North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Gordon Nofs" <gc_nofs@hotmail.com>]

All my mulberries are just starting to change color. Nothing you have is unusual. I have many, and it is the cold weather here in zone 5. Lot of mine are still green except the ever bearers have few ripening.

Gordon C. Nofs

Flint, MI.

At 02:19 PM 8/11/2004 -0500, you wrote:
>I just found a mulberry tree that appears to be smack bang in the
>middle of its fruiting. This is a good month plus after all other
>mulberries around here stopped fruiting. Is this a[n unusual] late
>summer mulberry, or is it just our weird cool summer throwing off
>yet another plant?
sb,
I suspect that there's more than one NAFEX member on the list who'd be interested in getting a piece or two of dormant bud wood from this tree to graft & trial - I know I'd be interested in trying it.


>Speaking of mulberries, when the traditional purple ones mix with
>small children the result tends to be a big mess. :-)
In a conversation I had with Dr. David Griffith, earlier this summer, he was telling me of a Pakistani physician friend of his who indicated that every year during 'mulberry season' , he sees a rash of broken limbs(arms & legs - not branches) from folks falling out of the trees while eating berries.
While my kids are not that small anymore, we never really worried about a little purple staining - but, my wife was the impetus behind us planting mulberries in the first place, as she had fond memories of climbing a big mulberry tree in her neighbors' yard and gorging on the fruits. So...she doesn't get stirred up about the stains.

> Pomona has had references to white mulberries as tasting and
>being non-staining. The name "afghanistan" shows up frequently. Any
>comments or recommendations on mulberries that kids like and won't
>stain everything?
I've yet to run across a white-fruited mulberry that was to my liking - just a bit of sweet, and sort of a 'grassy' taste.
Gordon Nofs had one that was purported to taste like muskmelon, but my graft of it died out - or maybe it's still up there in that seedling M.alba somewhere and I just can't find it any more.
Off the top of my head, I'm thinking there are several named variety white-fruited selections, like Tehama & Beautiful Day.
You might check the NCGR site for Morus accessions - seems like they even have a taste-comparison chart there, if I recall correctly.



Lucky Pittman
USDA Cold Zone 6
AHS Heat Zone 7
Hopkinsville, KY

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