Weston Lombard’s project is still ongoing. He is in the process of genetic testing of the candidates. He is also attempting to find a facility that can do micropropagation of the selected candidates. Pure Red Mulberry is nearly impossible to root from cuttings…and it doesn’t graft easily either…so micropropagation seems to be the best recourse. Bear in mind that it may be several years before these micropropagated plants will be available.
If you would like some (in my opinion) pure Red Mulberry seeds, I can send you some (~50). The seeds need to be kept at about 80 degrees F for them to sprout well (in about three weeks). They were collected from an old “mother tree” in a secluded hammock in North Florida. She is surrounded by many male and female Red Mulberry trees that also appear pure. Just give me your address in a private message and I’ll send them out.
looks like a nice tree. good size fruit and fairly productive. How’s the flavor? How old do you figure it us and whats the light regime like. Rubras are supposed to like some shade, particularly when young, I believe. Maybe you can submit it to Weston’s contest.
I’m not sure on the age, it is on a fairly newly acquired property in an old historic city in VA. It is in part shade, and my clone that I had in ground in full sun last year did not like the heat and did not grow the way I’ve seen White Mulberries grow. No problems with silk worms. Flavor is wonderful, the berries are very large, complex, with a bit of the mulberry zing. Very sweet. Production is substantial considering it is by no means in full sun. Leaves are huge. I did submit the form, this is a fantastic fruit and should be grown all over the east coast considering how reliable, and cold hardy it is
I attached a picture of a clone I managed to get from the mother tree showing the size of the leaves. This was in 2022. In a 5 gallon bucket
Id be glad to trial it here if you’d be willing to share a stick or two. This is the northern most range of rubra in the east to my knowledge.
everybearing? typically a hybrid trait
I would love to try it too on the west coast.
My mother tree is about two hours away. I am getting cuttings later in the season, and I can give an update on when I have some to mail. It is definitely not Everbearing, about 4-6 weeks of fruit period. It is not an easy one to clone, but I’ve had good success rooting outdoors, and during peak growth around June. I’ve had no success trying to root overwinter indoors
that’s surprising, but good to hear. Id want to graft it -mulberries galore here - so if you make it over anytime during the dormant season, perhaps you could grab a few scions? Id be happy to return the favor, pay shipping, or pay it forward. Have you named it yet?
I’ve only been able to root the mulberry indoors one time from green growth in a high humidity two clear plastic cup system. Other times, I failed. And I’ve tried many times. On the other hand, I stuck cuttings into decent potting soil, forgot about them and left them over winter outside against the house, and by spring they pushed roots and leaves. Success 4/5. Yes, I will be getting cuttings in the next month or so, I’ll be in touch. No, no name yet, I didn’t know how uncommon red mulberries were until I came across this article and did some more googling after. I was looking for even better mulberries to plant this spring in our orchard but the bigger fruiting varieties seem to be not hardy enough for our zone here in VA.
youd do fine with Illinois Everbearing but your rubra seems visibly and per your description to be of similar quality.
Good to hear of your laissez faire rooting success. Im not sure the up against the house method would do as well for me here in VT, but perhaps in the basement. I’ve always had the best luck with semi hard cuttings in mid-late July. Along with the double cup system i’ve found you can root even harder to root varieties luck IE, though Ive had no luck to date with Geraldi Dwarf (another one worth considering)
We’re actually rooting Illinois Everbearing right now, and a white variety “Carmen Day”, outdoors and indoors. Fortunately here we have pretty mild winters, so mulberries are pretty hardy here, expect for Pakistan and Australian. I’m hoping the IE will root. I guess we’ll find out. Carmen showed signs of development after 2 weeks. Also, VA had a pretty serious record snow storm in 2021 and this mulberry had no damage.
Just for fun I have a DMOR9 ie ‘Himalayan Red’ in a pot. I actually got it because the USDA GRIN description indicated erroneously that it was hardy. I didn’t have high hopes, but it seems to have done well in my high tunnel. I winter it in the basement with figs and citrus.
I would love to get a few cuttings, rooted or not, if you’re still offering. Unfortunately, all the mulberries I’ve found around here are alba with maybe a touch of rubra genetics. Still delicious, but not really what I’m interested in.
Yes, my tree is still very young so I’m nervous to cut on it until it does dormant, also it’s not the fastest grower and only semi easy to root. I didn’t have any success rooting this year. I have a mother tree that I haven’t been able to get to about two hours away so I’m a little limited on wood. But I’m sure I’ll have cuttings available in the fall, I’ll be mailing out cuttings to members interested then. (Unless I can get to the mother tree sooner)
I think this is a Alba hybrid like some members said, but maybe more a red mulberry then alba. Also noticed some green fruit on it still, so a pretty long fruiting season… of course we don’t get any more ever since the abundance slowed because of the birds.
Thank you very much. I’m fine with waiting, it’ll give me something to do over the winter. For whatever my amateur opinion is worth, this is definitely the closest to a “true” red mulberry I’ve ever seen. Even if it is slightly mixed it is still a welcome improvement over the “red mulberries” I see a lot of nurseries selling.
Anecdotally, I’ve noticed that wild trees expressing more rubra traits have either a longer or slightly delayed fruiting season. Most of the trees near me (Central Pennsylvania) are done fruiting, but a few with bigger, rougher leaves and longer, redder mature fruit still have berries ripening. Taste better too IMO.
Yes, I’m very happy with the variety. It still has berries on it, it’s so young birds get the berries before we do. Im glad you also think it’s unique to the trees that typically get sold at nursery. I’ll be happy to spread it once I can. Sorry for the late response, garden has been keeping me busy!