North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Michael Nave <jmichaelnave@yahoo.com>]

Morus nigra is widely grown worldwide in areas with
zone 7 and zone 8 type temperatures and is reported
sometimes growing in zone 6 and maybe even zone 5. The
biggest problem we have in the US with regard to morus
nigra is that we have a relatively small amount of
true morus nigra germplasm.

I don't believe Shangri La is morus nigra. It has
black fruit but it doesn't look like morus nigra at
all. And the fruit is not that good. Whitman is a very
good nursery but many nurseries seem to think that
black fruited mulberries must be morus nigra and that
simply isn't true.

I'm not sure though why so many people in cooler areas
are fixated on growing morus nigra. I have two morus
nigra but prefer Silk Hope, Oscars and Illinois
Everbearing mulberries. I don't care whether they are
morus nigra, morus rubra etc. I just care how they
taste and how well they grow.

But if you're set on morus nigra, try Ernie
Grimo(Grimo Nut Nursery) who I believe has a true zone
7 morus nigra. Or you can request scionwood next
winter from the USDA's germplasm collection. They have
Shah Tut and a few other true morus nigra trees. I
think they even have a zone 5 or 6 morus nigra from
Russia.

--- "drosehngs1@juno.com" <drosehngs1@juno.com> wrote:

> 
> Has anyone out there had success growing a black
> mulberry (morus nigra,
> not morus alba nor morus alba x rubra) on the east
> coast?  If so, what
> cultivar?
> 
> Whitman Farms indicates morus nigra to be hardy to
> zone 7, and one
> variety (shangri-la) appears to be able to handle
> humidity (though I
> believe Lee Reich states this is a morus alba and
> rather bland).
> 
> Please advise.  Thank you.
> 
> George Drosehn (zone 7)
> 
>


 
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