In times of stress trees can switch sex, often on just a few branches. It is natures way of trying to squeeze one last breeding before the plant dies. I know that Kiwi fruit growers will graft male vines onto their female vines to save space in the vineyard so I don't see any reason the sex of the rootstock would reject the scions. In the local parks around here there are also a lot of "wild" mulberries, there are more females to males from I can tell.

I'm a mulberry affectionado, and my recommendation is based on growing and fruiting a dozen or so named varieties. "Illinois Everbearing" is the 'gold standard' for those of us who can't successfully grow M.nigra - and that will include you - it is a heavy producer of big, tasty berries with a good sweet/tart balance and good flavor, and it bears over a long period of time - 6-8 weeks in my orchard, from early June to late July. Grafted trees will begin bearing in a very short time - just a couple of years, and well worth the expense compared to 'rolling the dice' with a seedling tree that may turn out to be a non-fruiting male or one with small, less-than-desirable or tasteless fruits. I've never tasted a bad M.rubra - the berries are tasty, typically a bit larger and plumper than those of IE, but you get one 'wave' of fruiting, and that's it. Productivity is a fraction of what you'd get with Illinois Everbearing. Stay away from M.alba, including 'Russian' mulberry - it's a weedy, invasive species, with fruit quality inferior to M.rubra or the M.albaXrubra hybrids, like Illinois Everbearing. "Stearns" is probably my next favorite variety, followed by "Colllier". "Wellington" bore well this spring, but it's the first decent crop in the 12 years I've been growing it, so I'm not yet ready to sing its praises.

Hi! I was just looking at this post today lol, nice of you to respond. It's still there, hasn't really turned into anything too much yet (the papaya is growing a bit slow so I'm not worried) but it still definitely has that swollen base. I took of one of the non-hermie flowers and tried to pollinate it with the anthers from that and my finger so we'll see. I think the issue with using soft water is they use sodium or something similar to make the water soft (operates on an ion exchange basis, where they exchange carbonates (calcium and magnesium) for salts (sodium and potassium)) and the problem is I don't want salt (sodium) to build up in the containers. Adding the acid also works on the carbonates but changes them into salts (notably gypsum when using sulfuric acid) and takes it out of the pH interplay. I'm just using normal city water to irrigate, it's just that high because the city pumps it from the ground, and our ground is made up of limestone (like pouring dissolved lime on the plants when I water). As for lowering the pH in soil, irrigating with acidified water will do that over time, the same as watering with high pH/highly alkaline water with lots of bicarbonates will raise soil pH over time. The sulfuric acid performs the same job as adding sulfur to lower soil pH, just quicker ;D So to answer your question my papaya flower is still there, I just added 2 oz or so of slow-release fertilizer to the pot (for micros and such) this weekend, and will be irrigating it with ammonium sulfate (21-0-0) on a weekly basis. How're yours? :)

As has been stated in other threads, taste/performance of named mulberry varieties will vary from place to place. Winter temps or summer humidity may limit viability of some varieties in some places. Illinois Everbearing is the 'gold standard' here - heavy production of tasty berries in early June, with continued fruiting at a lesser level for 6-8 weeks. Silk Hope is similar, but mine's only been fruiting for a couple of years... birds get most of them. Stearns, another rubraXalba hybrid, is really nice, but I can't comment yet on length of fruiting season(just now getting it above deer browse height). Indiana folks I know really like David Smith Everbearing... I only have one small branch of it growing in a local hybrid selection, Lawson Dawson. Wellington gets good reviews elsewhere, but it's crappy here. Had Collier for a number of years, and it was nice; lost it, but re-grafted it this year. Kokuso is nice; big lavendar berries, sweet, but not much flavor on mine this year. I never had a bad M.rubra; some have larger fruit than others. Never tasted a white-fruited mulberry that I cared for - sweet, no tartness, some just sort of a 'grassy' flavor... but there evidently are some good white ones out there.