White fuzz on mulberry trunk (2 year tree)

[Bigmike1116]

I was checking my Girardi mulberry for ripe fruit and all I found was one that might have had some popcorn disease. disposed of it before taking a picture. one side of the trunk had this white fuzz. anything to be worried about? I was able to brush it off and the bark underneath looked normal. applied some 3-3-3 I was using elsewhere and added some new soil to fill out the edges of the grow bag. rest of the tiny tree looks great to me. perhaps a touch of chlorosis. thoughts?

[Lucky_P]

I can’t see it well enough in the photo to know for sure, but I suspect your tree has white peach scale/mulberry scale… I’ve been battling white peach scale on mulberries here for several years. Well, actually, not battling, just observing. Not sure where it came from.
Some small trees have been overwhelmed and killed by it. Big mature trees, like my 20yo ‘Silk Hope’ were fairly impacted for a year or so. IDK if two years with subzero cold temps, even for just a day or two, knocked back the scale, or if it’s just sort of run its course, but severity appears to have declined over the past two years.

[Bigmike1116]

this is zoomed in, but out of focus

[kiwinut]

I’m not sure what the white stuff is, but this doesn’t really look like Gerardi to me. Did you get it from EL? I got a not-Gerardi from EL that looks like this. Internodes should be very short. Is it grafted?

[Bigmike1116]

I did get it from EL. The invoice I received said it is supposed to be on its own roots. how close should the node spacing be?

[marten]

@Bigmike1116 I went through this same song and dance with EL and their not-Gerardi mulberry. I ordinarily like them as a nursery, but the tree that they are selling as Gerardi, isn’t.

In the post linked below, you can see pictures of my EL not-Gerardi and another (genuine) Gerardi from Lucille Whitman, along with following commentary from the more knowledgeable mulberry people:

Why Gerardi is a dwarf mulberry

@Shibumi and @hobilus and @Preston I also got two purported Girardis from EL earlier this year. I think they advertised them as being on their own roots from cuttings, so that would explain the lack of a graft. However, I also started to get suspicious that the internode length was too large, so I ordered two more Girardis from Whitman Farms for comparison. (Like @Shibumi , I cannot tolerate a non-dwarf tree in that particular location.) The following four photos are of the EL Girardi, which w…

[kiwinut]

1-1.5 inches. Gerardi is really difficult to root, and people who have layered it say it’s even less vigorous on it’s own roots. My not-Gerardi is fruiting and it seems to be a typical alba rubra hybrid that will be 20+ ft tall in a couple of years. I chip budded the real Gerardi on mine, and I’ll cut it back and force the buds as soon as the few fruits are ripe. I also attempted a cleft graft on one scaffold, but it failed miserably. Two chip buds seem to have taken. I also have a graft growing on a wild potted seedling. It is still very small and has internodes about 0.5-.75" right now, and just ripened 4 berries.

[Bigmike1116]

well I guess I’m glad I didn’t put mine in the ground yet. berries still tasted good

[Bigmike1116]

did you notify Edible landscaping of the issue? if so, what did they say?

[marten]

I never bothered, but @Shibumi did, and this is what they said:

Why Gerardi is a dwarf mulberry

In my correspondence with E. L. after receiving my tree and some growth, this was his reply. "It’s the right one. 4 years ago when the propagation company took cuttings from the small grafted plant we sent. Took also a root sprout from the tree we sent. The following year we culled out the rootstock, although some were sold and replaced as we became aware. That’s all in the past now. Michael"

Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that the issue was actually fixed, because @Shibumi and I both got purported Gerardis from EL last year, after the problem was supposed to have been corrected, and the consensus here based on our photographs is that they are not true-to-type.

I think @Shibumi got true-to-type scions from a member here, and I ended up getting mine from Whitman Farms, which I think is one of the most, if not the most, reliable nurseries for mulberries (including M. nigras).

[kiwinut]

I got my Gerardi scion from Brambleberry Farms. They had a video up on YouTube that showed a tree that was obviously the real deal. Here is a new video showing a large Gerardi loaded with fruit at the beginning.

Brambleberry Farm plant inventory update for May 24, 2024

[EJh]

Although not a mulberry, the “black velvet” I got from E.L. and the black velvet I got from Lucile … Definitely not the same. Lucile looks like what people on here have posted, has thorns like drywall nails … EL is basically thornless… They told me black velvet has nearly no thorns when I contacted them … so will be interesting to see what I actually got from EL, I really hope it’s not a josta…

[trustyfarms]

@Bigmike1116 I’m curious if you have done anything else to try and knock down the scale as one of my Illinois Everbearing trees at 15’ tall last year basically turned white from top to bottom with the same scale. I tried spraying horticultural oil multiple times but it was unfazed…has anyone else figured out a way to eradicate them?

[Bigmike1116]

I only noticed them on Sunday 6/2 so not much time to do anything but brush them off by hand. not 100% sure it is scale yet either. as it likely isn’t the tree I ordered I’m not super concerned.