And I’ve finally got mulberries to harvest again, thanks to the multiple trees in the Grocery Row Gardens, along with the wild red mulberry out in the cow pasture.
These came from the Grocery Row Garden yesterday afternoon:
Rachel made a mulberry pie the other night from black mulberries that was absolutely delicious. I think we have about eight varieties in the yard now, though I’m not sure what most of their names are, since we moved rather abruptly and dug them up and replanted them without any labelling system.
The “Ivory” mulberry (from Burnt Ridge Nursery) in the Grocery Row Gardens makes a nice, large white fruit, bigger than the ones pictured above, and it’s fruiting well this year. I’ve been trying to start more from cuttings, but the twigs are refusing to root for me.
Our multiple “Dwarf Everbearing” trees, though they aren’t the best variety, are keeping the kids entertained, as they’re covered with little fruit this year.
The “Rachel Goodman” mulberry in the Grocery Row Gardens was knocked over by a windstorm, so the boys propped it back up by hammering in a T-post and tying it to that. That poor tree can’t catch a break! Last year, it froze to the ground in our nasty late frost which happened after it was already in full fruit with lots of tender growth. This year it was the wind.
I would like to add more mulberries to my nursery. We may need a mist system to get them to root well. Some types just don’t want to root easily. Unfortunately, the “Dwarf Everbearing” roots very easily, so we always have that one (like every other nursery), but we’d like to add some better varieties. Often, when you stick mulberry cuttings, they’ll bud out and even go into fruit without making any roots at all. And then, much later, they rot and die, still without producing roots.
Maybe I’ll just hire Randall at Flomaton Famous to root a bunch for me. He has the magic touch.
10 comments
I have had the “leaf and fruit but no root” problem with certain fig cuttings. But then I have had large (2-3″) pieces of cut up branches root after being buried in the compost pile. Same variety.
I generally have a hard time rooting any temperate deciduous fruit trees. Low success with figs, grapes, Mulberry, etc. Seems like when I try to do everything right they don’t root but when I stick some in non ideal conditions not caring if they root or not then they do…
Recently people have told me of their rooting success with peaches and plums. Never personally tried those but it was interesting to hear. I usually start seeds of peaches and plums. Peaches do fruit fast from seed. Second year trees already fruiting this year. Did graft a peach seedling with tropic snow though too this year. Graft doing really good. Already nearly a foot of growth. Grafted a seedling apple with Anna this year with good success too after the grafted tree for Anna I had gave up and died. Golden Dorsett grafted 4 seasons back producing apples for the 2nd time this year. Grafted onto a random seedling that just came up from applied compost that I let grow.
Our Mulberry are in heavy fruit right now too. Four varieties in the yard at the moment. Dwarf everbearing, japanese black, Shangri-la, and a wild hermaphrodite morus alba. I wish I wouldn’t have killed my white Pakistan though. Let it get way too dry in its pot and killed the graft. Did fortunately get to try the fruit once though. Definitely different than other Mulberry. Kinda taste like cantaloupe. I’d like to get the Rachel variety from you someday.
Have you tried air layering for mulberries? YouTube says it works for hard to root plants.
Not yet. Good idea, though.
We just picked a few mulberries last night. I don’t know what cultivar it is but you’ve got me interested in some of these not so common varieties.
I read mulberry trees make good goat fodder. So i can get shade, fruit, and goat food from them, sounds like a great tree for the homestead to me.
I hope you get those rare ones propagated effectively.
Thanks. We’ll keep trying. Great trees all around.
I’m getting mulberries from the tree (stick with a few leaves for a couple dollars) I got from you in 2016?17? at 326 market. I have several of them in various sizes and they are producing well! Around the same time I bought a supposed “white mulberry” from the local wmart and it has only produced black berries…. But they are larger than the de I got from you so I’m not sure what’s up with it. It’s all good!
And one of the cuttings of the original I got from you is 20′ tall and breaking limbs with the weight of the fruit… Just carried the latter down there and about to be picking twice a day for a bit…
our mulberry trees are dropping fruit by the loads! But the trees are so big…. they were here when we got the property in 2020. the kids enjoy them though, which is fun. one of these years I’ll get a tarp or sheet out to catch mulberries before they hit the ground…. I need to take cuttings and try rooting. I’m happy to use rooting hormone…
Dave, I have a Dwarf Everbearing mulberry, a young tree currently about 6 ft tall that I planted in the ground in late winter.
It’s fruiting now, and they are very tasty, but the fruits are tiny! They are the size of a small blueberry. Will the tree make bigger fruit with age, is something wrong with the tree (it looks healthy and is growing well), or are the fruit supposed to be that small?
Thanks!
The fruits are often bigger in later years. It’s not the best variety, though.