It is really hard to top M. nigra due to its explosive zinger of sweet and sour in such a small package.
persians, noir de spain, and black beauty M. nigras seem to be indistinguishable from each other in growth habit and eating quality. All painstakingly slow-growing and compact-growing here(las vegas), so quite intrigued to hear about Emma prusch park that had to look it up. Was hoping to see pictures of black mulbs(in usa) that are much older and bigger than our old but laggard M. nigras…
This is a nice photo of Kaester (M. Nigra) from Emma Prusch. You should be able to imagine how tall the tree is.
Kaester (besides being vigorous) also shows some characteristics that are not found in other Nigras - for e.g it roots easily.
In my limited experience in the PNW, I haven’t seen any difference between the growth rates of the different Morus Nigra strains. My multiple Kaesters are no more vigorous than any of the others. My scionwood came from that very tree in Prusch.
I think there might be individual variation due to rootstock vigor, scion vigor etc. So far one of my black beauty has been most vigorous. It’s put on multiple feet of growth already and it was just grafted this year. It is as fast growing as DMOR9
Wow, how could i have missed that @californicus ? considering it was posted here at GF!
Makes me wonder how old that tree is? If that was found here in vegas, it will probably be as old as time itself, haha
the bulbous graft junction looks quite intense, have to say!
we’ve grown different cultivars of M. nigra’s but never got the chance to grow kaester. Makes me think being long-lived and pest-free , the scientific community has not really bothered studying vigor on rootstock cultivars. Also intrigued that kaester can be obtained as self-rooted clones, making me wonder how it will fare in various zones and soil-types.
Harvey of figaholics also saw vigorous growth of Kaester on Oscars rootstock
love this! Have to concede that M. nigra’s are evidently laggards in vegas conditions. Seeing things half-full is that we are glad that we started growing them a decade ago. Seeing things half-empty is that we wish we started growing them 5 decades ago, lol
My seedling comes from a huge tree in Bulgaria. Maybe 30 inch diameter or so. About 300 years old. Mine finally fruited in its 5th year. I grow in container to protect in the winter.
How was the fruit? Was it Morus nigra in the end?
Yes it is nigra. The tree it came from is famous in Bulgaria. The medicinal qualities of Nigra are valued there. It appears to be forming more berries. That photo was early in the year. The foliage is a lot thicker now. It’s doing well. A few berries came early for some reason? A first year fruiting tree. It could have been male but I’m glad to report it’s female.
love this! 5 yrs from seed-sowing to fruiting is pretty good considering black mulbs live hundreds of years.
have had volunteer albas wait until they’re 7 or 8 before they even started producing.
Great news! All my seedlings from this nigra died one by one. They were much smaller.
