Pakistan Mulberry?

Hey there, Growing Fruit forum!

This is my first post and I hope I am doing this right. Anyway, as my username implies, I love mulberries. I am currently just growing the standard “dwarf everbearing mulberry.” I have around 25 of this mulberry variety. However, I am looking to start growing more Mulberry varieties. I bought two Pakistan mulberry plants from Hirt’s Garden and got totally ripped off, they just sent me two dwarf everbearing. Anyway I haven’t been to find an affordable source for a Pakistan mulberry. I know it’s best to buy from a reputable nursery, but I came across a Craigslist ad for a Pakistan mulberry Plant. Seller gave me these photos of the plant. I don’t want to get swindled again, so can anyone weigh in and confirm this is a Pakistan mulberry and not some Morus rubra seedling or something? I am going to purchase this on Friday if I can get some opinions on it!

Thanks in advance!!

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photos indicate they are pak mulbs. Am confident burntridgenursery.com offers the real deal, as received one from them. Sometimes they make inadvertent switcharoos but should they make a mistake sending a mislabeled specimen, quite confident that they have the real one in their inventory and merely sent something in error

Hi Cole,
Those pictures look like Pakistan,especially the last two.Hopefully,those are the seller’s personal photos and what they’re offering.bb

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The pict looks like it was a cutting. Most likely does not have much root. Unless its super cheap I would just have one delivered to your house. Pakistan is the fastest growing mulberry I have. Mine put on 6-7 foot this year.

Hey there jujubemulberry!

I have researched a few different online nurseries and I did find them on on BurntRidge. Unfortunately, shipping including, cost goes above $50 and shipping will take a few months. I know it sounds cheap and impatient but I am an unemployed college student and I am moving around a lot so I ideally would love to find a somewhat affordable plant and get it relatively soon.

Also, I emailed Hirt’s Garden notifying them I received two Dwarf Everbearings instead of a Pakistan, and they responded and just said I don’t know mulberries well enough to tell the difference. So I definitely won’t be buying from them again!

I would LOVE a super fast growing mulberry. Many people talk about the pain of constant pruning and what not but I am beyond willing to deal with pruning and what not. I also would love to give propagation a shot with a Pak mulberry so I wouldn’t mind extra foliage to experiment with. Also, this Craigslist guy is offering it for $25 so it seems like a solid deal.

However, he just texted me and said he is giving it to someone else instead…so that’s off the table!! :frowning_face: if anyone has any suggestions on affordable sources of Pak mulberry plants please let me know!! I would totally buy a rooted cutting from a local member of this forum too.

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i managed to root pak mulb this year but it is already spoken for. I can send you twiggies this winter and just graft them to any alba rootstock you might have. Or if you are patient and have access to IBA(jsut noted from your account you’re majoring in agricultural sciences) you can actually get pak to root using cuttings.
Am sure some of your professors will have some spare/expiring rooting hormone powder in their laboratory.

have to say: the about-yourself info on your account was the most positive note of my day. A 19 year old majoring in agriculture. That is so bright and sunny! You’re probably the only one here falling under that demographic. Typical 19 yr old’s nowadays don’t care much about agri stuff. Ok, am way off-topic…

anyway please verify with your professors as to whether or not it is illegal to ‘traffic’ mulberry scionwood(from las vegas to california).

will gladly help make things happen for you. Couldn’t help but give unsolicited advice(or unsolicited species) by planning to send jujube cultivars as well, plus maybe a morus nigra twiggie since you live in california. You don’t have to like it right away(if at all you will), but it is something worthy of consideration if you’re into low maintenance and high food-value crops as mulberries. There’s a good chance that jujubes “will grow on you”
literally and figuratively. Send me a pm

and quite certain that many others in this forum who might be reading this would like to contribute to your cause as well

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Here is a list of nursery’s and a brief description. This is another members post on here. Click on Nursery list to go to page.

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I hope you keep us posted on your progress on this.

If you’re so enamored with mulberries, you should look into morus nigra varieties. Pakistan may have the largest fruit, but most members here lust after the nigra varieties…

I picked up a Pakistan (I hope) earlier this summer and it has grown very well (unsurprising as mulberries aren’t shy growers). I really won’t know for sure until it fruits for me, though

Scott

Here there @Chills,

I have actually been looking up Morus nigra varieties all day! I have ready similar things about how tasty the nigra varieties is, with the main downside being slow growth. Of course I am an impatient gardener as some folks here probably relate to, but it sounds like the slow growth is completely worth the delicious fruit.

The guy from craiglist actually just told me he can offer me another Pakistan mulberry plant at the end of this month so I think I will maybe end up with a Pakistan Mulberry after all! I am all about tasty fruit, but I am also obsessed with unique looking fruit, and Pakistan mulberry is definitely a unique one!

I have been reading on this forum that some of the better Morus nigra varieties include Oscar, Noir De Spain, Shangra Li, Black Beauty, Persian, and a few others. I may have incorrectly included a few varieties under Morus nigra, I know there is a lot of mislabeling of the scientific name of mulberry varieties in the industry. Please feel free to correct me! I am currently looking into purchasing a Geraldi Dwarf, as my two main goals in a mulberry plant are large harvests and large berries, with taste being sort of second hand to those other traits. Now I have read that Geraldi is a Morus alba, but do you think it would meet the standards of massive harvests and large (at least an inch long) fruit?

Anyway, I am super open to suggestions! I will likely be purchasing a mulberry variety from raintree nursery tomorrow so any suggestions would help.

Sorry for the wall of text :grin::laughing:

Of those named,Noir de Spain,Black Beauty and Persian are Nigras.Oscar and Shangri-La are most likely hybrids of Alba/Rubra.
I have a Black Beauty,Wellington(hybrid),Pakistan and Kokuso(hybrid).Two that were part of my collection,Geraldi(died) and Silk Hope(one of the best (hybrid?).
Yes,that’s fairly accurate about the production of Geraldi.bb

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There’s a website created by @Livinginawe which is totally dedicated to mulberries and is extremely informative. growingmulberry.org
Give it a visit!

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Dave Wilson (one of the largest California wholesale nurseries) grows Pakistan (Dave Wilson Nursery) and during the winter time Pakistan trees will be available at local retail nurseries in the Bay Area.

You being an agriculture student, it makes a lot of sense for you to experiment with rooting and grafting. Pakistan and M. nigra can be grafted on any M. alba seedling rootstock.

I have multiple named varieties of M. nigra, and, frankly, I believe they all are exactly the same. M. nigra starts producing fairly quick in California, but it takes a few years for it to produce high quality fruit. If you get some mulberry rootstocks you’re welcome to come and get M. nigra scionwood from my trees. I’m in Tracy.

A lot of mulberry scionwood was usually available in CRFG scion exchanges, but unfortunately because of the Covid situation I would not expect the exchanges to happen in 2021.

you beat me to it @chriso !

My favorite mulberry for large fruit (and mind you I am in a much colder climate) is Kokuso

Morus latifolia

I’m actually in the process of pollarding an Illinois Everbearing mulberry. I’ve previously pollarded it and it quickly grew up 25 feet again in just a couple years. Since it grows much quicker than the trees surrounding it, it has been stunting the growth and fruiting of many of my other edibles. When I am done the tree will consist of a 13 inch diameter trunk pruned down to less than 16 inches tall. It should be fine, but I will be far more diligent at trying to restrain its growth. It also has been having a bark problem and my hope is removing that damage will help the plant overall.

On my 1/8th acre I have 6 mulberries, so giving IE a major haircut this fall/winter sounds extreme, but it should be fine and will likely even fruit once again for me in 2022.

White and purple Pakistan mulberries on ice is out of this world sweet and super tasty. A must have potted trees for colder zone 3-7. I harvested 5 pounds already and still tons left.

Tony

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@tonyOmahaz5 Are these two easy to root? How many years did it take them to fruit?

Black Pakistan mulberry can be easily rooted but white is difficult to root. It is best to graft white one.

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