North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[martha_davis@highstream.net]

Ed,

I got interested In mulberries because the Illinois Everbearing tasted better
than the black berries that I could grown in Zone 5 in IL.  A member of the
Midfex group also in zone 5 likes MacKay better than Illinois everbearing , 
but
I haven't had a chance to try it.  I think Illinois everbearing isn't quite as
good as the Noir of Spain that I tasted at the Oregon meeting, but Noir of
Spain is not suposed to be hardy in Zone 5.  They do seem to be fairly
invaisive in Illinois, but I don't see that happening in here in New Mexico.  
I
am considering mulberries again now that I am in New Mexico because the
blackberry list is about the same as the one in Illinois.  Not nearly as good
as Marion.

One of the midfex members does a lot of grafting and gets good takes, but I
think it is different from apple grafting and more like nuts.  He grafts them
later and with the buds starting to open on the scion, and claims it is better
that fully dormant wood.  I haven't tried enough on my own to know.

Martha Davis

I'm not sure on the zone yet, there are lots of microsites here and i have 
been
told a range for Los Alamos from 4-6 which is pretty wide.  The maps make it
looke like 5.

MarthaQuoting Ribes60@aol.com:

> I have seen a lot of comments about mulberries on this list. We have a good
> number that grow wild here in Central PA - both the red and the white. My
> personal feeling is that they produce a lot of sweet berries, but are
> otherwise
> pretty bland.
>
> I tasted one in Oregon a few years ago that was very good, but was told  
> that
> it probably would not survive the PA winters. I have planned to graft some
> of the many wild ones with "better" varieties. What are the best
> recommendations  for zone 5 ??
>
> How difficult are they to graft?? I get good resultes with apples, plums
> etc.
>
>
>
>
> Ed  Mashburn
> Central PA
> Zone 5A
>