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| I have a large, ~50 year old fruitless mulberry in the back yard, and another of similar age with a shooter but otherwise killed by may malicious former tenants. They may be on a fruited stock, as at least the shooter produces berries (very grassy in flavor). It is also possible that the base tree was fruiting; fruitless mulberries switching and bearing fruit at 40-50 years old is not rare around here (Las Vegas) Anyway, they are both going in the overhaul of my yard. and planting of fruit trees However, i would hate to give up on these roots if I can put something "useful" on them--they're deep enough that they have found their own water (survived at least three years without being watered in the desert! At the moment, there are a couple of cherry, peach, apricot, nectarine, fig, plum, pomegranate, apple, pear, and a fruit cocktail tree planted. (and some citrus in the greenhouse area).. A particularly cold year here will see nighttime lows of 20F; more typically, it won't drop below the high 20s. hawk |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by fabaceae_native (My Page) on Sun, Dec 28, 14 at 17:22
| Yes, technically any other mulberry (most named varieties are either Morus alba which is likely what your rootstock will be, Morus nigra, or various alba hybrids). I've been trying to graft M. nigra onto two different established M. alba the last few years without any luck, though. Good luck... |
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- Posted by deserthawk none (My Page) on Sun, Dec 28, 14 at 20:08
| Thanks--but I'm really looking for a non-mulberry here. Our front mulberry is enough for the whole neighborhood :) (Las Vegas used to use *lots* of Fruitless Mulberry & Olive, due to the fast desert growth. They were banned in the mid 90's when the pollen count was high enough to bother people *without* allergies.) This place was built with six, but one in the back went before we bought the place, one in the front went down in a storm, and another front one went to bugs. The remaining one is *huge*, and probably saves me $20-$50/month in the summer for the shade it gives the house. (I'm keeping it) thanks hawk |
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- Posted by copingwithclay 8B (My Page) on Mon, Dec 29, 14 at 9:40
| Well, if you ever do find great non-m/b fruit that can be grafted to m/b trees, let me know, because any r/s that can grow that fast/large/strong/productive would be very useful. Until then, desert shade is a wonderful thing. Incompatible chromosomes don't play well with others. |
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- Posted by Appleseed70 6 MD (My Page) on Mon, Dec 29, 14 at 12:51
| Good idea keeping the shade producer...wish I had one here to shade my roof. I have no trouble believing your $20-$50 per month savings either. I suspect a nice big shade tree here could save me as much also and I'm not even in the desert. |
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- Posted by cousinfloyd NC 7 (My Page) on Mon, Dec 29, 14 at 13:57
| Che fruit wouldn't be graft compatible, would it? |
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| If shade is all that helpful one might consider more insulation and sealing of their home. Generally a great investment on a substandard home. |
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| I have to agree with Fruitnut. Insulation makes a huge difference as well as sealing up the house. When I installed a new roof I installed the radiant barrier decking and added some insulation and my electric bill dropped way down. |
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| Any tree that can shade your house can also fall on your house. Even if it doesn't, it will drop leaves in your gutters and probably shade your other fruit trees. There was an 80' oak next to the house when we moved in and it was the first one I had taken down. Almost 5 years later, all the rest of the trees from the yard are gone too, except for a small pine by the road which I use as part of my kiwi trellis. That is, all the trees other than the fruit trees I plant... Another option would be to try grafting a black mulberry. I know it was mentioned earlier in the thread, but my understanding is that it is on a whole different level in terms of flavor, compared to the standard white mulberries. You could even use the roots, but prevent the new graft from turning into a tree through pruning- just a large bush. |
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- Posted by deserthawk none (My Page) on Tue, Dec 30, 14 at 0:08
| Err, insulation is nice, but this is the Las Vegas Dessert. We have periods in which the nighttime lows are in the 90s, and daytime highs are in the high 100s. Not that many days over 110, but . . . We refitted with fresh insulation, new outer wall, and double-paned windows due to tenant damages. But the temperature difference between shadow and not is significant, and thermodynaics provides that--for any level of insulation--heat loss is proportional to the difference in temperatus. Grass in the back yard near the house made a noticeable difference . . . Anyway, we are able to use a swamp cooler most of the three sumemers, and only need to use AC 2-3 weeks per year, so I usually have not much more than $100/month electric (which is how I justify my $100+ water bill for my lawn & garden :) ). As for the berries, they are indeed black. Not bad-tasting, but very grassy; nothing to write home about. And really not in a location I need shade (north, and to the corner of the house, so it is actually shaded by the house. btw, the bigger back-yard mulberry gets to stay until the new fruit trees won't benefit from its shade any longer . . . |
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| The berries may be black, but it is still probably a white mulberry. Here is a post where the differences are discussed. Basically, black mulberry are supposed to be much more flavorful- some have compared them to blackberries. They are also less hardy (I've seen 10 degrees F quoted for some), which would be fine in your area. |
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- Posted by cousinfloyd NC 7 (My Page) on Tue, Dec 30, 14 at 8:33
| I would second Bob's suggestion to consider mulberries further and not to assume that what you have is either a M. nigra black mulberry or similar to other options. I don't live in a region where M. nigra seems to be an option, but there are cultivars of M. rubra and M. alba (and crosses) that are very tasty and others that aren't. |
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- Posted by copingwithclay 8B (My Page) on Tue, Dec 30, 14 at 9:05
| Dealing with Summer's excessive solar heat gain here has resulted in home improvements such as installing full-length roof ridge vents, having a boatload of soffit vents, coating the underside of the roof decking with aluminum coating, and planting certain fruit trees along west-side windows for both fruit and shade. As a young fool I snickered at the old women walking down Summer sidewalks carrying big umbrellas. Now I respect them.......Regarding that unwanted grassy m/b taste, the green full-length stems obviously have chlorophyll with the green grass contaminating taste, which I also hate. Like on the Pakistan m/b. On the other hand, the Shangri La variety has ZERO grassy taste and on the positive side has a rich tart/sweet flavor. More tart when still slightly maroon color. But that is what they invented cream and sugar for. Less tart after the berry is 100% black and still shiny. You are welcome to scions if you want to graft any. |
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| copingwithclay, I'd like to try grafting some Shangri La.Maybe we can trade.I have Wellington,Silk Hope,Illinois Everbearing,Dwarf Girardi, Black Beauty and the aforementioned Pakistan. But,if Shangri La tastes similar to some of those,then having one more variety is not such a big deal. Brady |
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- Posted by Fascist_Nation USDA 9b, Sunset 13, (My Page) on Tue, Dec 30, 14 at 21:49
| While many species of mulberry exist they all seem to be fairly graft compatible. Dormant (winter) grafting is choice. As for Che it is related but I am not optimistic. If you can get some cuttings you might try grafting onto some branches to see if they take first before topping the tree. |
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| I got a bunch of wild mulberry trees at the corner end of my acre lot. I will top work a couple 2" diameter mulberry trees with bark graft of seedless Che scion woods this coming spring to see if they take. I will update the result in June. Tony |
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| I tried Che on M.alba understock a couple of times, with no success. That said, n=2 is not conclusive. |
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