I’m looking to get a few mulberry trees for my home in North Alabama(zone 7, very humid). Most sellers only list zones, but as I’ve been reading, humidity is just as important as zone when it comes to mulberries. What trees are good tasting and would be likely to thrive in my climate?
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I think you will find that most mulberries will do just fine in N. Alabama, except for true Black Mulberry (Morus nigra). If you have a good-sized yard, and can plant away from septic and driveway, then Illinois Everbearing and Silk Hope are two fairly large mulberry trees that have excellent fruit and can take high humidity. Of course you can always keep your mulberry trees pruned to a manageable size, but a more compact tree that only reaches about 15 feet tall is Gerardi Dwarf. It, too, has excellent fruit quality and produces fruit over a very long season. The three mulberries I listed bud out late in the spring and avoid loss of fruit from late freezes. If you want to see most of the types that are available through online purchase, check out growingmulberry.org.
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I’m also north AL. I have silk hope and shangri la that are young but fruiting age. If you pick them at the right fruiting stage (still a bit red) they are both very tasty. The silk hope is probably my favorite fruit that I grow. Unfortunately, the shangri la leafs out and blooms very early and frequently doesn’t fruit due to late frosts. I’m going to try either moving it or grafting to get a second tree at a spot in the orchard that leafs out a bit later to see if that helps. I’ve read that Pakistan has the same problem so I avoided that one. I just planted beautiful day and wellington but no fruit yet.
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Is anyone growing Wellington?
I’ve heard the flavor may not be as good in the hot weather.
Hmmm…I had not heard that about Wellington. My weliington is growing fine but still hasn’t fruited. I bought it from Hidden Springs Nursery. I think they are zone 7a and apparently it is good at their location.
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I have a tree, purchased as Wellington, 20+ yrs ago…don’t recall the source nursery at this point(not TyTy!). It’s a DOG, here. Trashy growth habit, small fruits with little flavor, not worth picking. Mislabeled? IDK.
I certainly can’t recommend it. YMMV.
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