To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Mulberry Varieties
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2003 16:53:00 -0500
I tried Pakistan several years back, and following Dr. Bullard's advice, I
planted it with the graft union below ground level, in the event that it
winter-killed; which it did. Every winter, for 3 or 4 years. It would
re-sprout from below the soil line and grow a good 10 ft - kinda like those
coppiced Paulownias, but never fruited, except for one year when we had a
freak freeze in late September, it re-leafed and bloomed but not
surprisingly, it didn't mature its fruits before the real winter hit. I
finally dug it up to replace it with something else - I did stick it in a 5
gallon pot, but I misplaced it somewhere and never did figure out where it
went.
With regard to dwarfing, I've seen reference, either here on the list, or
in POMONA, that trying to 'train' Illinois Everbearing is something akin to
trying to train a garden hose. It is definitely a vigorous grower. Les
Wilmoth has a huge one at his house outside of Glendale, KY - I don't know
how old it is, but it's probably 50-60 ft tall, three main trunks; I don't
think two men could touch hands trying to reach around it. I think Les had
several others, but they contracted 'popcorn disease' and he took them out.