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Hi. I don't have any information on Nikita White. We have a few white colored mulberries: Buluklu, Tehama, San Martin, and Beautiful Day. White mulberries may vary a little in size and growth pattern, but I am pretty confident these and all other white colored mulberries probably taste pretty much the same. All sweet and no tartness. - Mark

If you're rooting dormant mulberry cuttings in a controlled environment (like in a room in the house) in the winter and they form leaves then I would definitely wait until the risk of frost has passed. For something like grape cuttings, you can get the roots going under heat but since there are no leaves yet, they can handle light frosts or more outside.

Great question! And Yes! Our ideas on pruning have evolved a little bit since this video. I go into more detail here: th-cam.com/video/XnBDNy9HMjo/w-d-xo.html. And, assuming our method works, we'll post more detailed videos in the future. Essentially, we'll prune yearly until we get the shape we want and then prune once a year after first fruiting every year.... more to come! - Mark

Yes. We have found that the mulberries in the hoophouse grow faster and fruit earlier than those outside. So they are getting approximately the same amount of light but the extra heat speeds up the growing process. That said, when we remove the plastic in early autumn we do notice that the leaves on the hoophouse mulberries take a little bit of a hit and show some minor sunscald. But since we don't expose them to full sun until the autumn when the sun is lower in the sky it's not too bad. Does that makes sense? - Mark

Oh Hey thanks Charles. Sorry I didn’t get back to you on the other message. Glad to hear you used an App… that’s what I always do. Mulberries are definitely fun to run into. Never know what’s around the corner! -Mark

Hi. That’s a great question that I’ve thought about lot about over the years. Mulberry trees are native in many parts of North America. And if I remember correctly there is only one state that restricts importation of Morus Alba only. So it’s native and not disallowed in all but one state and it’s not considered invasive in most places so the only thing I can think of is that the fruit can stain sidewalks so local HOAs , suburbs, and local municipalities put restrictions on planting them. Not much of a theory but I can’t think of any other reason. Do people give specifics when they say it’s a no-no? -Mark

Yes I've done some research some people specifically on reddit complain that they ruin fences and crack foundations with their roots. ​I'm strongly considering trying to make a living fence around my property in the way that people do with willow. I'm just apprehensive about potential problems for me later. @@WooShoo-26

@cajunhimself Right! Now I think I understand. By escaping you mean spreading roots beyond where you want them. I apologize I thought you were referring to mulberries in the first question. Yes! All trees if put near a foundation or plumbing may cause long-term problems. Roots follow moisture gradients. Willows are well known for doing this. Since we coppice our willow yearly, the root system can't spread far but I wouldn't recommend putting any kind of large tree right next to a home. Hope this helps. - Mark

Hi, I have heard that some figs won’t fruit unless pollinated by the wasp, but where we are it is too cold for fig wasps so we only have figs that do not require pollination. And I might be wrong, but I think that’s true for most ‘commercial’ fig varieties these days. -Mark

Well, it looks like I get to answer my own question. No Mulberry Tree Leaf is serration free! My wife gets credit showing me the free plant ID in Goggle. The tree that I found is the Red Bud Tree. It's pretty crazy the two species are physically the same with the exception of the serrations around the edge of the leaf and Red Bud doesn't have fruit. They have seed pods. Other than that, the leaf size and structure of the two trees are the same. The leaf spacing are exactly the same. They both even turn colors the same as fall approaches! So that mystery has been solved!

Hey that’s great! Dingdong grew up knowing about mulberries but I didn’t discover them until later in life when I saw another parent at our daughter’s school standing on a chair eating something out of a tree. “What’s that!?!” That, and I’m still tickled every time one of our cuttings roots or grafts takes. The possibility that it might not be successful always increases the excitement when it does. You know what I mean? -Mark

@dingdongsgarden Oh definitely Mark! This afternoon I noticed a bud opened up on a cutting from 10/17/24! The remaining 4 cuttings are just sitting there but I got one that is looking good so far!

That’s good news. I’ve found that humidity control is important. So we either wrap the tops above soil in parafilm or put them in a humidity tent. Good Luck! -Mark

Unfortunately I don't know of any but check out the Facebook Group "Mulberry Growers". It's a pretty international crowd. There might be someone there who sells or trades within Canada. Good Luck! - Mark

Hi. I'm glad this was useful. Unfortunately not, we don't ship to Canada. Hopefully there's a vendor somewhere over there for you. I am confident that lignified (not green bark but brown bark, typically late summer first year, or early summer second year) cuttings will root. Often people will leave maybe half a leaf on a cutting and then put it in a humidity tent. I've done a few like this in the past that were successful but I plan to try a lot more next summer. If you can wait until the leaves fall off the tree and they are just starting into dormancy, you can put those cuttings into the fridge, but anything that is actively growing may not work out. So you have access to live cuttings but not dormant ones? - Mark

Wow! Amazing timing for responding! We don’t see too many mulberry trees here and someone offered me some live branches 3 weeks ago. I followed your method inside and will wait to see. I’m in 8b Canada. What are some easy varieties to try for a beginner?

Always happy to respond! This is a little slower season for us. After the summer growing season and before the winter sale harvest season. There's a link on our mulberry product pages that shows our success rates. It's pretty unscientific so fair warning. Do you know what kind of variety you received? Maybe you can compare varieties you find that you can access against that list? - Mark

Thanks! I had to get down on the ground for that shot. Longue d'Aout is such a unique fig, I wanted to get a close-up!

Hi. Right. Sorry about that I should have gone into more detail. You're right, once they get rootbound it's tough to keep consistent water and fertilizer going. If we're staying in the same size pots, we'll prune the roots during dormancy around the same time we prune the vines up top... usually with a hacksaw or something like that. - Mark

Hi. I've never seen the fruit in stores. Farmer's Markets should have them in mid-to-late summer. Other than that, you would need to grow your own. The nice thing about these yellow, Shiro plums is that there's no hint of red so the birds aren't attracted to it! - Mark

Hi. Hmmm. I don't hear of many grown male mulberry trees in yards but there's not many in the wild around here either. We only have a few male mulberry cultivars in our orchard and the flowers are catkins. Is it possible that tree is something other than a mulberry? As for keeping that tree out of your garden, I'm not sure what to suggest. Trees planted near our garden are always an issue too. You have our sympathy. Sorry I couldn't help more! - Mark

Hi! We're looking at around January 1st. We should know better in the next week or so. Once we know the exact date and time the sale will start, we'll post it across the website and the channel. Thanks for asking! - Mark

@@dingdongsgarden can’t wait to pick some things up!

Hi! I've always just eaten them off the tree or given them to the family so it's hard to keep track what tastes good (the family aren't very discerning and seem to be happy with whatever is available!). That said, I think we'll have the quantity we need to do some semi-official taste tests this summer and some official taste tests down the road. Until then, my favorites are... Kip Parker, Gerardi, & Black Prince. White mulberries look nice and the birds miss them, but they are just honey sweet without tart. We're going to grow a lot though because I think sprinkling them on a basket of dark mulberries would look neat. So, sorry, not much info on taste now but hopefully more info to come! What types do you have now? - Mark

Hi! Yes. They are edible when ripe. They are honey sweet and lack the tartness of dark colored mulberries but they are still good to eat. - Mark

Hi! Yes. Our website with contact information is at dingdongsgarden.com - Mark

Hi. Great! I'm glad it was useful. Mulberry trees grow so big and we're getting older so we want everything in reach. No ladders!😉We'll definitely be doing more videos on pruning and harvesting this winter and next spring and summer. Have a good week! - Mark

Thanks. We like it too!

Hi. Coppiced Willow is raw material for basketry, floral arrangements, living structures, hedges, biomass, and animal fodder. Harvesting it yearly gives the Willow its unique characteristics of color, curls, or utility. We’ve even started using it for kindling. When dry it burns fast. -Mark

Thanks so much for bringing this up. We haven’t been able to get this give a mature fruit for us so I haven’t been able to confirm. We have heard there are mixed takes on Shelli so we’ll probably update and revisit this variety in the near future. Can you share photos of your Shelli as a comparison? I’ve only seen a few. Thanks again! - Mark

Thanks. Yes. Our dormant cutting sale will begin around January 1. We’ll post specific dates on our website as the time approaches. -Mark

In terms of propagation, willows grow fast but generally don’t multiply as quickly as other invasive species. That said, their roots are sometimes referred to as invasive. Willow roots will seek water from even artificial sources like pipes. Hope this helps!

Hi. Yes. They are first year dormant cuttings taken in late December or early January. We had much better success on IE when we kept them in the dark for about three weeks after starting propagation. You may have already seen this, but we describe our process here: th-cam.com/video/nl12mwYtFeA/w-d-xo.html. Hope this helps! - Mark

Thanks. I really like the ones with a pulp that looks like a red jam. Although most times it's hard for me to tell the difference in taste so I bring them in for the family to taste test. - Mark

That's great. Thanks for sharing. I really like this willow. We have a few old full-grown trees on our farm but to be honest I prefer coppicing them and harvesting them every year. By mid-summer all the branches that I had cut to the ground have grown back to 10 feet tall. It's fun to be able to harvest something... we use the cuttings for replanting or for making living structures. Scoulers really does in our dry PNW summers... pretty drought tolerant. - Mark

Yeah. You're right. I need to gather more video across the seasons to make it clear and do it step-by-step. I was just too eager to film... the way the trees are responding to a low-coppice pruning method got me excited to share. - Mark

Hey great. Thanks. Glad it was useful. What other fig varieties are you looking into? - Mark

@@dingdongsgarden Cessac, LSU Hollier, Azore Dark, De La Rocha and Black Celeste are some I’m curious about. Seen videos on those and heard they are good. I don’t have enough experience to know what is or isn’t.

We have Hollier. Big, early figs. I like it. - Mark

Thanks. There are a ton of different varieties. And many of them are hybridized and grow and spread on their own. Did you buy yours at a store or get it from the wild or from another grower? Often, if you're not sure where it came from it's hard to identify. Riverview Russian has small berries but there's probably dozens/hundreds of others like that as well. - Mark

@@dingdongsgarden OK, thank you. Didn't know if this was unique because it is edible at all stages of ripeness.

Hi. Yes. We don’t sell trees, but we sell cuttings to root or graft seasonally. It’s typically available on our website in the winter around the first of the year.

@dingdongsgarden great!! do you have non dwarf american mulberry aka red mulberry?

Most of our mulberries are hybrids or Albas with a few Nigras. I don't think we have any north American native Morus rubra. We go by the name we received it under and have done our best to list the scientific names but without genetic testing, it's often hard for me to tell the difference between a native rubra and a some of our hybrids. - Mark

Yes, Pakistan types are unique. Morus Macroura. We haven't gotten them to fruit in our area. I'm not sure but perhaps it's because of our climate or temperatures? Either way, we'll keep trying because they are a neat mulberry! Mulberries don't root as easily as something like Figs, but they still root. We only propagate by grafting on our farm and we have over a hundred trees. This video shows how we propagate our mulberries and the links in the description provide some success rates for various varieties: th-cam.com/video/nl12mwYtFeA/w-d-xo.html. Hope this helps! - Mark

Right. Sorry. I should have been more clear. For the mulberries you see in the video that already have 10-20 leaders, I will prune them in the late spring or early summer after harvest. If I were doing an initial planting, I would do my first low prune in the winter. The system we are trying is similar to the KGB method shown in this video: th-cam.com/video/M_95Kmv1CRs/w-d-xo.html. But it is definitely not identical to that system because mulberries fruit on new wood and cherries fruit on second year + wood. Hopefully I can make it clearer in a video this winter when there aren't so many darn leaves :)! - Mark

Yeah Thanks. We're very happy with it too. Looking forward to seeing how it produces when we plant it in the ground (but still in the hoophouse) next year! - Mark

Thanks for the detail! -Mark

@@dingdongsgarden You’re welcome. I’m one of many of Gershom Moore’s descendants.

Thanks for sharing this... I have such a hard time discerning/describing taste I leave it to the family! We love it because it is pretty productive here with our cool summers. - Mark

This is a great question! We are zone 8A as well with a last frost time range of early April. I had always thought that hardiness in deep winter was a separate issue from mulberries that would start to show activity before our last frost date. My conclusion is that those two issues (deep winter hardiness and waking up early) are related in some way. So all the varieties that didn't survive the winter in this video had made me nervous in previous springs because they were showing activity before our last frost date. As for the varieties that did survive in this video? The only ones I think might be susceptible to early wake-up are Jan's Best, Lakeland, and Everbearing.... but I'm not sure about that and I'm growing them in the orchard with some confidence they'll make it. What I really need to be careful about is putting plastic over our hoophouse too early. Waking them up with the heat of a hoophouse before the last frost date could really zap them! Thanks for asking this question, its one I think about a lot. Hope this helps and have a good day! - Mark

@@dingdongsgarden Yes, that does help. Thank you. My average date of last frost is around April 15th, but who even knows anymore the weather is so crazy now. This year our last frost was March 18th, but within the last 5 years, we have had frosts and even 1 hard freeze as late at the first week of May. As I research new fruits to add to our farm, I generally try to look for things with higher "chill hours". My average chill hours here is 1,000-1,200 annually. So I do agree that there is some relationship between cold hardiness and later dormancy break. I find that choosing cultivars rated under 1,000 chill hours, results in breaking dormancy too early, which can lead to crop loss from late frosts for me. I had Worlds Best that I got from Bryce, but it would break dormancy way too fast. It would wake up in February, so I didn't keep it. Still looking for an Everbearing type that is later. Thank you for your helpful answer.

Hi! Sure. We usually start propagating a few weeks after the sale starts so like mid-January. We propagate indoors where its heated with a heat pad under shop lights. Here's a video taken on Feb 5 2023 that shows what our set up looks like: th-cam.com/users/shorts_eN7adx51UM (Sorry for the corny music!) We keep them on the heating pad for 2-3 weeks... and we also keep them in darkness for at least three weeks. I have no evidence for this, but I feel if we give them too much light early on, the priority will grow to growing leaves instead of roots... and roots are critical. We have also successfully rooted on heating mats in cooler rooms around 50F or so. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have more questions! - Mark 🙂

@@dingdongsgarden All very helpful as are the videos, thanks a bunch

Hi. Yes. First cut is about 18 inches of the ground but then after that we are building out structure so it's not like the way we coppice our willows. The next cut is of the leaders slightly above the third cut and so forth. It's kind of like the KGB system for cherries where you have many leaders coming out of a short trunk except we would prune back down to the top of the structure every year after initial harvest. So mid-summer next year, all the mulberry trees/bushes you see here would be pruned back table-top flat in a way that we'd get 2 dozen leaders or more to grow out over the remainder of the summer. We're still learning so I hope that description makes sense! Happy friday! - Mark

Yes. They should. Willows are cold hardy. Unless you live in an extremely cold growing zone, rooted willows will overwinter in a pot no problem. But to get full growth to harvest branches you'll need to end up planting them in ground at some point. Hope this helps!