I ordered one from them three years ago last spring. It was about 18 inches tall. It is now about 10 feet tall x 10 feet wide, and had a fairly decent crop of absolutely enormous berries this year. The tree actually has a nice, almost weeping quality to the branches, and the large, glossy foliage is very attractive. Flavor of the berries is very good, similar to that of the wild mulberries which grow commonly here.
If my climate were milder, I would consider getting some of the Indian and Pakistani cultivars of mulberries, but they won't grow here, so I.E. is the next best thing.
The Mulberries were pruned to fit in a five foot shipping box. The pot is a standard 3x3x10. The roots unfolded like it was from a larger pot. Starks sent me in the spring a large caliper Spring Satin Plumcot and Scarlet pearl peach. I couldn't resist these were like $13-14 each. Gurney's has now a Shiro plum for $8.32. I have a Shiro in my yard still growing on the last rays of fall. Gurney's will ship mid November. Shiro plums do well upstate and there are many planting holes ready. There is a hardy Mulberry in Trees of Antiquity called 'Wellington', Bred in Geneva NY, said to be the best tasting. I am looking for a source close to home.
Ace, I've had Wellington for 12+ years, and in my orchard, it is a dog. Crappy growth habit, LOW productivity, berries are small and 'OK' at best. Illinois Everbearing, Collier, Stearns all are head and shoulders above it in production and fruit quality here. But - performance varies from place to place; I have a friend in Flint MI who says that IE is not that good for him, and sent me scions of a mulberry that is his top performer - here it's average(better than Wellington) but nowhere nearly as good as IE.
I've had IE since 2004, it has some nice long fruit that clings on the tree for a long time. But to me, it doesn't taste any better than the run of the mill white mulberries that are growing around here. But it probably has to do with my sweet tooth. I love the super sweet berries and IE may have too much tartness in it.
Thanks Lucky for the heads up on the Wellington mulberry. Trees of Antiquity catalog does say Geneva fruit tasters rate Wellington as the best Mulberry. Geneva is 100 miles north of where we are upstate NY, but milder. Most importantly, I E is more hardy than 'Wellington'. We expect these Mulberries will also attract more Turkeys as the Mulberry seedlings spread across the valley. St. Lawrence sells a super hardy mulberry called 'Northrup'. Anyone try it yet.
SLN's Northrup is a M.alba selection, noted for it's winter-hardiness. If you're a zone 7, you don't NEED that. I've encountered an occasional M.alba that had decent to good fruit quality, but most random M.albas I've sampled are significantly inferior to the hybrids like IE, Stearns, Collier, etc., or even any run-of-the-mill native M.rubra. Wellington may perform well for you on LI - it's just nothing to write home about here in southern KY. It must have looked pretty good at Geneva for someone to select & propagate it.
Lucky, Thanks for the advice. I won't bother with the Northrup. I have an orchard at my house here on LI and an orchard at our family cabin upstate NY zone 5. Check out my trade list. I planted the three Starks IE upstate last week. Does the hybrid, Illinois Everbearing, come true to seed. I read somewhere that it did.
I dunno. I eat every fruit I can get my hands on. I've had IE growing here for 15 years, and haven't seen any 'volunteer' seedlings anywhere around the farm or orchard that don't look like a typical native M.rubra. The birds get their share of them, but so far, I'm not seeing anything that look like hybrids popping up anywhere.
denninmi
theaceofspadesOriginal Author
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