ideas/experience, thought i’d introduce you to @Carld if you haven’t been acquainted.
Another muberry aficionado on your side of the atlantic, and posting pictures like this–
quite flattering to hear about folks overseas appreciating something as ‘americana’ as pawpaws. Am sure many here would also appreciate seeing pics of your pawpaw trees in Austria
funny, ironic, and sad(at the same time)-- that i can’t grow pawpaw with any success in this side of usa.
Paw paw is going through a popularity boom in the gardening circles here in Czech Rep. They are also quite expensive going for 20-60E per plant (named varieties). I know many people growing them and one of my friends here just told me if I know anyone with a lot of seeds, that he wants to start 100 seedling tree orchard.
10 years ago it was virtually unknown and only few people would grow them, but these days you can find them even in the “mainstream” nurseries and the same goes for jujubes, persimmons etc. I know several people with a collection of 50-80 persimmons, it’s really crazy. 30 years ago that would be unthinkable but with the shift in weather it’s getting feasible to grow them.
paws, jujus, mulbs, and simmons–hard to go wrong with those, especially if one’s into zero, or close to zero pesticide usage. And close to zero orchard upkeep.
while i can’t blame many people for complaining about bare root jujus being sold for 35-45$ each here, i guess that is nothing compared to a 60 euro pawpaw!
incidentally, the aussies are also much into the euro trend, at least with simmons and jujus. And most certain they will be delving in pawpaws sooner rather than later –
5 hours of sunlight might not be enough, but could just be a bias on my part, as never really had any of our trees get less than 8 hrs.
though 5 hrs may not be enough , it is not going to be lethal, and considering that paks grow fast, it will surely attain a height which would help it catch more sunlight… May get taller than those trees and structures casting shadows on it, in just a few years…
Marvin,
I’m curious what part of Lower Austria you live in. I just had a guest from the Mostviertel. Apparently that part of the Mostviertel is particularly known for cornelian cherries.