North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Deb Schneider <debs913@gmail.com>]

I received this via the NAFEX membership mailbox.  If anyone can
answer Tom's question, would you please email him privately?  Email
address is below, thanks.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Tom <tloallergyfree@earthlink.net>


Hi, A question perhaps you can help with?

I'd like to graft female Maclura pomifera onto existing, large male
mulberry trees at elementary schools, to get pollen-free shade trees.
I also figure (and I could be wrong) that if the grafting worked, that
the trees would be largely fruitless (a plus at schools) since in most
cases (mainly at first in California and in Las Vegas, Nevada) there
would be few if any male trees around of Maclura to pollinate.

   Am also curious if you've ever come across anything where someone
hybridized mulberry with Osage orange? In Las Vegas, for example,
there are so many "fruitless" mulberry trees (Morus alba males) that
there would be plenty of that pollen in the air....curious if it might
pollinate the female Maclura.

Anyhow, I'm not a NAFE member, but probably ought to be...do belong to
the CRFG. I'm also playing with the idea of grafting some of these
trees over to female wood from Cudrania, but not too sure about how
well that might work.

Appreciate any thoughts you have on all of this,

Tom Ogren
San Luis Obispo, CA
www.allergyfree-gardening.com