I have tired of my Shangri-la Mulberry. It is inferior to my IE in every way, except when it survives frost, it ripens about a week earlier. It is over 30ft tall with a trunk about 12" diameter. I am leaning towards topworking it with silk hope, but I have a right mind to just chop it down and plant about 4 nectarine trees in its place. I fear the heart wood would rot if i do a crown graft. I also know mulberry can be difficult due to too much sap flow at the graft union. It also pushes vigorous suckers from below the graft, I could graft to those after I cut it down.
Does anyone have advice for topworking a mulberry of this size?
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Silk hope has an inferior flavor in my experience, but perhaps that is just due to differences in climate.
I’d cut it down and run with the sucker. I have to agree with Richard, Silk Hope is not as good as IE. It’s pretty hard to beat IE. I have Collier, Silk Hope, IE, Tahama White, and Pakastan. Collier is good, but the berries are smaller than IE. Silk Hope is like a cheap IE knockoff. TW taste like grass. Pakastan has yet to fruit.
@SoMtHomestead
Your IE is Morus alba x rubra. The Pakistan Mulberry is an excellent species (Morus macroura) although I’m not sure how it will fare in Montana.
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Thanks for that feedback, Robert. I had read that silk hope had better flavor, and was resistant to popcorn disease, but I have never personally tasted one. One thing that would make silk hope a tremendous asset is if it could extend the mulberry harvest through August to help distract the birds from my peaches and nectarines. Do you think it would help me in that regard?
@Richard, sorry for the confusing name, but it is short for South Mountains in western NC, one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world.
Which cultivar are you referring to as Macroura? I was under the impression that all three cultivars listed were alba x rubra.
I like the name 
The fruiting mulberry sold in the U.S. as “Pakistan” is usually a cultivar of M. macroura. AgriStarts began offering TC’s of it and perhaps a half dozen others about 15 years ago.
Here they all ripen around the same time. Pakistan might offer a different timing.
My experience with Silk hope is quite different. Size isn’t all that impressive but the flavor is the best of nearly all mulberries I’ve tasted so far-- with the exception of Morus Nigra. I believe it to be superior to Pakistan as well. It also has a long fruiting season.
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I’ve successfully top-worked a couple of mulberries, but they were about 2"-3" in diameter, not 12".
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Graft the most vigorous of the suckers after cutting it down, or cut the tree to a stump and graft to a straight shoot from that the following year. Or do both and see which establishes the most quickly.
The only way you are likely to get a graft growing on a tall vigorous tree is by grafting really high, which just isn’t practical- especially on a mulberry, which is a pretty trashy shortlived tree. .
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Разве проблема привить за кору черенком? Не важно какой большой ствол подвоя, за кору вы всегда привьете и конечно после уменьшения давления сока!
Mulberries (at least in my experience) would rather sent up suckers/new shoots rather than push growth from a graft placed on a stump. i’ve tried 3 times to graft to a 2 foot tall stump and they’ve all dried and died. In the same time it has pushed suckers to more than 10 feet each year. (and this is with me cutting back to try and get the energy into the grafts)
Scott
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What method did you use?
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Anyone growing Morus nigra in your region? To me it is the best tasting mulberry
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Top worked mature mulberry in this old experiment many years ago as an example. It is not as easy as some trees but it is also not that hard. You might read through parts of the thread that help you.
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У меня из коллекции шелковиц : Джерарди, Шангри-Ла, Пакистанская белая, Пакистанакая чёрная, Гималайская, Персидская(шахтут) , марварид тут, Из Перу чёрная. Польская бессемяная (?), плакучая альба черная, и три альбы крупноплодные черная, белая и розовая
Если кому нужны черенки то могу поделиться!
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Have you tried Seedless Mulberry Marvarid here?
We have not tried seedless at my location how do you like them?
Мы не пробовали у меня без косточек, как вам?
My ne probovali u menya bez kostochek, kak vam?