So glad I found this on Adam's list. HUGE fan of mulberries! I have an Illinois Everbearing which I believe is grafted, so I doubt I'll be able to propagate. Do you know them? And I've tried propagating from wood without luck (too much neglect) but may also try some of our wild ones from seed. Thanks!
I found this interesting as I have never bothered propagating mulberries from seed. Only from new season cuttings at least 12-18" long. They strike quickly if dipped in seaweed and taken at the start of the new moon cycle (I work with Nature's timing to speed things up). I also strike multiple cuttings in one pot to create a mulberry 'shrub' (a little different to a nursery situation where you want to sell individual trees. I live in a subtropical climate and following this process, I can be eating from from a potted tree within 6-12 months. I've taught this to many local gardeners and they have come back to me with their own berries in this timeframe. It works!
Softwood. Choose new growth stems that are at least 1cm (about the size of a lady's pinky finger!) or a good thickness at the base. Need to time it correctly so there is maximum sap for successful striking. I have 100% success rate using this method. Keep me in the loop. Good luck.
Did you do anything to the cuttings to her them to root? I'm very interested in this easy option since I know they do well, disease resistant, in my area!
Not the species I’m working with. It definitely decreases the take rate but I’d rather not use an additional input. I’ve had good success with elderberry, gooseberry and to a limited extent aronia without a rooting hormone.
For years my husband said he didn't want me to plant mulberries because of the mess. Then I made a mulberry-blackberry jam he liked, and he liked it even more when I took that with cream cheese and made a filling for macaron cookies. Now he's fully onboard with the two dwarf mulberries I just acquired!
I used to live in Kansas. A huge white mulberry tree grew in our backyard. Delicious! But now we live in Colorado where it's much drier. My elderberries grow well here, but they're for medicine, not for eating. In fact, it's not wise to eat elderberries raw. I do miss mulberries.
Even if you could eat them raw (which I have but would never recommend) they have a wicked awful flavor. They taste much better after being cooked down with some sweetener.
Mulberries definitely deserve more attention. In my experience the ones found growing wild vary immensely in taste, with many being not very sweet and barely worth eating, which may account for the fact that many people aren't very interested in this berry. I wrote about mulberries last summer:
(2) Morus macroura is kind of a forgotten species (and often misidentified); more growers need to look at this mulberry. Additionally, there's a large group of hardy, easy mulberry (Morus) hybrids you should investigate. Look for ‘Collier’, ‘Gerardi Dwarf’, ‘Illinois Everbearing’, ‘Ivory’, ‘Kokuso’, ‘Miss Kim’, ‘Tehama’ (“Giant White”), and ‘Wellington’ (‘New American’). I think the future of mulberries may lie with these.
A couple of comments: (1) I'd like to see more small growers diversify their business to include "processing" of their harvest. Mulberries, especially, because they are difficult to get to market, are easily processed into jams/jellies, pies, syrup, vinegar/vinaigarette, muffins, ice cream (one of the best ice creams I've ever had in my life was mulberry-strawberry), scones, and more. Second comment to follow...
I think rather than growers being the processors it makes much more sense, to me, to find people willing to take on the processing of these fruits for their own business.
I think growers would greatly benefit from partnering with local bakeries, ice cream shops, and small scale value added producers.
A lot of growers simply don’t have the bandwidth or infrastructure to accomplish what you are suggesting unfortunately.
I like the idea of partnering. As a regular visitor of farmers' markets (historically, mostly in California and the Pacific Northwest but also in the Northeast and Southeast), though, I've found hundreds of growers who successfully turn their harvests into higher-margined processed products. And some of these small growers have had their products on the shelves of local growers and gift shops. I think today's small grower can't just be a "grower;" they must also be a marketer and a processor (or at least hire someone or, as you say, partner with someone who can do those things. Expanding bandwidth and infrastructure should be in the bigger plan.
But I truly appreciate the discussion. I’m not trying to diminish your thoughts or ideas on the topic, but it does seem that you are looking through the lens of a consumer rather than from the perspective of the producer.
I don’t think it is reasonable to expect producers to be a catch all from marketing to sales to production to processing and packaging. It’s a lot to expect out of a small farm. It can be done, but it’s not a comfortable existence.
Friendships falter, family time suffers, and mental health is put on the back burner.
I am not disputing that. But as someone who works on an organic produce farm, it’s extremely time consuming and demanding leading to the burnout of thousands of small growers across the US. And all we make is canned pickles and okra and things like that.
My boss was blessed with the ability to expand her infrastructure to include a processing facility on farm. A lot of people can’t afford the infrastructure required here to process. And we are in KY one of the more lax states according to my understanding.
We have 5 or 6 long standing producers that have tapped out at my market alone in the past two seasons.
I’m sure there is a way to accomplish it, but what is being tried is running people ragged and has lead to the selling of more and more small scale farms.
So glad I found this on Adam's list. HUGE fan of mulberries! I have an Illinois Everbearing which I believe is grafted, so I doubt I'll be able to propagate. Do you know them? And I've tried propagating from wood without luck (too much neglect) but may also try some of our wild ones from seed. Thanks!
Seed has been the most reliable form of propagation for me so far. Experimenting with cuttings and grafting this year.
I am familiar with Illinois everbearing. I’m looking forward to them coming into production age.
I found this interesting as I have never bothered propagating mulberries from seed. Only from new season cuttings at least 12-18" long. They strike quickly if dipped in seaweed and taken at the start of the new moon cycle (I work with Nature's timing to speed things up). I also strike multiple cuttings in one pot to create a mulberry 'shrub' (a little different to a nursery situation where you want to sell individual trees. I live in a subtropical climate and following this process, I can be eating from from a potted tree within 6-12 months. I've taught this to many local gardeners and they have come back to me with their own berries in this timeframe. It works!
Fantastic information. I’ll definitely be trying that this year. Do you take the cuttings once they’ve hardened off or while they’re still softwood.
Softwood. Choose new growth stems that are at least 1cm (about the size of a lady's pinky finger!) or a good thickness at the base. Need to time it correctly so there is maximum sap for successful striking. I have 100% success rate using this method. Keep me in the loop. Good luck.
Very cool. I’ll do it! Thank you!!
I’m hand-famous! 😂 That was a good day and some very tasty berries.
The Mulberry Mania snippet was a fun fact to learn!
Mad hand famous girl. ❤️
Did you do anything to the cuttings to her them to root? I'm very interested in this easy option since I know they do well, disease resistant, in my area!
Not the species I’m working with. It definitely decreases the take rate but I’d rather not use an additional input. I’ve had good success with elderberry, gooseberry and to a limited extent aronia without a rooting hormone.
For years my husband said he didn't want me to plant mulberries because of the mess. Then I made a mulberry-blackberry jam he liked, and he liked it even more when I took that with cream cheese and made a filling for macaron cookies. Now he's fully onboard with the two dwarf mulberries I just acquired!
I used to live in Kansas. A huge white mulberry tree grew in our backyard. Delicious! But now we live in Colorado where it's much drier. My elderberries grow well here, but they're for medicine, not for eating. In fact, it's not wise to eat elderberries raw. I do miss mulberries.
Even if you could eat them raw (which I have but would never recommend) they have a wicked awful flavor. They taste much better after being cooked down with some sweetener.
Do mulberries not grow well in Colorado?
They can't thrive well here. The air is too dry, even though you can water the ground. You have to baby them.
There’s none growing in the wild areas around? They grow like weeds here. Miss mowing and you have seedlings everywhere. 😅
They can't grow wild here. I wish they could!
Mulberries definitely deserve more attention. In my experience the ones found growing wild vary immensely in taste, with many being not very sweet and barely worth eating, which may account for the fact that many people aren't very interested in this berry. I wrote about mulberries last summer:
https://open.substack.com/pub/turtleparadise/p/tree-portrait-mulberry?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=3d0wn
(2) Morus macroura is kind of a forgotten species (and often misidentified); more growers need to look at this mulberry. Additionally, there's a large group of hardy, easy mulberry (Morus) hybrids you should investigate. Look for ‘Collier’, ‘Gerardi Dwarf’, ‘Illinois Everbearing’, ‘Ivory’, ‘Kokuso’, ‘Miss Kim’, ‘Tehama’ (“Giant White”), and ‘Wellington’ (‘New American’). I think the future of mulberries may lie with these.
I am highly favorable to the cultivars particularly the everbearing varieties like Hicks and Illinois everbearing.
A couple of comments: (1) I'd like to see more small growers diversify their business to include "processing" of their harvest. Mulberries, especially, because they are difficult to get to market, are easily processed into jams/jellies, pies, syrup, vinegar/vinaigarette, muffins, ice cream (one of the best ice creams I've ever had in my life was mulberry-strawberry), scones, and more. Second comment to follow...
I think rather than growers being the processors it makes much more sense, to me, to find people willing to take on the processing of these fruits for their own business.
I think growers would greatly benefit from partnering with local bakeries, ice cream shops, and small scale value added producers.
A lot of growers simply don’t have the bandwidth or infrastructure to accomplish what you are suggesting unfortunately.
I like the idea of partnering. As a regular visitor of farmers' markets (historically, mostly in California and the Pacific Northwest but also in the Northeast and Southeast), though, I've found hundreds of growers who successfully turn their harvests into higher-margined processed products. And some of these small growers have had their products on the shelves of local growers and gift shops. I think today's small grower can't just be a "grower;" they must also be a marketer and a processor (or at least hire someone or, as you say, partner with someone who can do those things. Expanding bandwidth and infrastructure should be in the bigger plan.
But I truly appreciate the discussion. I’m not trying to diminish your thoughts or ideas on the topic, but it does seem that you are looking through the lens of a consumer rather than from the perspective of the producer.
I don’t think it is reasonable to expect producers to be a catch all from marketing to sales to production to processing and packaging. It’s a lot to expect out of a small farm. It can be done, but it’s not a comfortable existence.
Friendships falter, family time suffers, and mental health is put on the back burner.
I am not disputing that. But as someone who works on an organic produce farm, it’s extremely time consuming and demanding leading to the burnout of thousands of small growers across the US. And all we make is canned pickles and okra and things like that.
My boss was blessed with the ability to expand her infrastructure to include a processing facility on farm. A lot of people can’t afford the infrastructure required here to process. And we are in KY one of the more lax states according to my understanding.
We have 5 or 6 long standing producers that have tapped out at my market alone in the past two seasons.
I’m sure there is a way to accomplish it, but what is being tried is running people ragged and has lead to the selling of more and more small scale farms.