Hey Buck, I'm in SOuthern Cal, I grow IE, Oscar, Persian, Pakistan and have tried the white mulberry. I gotten all my mulberries at first from Burnt ridge. Now this is my take on them. They get their trees MOSTLY from some where else. I was not really impressed with there trees at all. BUT it was one of the only places I could get the type I wanted. I have since gone to LE cook but I buy in bulk meaning 30-40 trees at a time. Now I like the oscar the best for that type of mulberry. IE is good but for me oscar is better. Pakistan is a different type but I like them. But the best is the persian if you can grow it. That being said you are growing for wine so I would give a go at what ever works for you. Good luk, Buckster

I'm also having disease problems on trunks of a couple of my mulberries. I just googled canker mulberries and there are lots of articles about sooty canker and other cankers that affect mulberries. It doesn't sound like there is much you can do with sooty canker anyways, except remove affected tissue and get it out of your yard. I had been ignoring the problem but I guess it could spread to my IE and weeping mulberries, so maybe I should just bite the bullet and remove the 2 affected trees. Oscar never is well enough to even ripen berries, I think it is the source of the canker in my yard, but I noticed my lavender mulberry also has problems on the trunk, which is sad as it took it a long time to get larger and have fruit.:-(

Lakshmi, I was going to recommend Ernie Grimo, but I see you're aware of his nursery - you may just have to wait 'til next year. Most of the weeping mulberries that are available in the nursery trade are non-fruiting 'male' selections, like 'Chapparral' - so you'd have one of those 'umbrella shrubs' and no fruit, to boot. There are some fruiting(female) weepers - 'Teas Weeping', etc. I've had one - the dwarf weeping mulberry from Edible Landscaping - and was not overly impressed with the fruit - small, tart, and not especially tasty - but there are a couple of fruiting weepers that I know of in town - planted in large, above-ground planters alongside the parking lot of a small shopping center - that have very good fruit - but these are not being adequately maintained, and soon the weeping portion will be completely overtaken by non-weeping M.alba shoots from the rootstock. Guess I ought to take some cuttings and root them or bud them onto some seedling mulberries for safe-keeping.

If you are referring to the mulberry tree, beware. They sucker fiercely and quickly become invasive. You must choose carefully.