comparing true nigra members-- the noir, standard persian and black beauty triumvirate
noir of spain and black beauty seem to be weeks earlier than standard persian, even though former two are ~two feet tall, and the latter was obtained as a 7 footer.
noir with its first mature fruit. Apart from the tick-like fruiting habit, one could tell it is a true nigra if both sides of the leaf are hairy/velvety. Not sure if macro captured enough details
persian bears bigger berries, but takes longer to mature. I guess you canāt rush perfectionā¦
black beauty mature at the same time as noir. Would have concluded they are one and the same if not for noir being the only variety which also bears multilobed leaves mixed with the regular heart shape
and below is the faux nigra being sold as ātissue-cultured ever-bearing black beauty dwarf morus nigraā by many online sellersāincluding supposedly reputable ones. It has the same tick-like fruiting habit, and has short internodes and tiny foliage(hence the dwarf label), but could grow 6 feet in one year, which is unheard of among true nigras. At least in desert conditions. Berries are good, but not as perky as true blacks. Shouldnāt complain about it though since it is very early bearing.
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This one sure looks like the foliage and branches on my little one. I will be happy with it if it grows and fruits here like it has there.
if it is the same, almost certain it will be just as prolific in dfw area. The only mulbs i know which are a bit tender to humidity and hard freezes are true nigras and pakistani
as for pakistani, it is also as early as the fake everbearing nigra. Only disadvantage is that the leverage the long fruits exert on themselves require harvesting before the slightest of breezes knock them off
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raf,
I have a question about the Pakistan.Mine has been fruiting for three years,at least to the green stage and then they fall off.
The first two years,the tree was in a half whiskey barrel.This year,when dormant,I planted the Mulberry in the ground.I did this with the hope that the roots will stay moister.
I know we live in very different environments, but how much water does yours get,as Iāve read,that insufficient water can cause fruit to drop? Brady
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Any bird damage? Robins take them out in the green stage and spit them out.
Mine isnāt drawing any birds.Probably too many cats around for them.
Right now though,there are a number of fallen fruit and sometimes just the slightest touch will bring one down.
Iām going to water the heck out of the tree and hope for the best.
My other Mulberries donāt do this. Brady
had the same problem with our pakistaniās and all our nigraās. After four years, am beginning to conclude that the pak and nigras will bear fruit on old wood but need a bit more time for their trunk calipers to be a certain thickness before they actually ādecideā to nurse their fruits to maturity. Also noticed that the pakistani behaves like its tropical cousins(jackfruit etc)-- as the fruits have a greater rate of maturation and less fruit drop IF the branches they are borne on are close to the main trunks, and especially at the lowest rungs . Was actually so irritated about our pak bearing too low the first two years because the neighborhood cats āscent markā it all the time, and with the first berries borne 5 inches from the ground, all of them were fouledā¦[quote=āBradybb, post:5, topic:5707ā]
know we live in very different environments, but how much water does yours get,as Iāve read,that insufficient water can cause fruit to drop?
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our pak actually dry out in-between waterings, often to the point of having droopy leaves, so i actually think in the other direction-- that too much water may be the cause. Could still be wrong about that supposition, but what am certain of( at least from observation) is that nigras and paks need their main trunks to reach a certain degree of maturity/thickness before fruits proceed to maturity.
hereās a pic of our pak which insisted on fruiting too low to the ground on its first few years. Only now that it has decided to fruit higher up after a certain size was reached, although still most densely fruiting way low.
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there arenāt many birds where weāre at, but we do have occasional feathered visitorsālittle finches which feed on our mulbs. Thankfully thereās enough for everyone.
persian mulb finally ripening. It is the largest-fruited of our nigra cultivars, but probably due to the fact that bought the specimens as 7-8 foot tall trees. The few berries were worth the 99.95$ paid for each. If thereās an urgent need to ābuy timeā, it may well be with morus nigras!
dangling pak mulbs
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Jujus,
Canāt wait until those mulberry grafts produce some good tasting mulbs.
Tony
am excited too! And a bit guarded about your winters. Was curious, did you graft some onto potted rootstock?
Juju,
I bark grafted the Pakistani scions to 2 large wild mulberry understocks and 2 to smaller rootstocks. I will dig the 2 small ones and pot them up in late October and overwinter them in the shelter for backup.
Tony
in vegas, mid-may to early june is black mulberry season. Paks and albas generally ripen apr to early may, so that nicely extends the berry harvesting season
the flavor is intense, like a blackberry at its peak, with twice the flavor intensity. Incidentally, unlike blackberries, mulb stems donāt have thorns, so what looks like blood here is all juicy goodness
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Looks good Raf, is this the short internodes one? If not then how good is the short internodes one?
Tony
it is not the short internodes one. The latter pics are of the real morus nigra(standard persian).
the short internode variety is not as good, but still worth having since it is quite early, and blends well with the other early one-- the pak mulb. Had i opted to just grow nigras, we wonāt have berries during apr and early may
Thatās probably the thing about the age of the tree.There are a few fruit holding and some are turning color.I found a couple on the ground that had some red and the flavor was delightful.Iām not sure if any will reach full ripeness during the present season,but at least this gives me reason to expect more with the Pakistan. Thanks,Brady
that some of the fallen fruit have some red to it sure indicates some degree of maturity. Could be that it has reached āpubertyā just now. We have a much longer growing season here, apart from having longer daylight hrs and hotter summers, so probably explains why ours have matured sooner than yours.
good thing about pakās is that the berries have the slightest of sour notes even when immature(red/pink stage), and already quite edible at that stage so no need to wait for the purple/violet stage.
flavor is much more complex though at the purple stage.
hope to hear from you about yours reaching purple stage this year, and if not, then almost certain youāll have some by next year, considering that it has shown some progress this season, and the stems will have matured a lot after another year of ageing. Btw, donāt prune your pak. If you feel you need to , then probably safer to lop off the vertical/apical stems, but minimize pruning the laterals, since(like its closest cousins, the jujubes) maturing laterals are where fruiting occurs.
keep us posted!
Here a couple still on the tree this morning.It looks like the ants like these.Cutting off their entrances is difficult with all the surrounding plants touching the tree. Brady
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congrats! evidently, your pak stems took all those years to finally reach maturity. Can safely say youāll have more and better berries next year, and virtually guaranteed henceforth
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