The Tropical Fruit Forum

We have some that size here in Vegas that were planted back in the 40s-70s. Mulberries, olives, and sometimes figs were yard decoration staples because of how easy they were to grow in our desert climate. There's a steakhouse here called Bob Taylor's Ranch House that is still open after 70 years and there's several of them in the parking lot that were planted back in the mid 50s. They're massive.

Unfortunately, since then, mulberry plantings became rare due to how much males put out pollen and wreak havoc on everyone's seasonal allergies, and were eventually banned in 1991 along with fruiting olives. Existing trees were all grandfathered in as legal, but many folks opted to cut them down anyways due to the leaf litter in winter and pollen output. All the huge ones I've seen are male or sterile. I've read that mulberries can change gender from female to male once they reach a certain age, but I don't know how true that is.

While fruiting trees were/are still legal, the ban also halted all sales of mulberries, male or female, from any local stores. Only now with the advent of the internet and a huge spike in gardening interest as a hobby have fruiting mulberries started to make a comeback.

Looks like there's a newer SuperSour improved version of Sour Orange that may be a good candidate.

Also, was looking at US-802 and US-942 as possible candidates. Supposedly they're rock stars in general as rootstock, but I haven't been able to get much info on their clay/salinty/higher PH tolerance.

EDIT - Found this nifty table and US-942 looks like the way to go.

https://crec.ifas.ufl.edu/extension/citrus_rootstock/tables.html

And luckily, Madison Citrus sells it!

https://madisoncitrusnursery.com/products/942-citrus-rootstock-for-sale

I use this and have had good results.

https://www.amazon.com/Southern-Ag-01902-Citrus-Nutritional/dp/B00A51Y8ZM/ref=sr_1_32?crid=2FZPSFZPOPR2W&keywords=citrus+spray&qid=1690575120&sprefix=citrus+spray%2Caps%2C161&sr=8-32

I don't think you'd be able to graft this onto your Siam Jumbo or true mulberries as it's not actually a mulberry, despite the name.

How well would this handle arid, hot summers, and winters that can get to around freezing in fits and spurts?

Quote from: Giant Gecko on July 19, 2023, 06:58:24 PM

I found a seller on eBay Italy with 4 foot grafted Sangue Latte, I kid you not for $12 plus shipping.  Just a common grafted mulberry here that size would be $40 plus. Unfortunately they don’t ship to USA not even cuttings but I surely tried.

I'm on this. I will keep you in the loop, gonna have an Italian friend chop it up and I'll have him ship them over.

Can you loop me in as well?

Same, but these are really hard to get right now. Check out this thread for chance at one next year:

https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=51782.0

Fair enough. Appreciate all you're doing!

Count me in!

69 

Beat me to it.

30.

Any folks here with experience growing these in a desert climate?

I know that it can be done here in Vegas and AZ as there are some growers that have had proven success, but I personally haven't put much in the way of effort to try yet.

I recently purchased and grafted Contorted, Cooke's Persian, Black Bird, and Kokuso cuttings from Fruitwood Nursery.

Waiting to hear back from them if the Contorted is a fruiting female or male, which I didn't think to ask before I ordered. Apparently most of the contorted scions out there are male.

Any experience or feedback on the other three? I assume Cooke's Persian to not be all that different from regular Persian. The other two are supposedly pretty good.