Morus nigra mulberry?

I haven’t been to all places in the world but the most southern location where I have found Morus nigra was the island of Madeira. The climate is quite warm (dwarf bananas and cherimoya are thriving) but still the island has significant seasonal temperature fluctuations allowing Morus nigra to thrive. It is not a tropical island…

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Is there more than one Morus Nigra species as this topic asks? Comments on this forum talk of them growing slowly.
The report claiming that morus nigra is an in invasive species has this paragraph:
M. nigra is known to cause a negative impact on non-native environments. It readily escapes from cultivation due to the wide dispersal of its seed by biotic vectors, grows rapidly, outcompetes other species for nutrients, and can reportedly produce fruits for hundreds of years (Orwa et al., 2009).
It would be informative if someone on this forum could say they have seen nigra spreading and growing rapidly. Illinois Everbearing has multiple branches that grow 8 ft in one season on my property. I consider that growing rapidly.

You can have snow in tropical places if elevation is high enough. It stays there for months. Ecuador’s Volcán Cayambe. has snow in the middle of summer right on the equator. .Plenty of chill all over tropical zones.

Actually no. As far as thousands of scientists around the world versus forum members one can decide whom to believe. I’m not up for challenging Brazil that they are mistaken about the invasiveness in their own country. Whom am I to say they are wrong? Others I guess feel they know more.

I learned a lot from that site. Like seedlings can take 15 years to fruit. So I wasn’t going to graft my seedling to alba, but after reading that I most certainly will. It confirmed what others have said about seedlings, but it is always nice to get info from the botanists studying the species. To a botanist the differences between nigra and alba must look extreme since they have vast knowledge on genotype and phenotype characteristics. Since plant anatomy is such a major part of the field. Why one hires a botanists when seeking a patent. To properly describe plant in a formal way. A botanist that can’t tell the difference between alba, rubra or nigra should be let go. That’s like Botany 101. I myself took one class Botany 401, A fantastic class, loved it!

There POSSIBLY may be…proving my original question false would almost be impossible. The original question was “Are there two distinct 308 chromosome Morus nigras, or is one “species” also of a high chromosome number but not 308, or are they both 308 chromosome Morus nigras “cultivars” but have very distinct morphology on a cellular level?”
BUT…based on my theory that the “jigsaw puzzle” abaxial leaf cell pattern in my homegrown Morus nigra seedlings was indicative of a different “species” was completely false. Recent follow up microscopic evaluation on my one remaining Morus nigra seedling showed it had almost completely lost the “jigsaw puzzle” pattern. I suspect that other seedlings would follow suit as others in this group enlightened me to the fact that other species of plants exhibit cell patterns in their juvenile stage that are different from adult.
It wasn’t my first bad hypothesis…I’m sure it won’t be my last.

In Lebanon, considered to have ideal weather conditions for Morus nigra, I have never seen them grow far from houses, implying that they have been planted by humans. I have seen many a fig tree growing in abandoned fields, but never a nigra.

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My last two MN seedlings (from more than 10) in the ground. Last winter was very mild, but you can see dryed twigs from last year. The new greenery is just above the ground.Nigra-09-07-2020-1

Nigra-09-07-2020-2

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Glad to see a couple are still hanging on.

@Drew51, How are your 2 plants from seeds? Mine had dropped their leaves already. The growth is minimal.

I am down to just one live plant. When this last one goes, I plan to do an autopsy. I wish I knew what kind of pathogen is affecting these. I had attributed their demise on severe leaf-spot fungi…but I now feel it is something more diabolic.

On mine too. Both grew some this year. The bigger one stopped growing early. The smaller one took forever to start. I may graft a piece next year, try to get fruit.

I’m also down to one, and not much growth either. Totally frustrating!!

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Greetings.
I’m from the city of Thiruvananthapuram, kerala, India. Recently, i purchased two mulberry saplings online (one was described as a shahtoot( hindi/urdu name of mulberry) and the sapling from other site was described as morus nigra. Since, leaves from both plant look the same in my eyes, I would like to confirm if atleast one of my saplings are in fact, Morus Nigra.
I hope y’all can help me identify both.

Thank you

Uploading: 20201203_133504.jpg…

To me, they appear to be too glossy for Morus nigra.

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I concur with @chriso…Neither has the appearance of Morus nigra…But photos can be deceiving.
I notice you live in a 13b zone that appears very tropical (hot, wet, humid). You would be throwing your money away if you purchased a true Morus nigra, since it is extremely unlikely that it would survive and produce in your climate. Good luck with your mulberries…hopefully they won’t disappoint you.

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Thank you for the reply.

@Livinginawe Yeah, I’ve been told that my tropical conditions aren’t very conducive for M Nigra but what gives me hope is my ficus carica which is very much alive and has started fruiting. The ficus as you may know isn’t ideal for my climate, dislikes the wet and humid conditions of my area. I just hope M Nigra(or fake M Nigra) follows the path of its cousin :wink:

Here’s the fig.

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I’m always interested in fig trees growing in tropical/subtropical conditions. Here in Miami, FL 10a, we have to contend with nematodes in the soil that wreak havoc on the roots. Do you have that issue in your soil?

Well, before i plant my saplings on the ground, I make sure to apply some trichoderna viride and pseudomonas fluorescens paste on the root ball. This coupled with the neem cake i mix with the top soil should antagonise nematodes. So far, the nematode problem is under control.
People who grow Figs around me usually don’t risk planting in the ground, instead opting to plant inside large drums or pots. Many have lost their plants to excessive humidity. I guess only time can tell.

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@Drew51, @Livinginawe,
You can see the mother of your seedlings from Vratza, Bulgaria. This video is not mine, I found it by chance. Стамбулската черница - Враца - YouTube

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