Mulberries in zone 3ish?

Does anyone grow mulberries in really cold zones? I'm looking for a northern seed source of any kind of mulberry. I know of a single specimen here in Saskatoon, but have never seen any fruit on it, probably a male and lonely. I remember seeing one in Morden manitoba many moons ago, but have no contacts out that way... I'd be willing to try something from Montana or North Dakota, perhaps we could exchange some seed? I have some hardier stuff to trade...Thanks all!
Koren

Northrop mulberry is said to be cold hardy in zone 3, though probably not available in Canada.

Would love to find a mulberry as well. Am from south central SK, Zone 3(possibly trending to 4). North central Minnesota would also be a potential area to receive seed from.

Chicago Illinois - not sure if that is 'north' enough. Gets pretty cold there, that is why I left. But weeping mulberries are very common there.

Thanks for the replies! I will do a search tonight for seed of that speices and see what I can come up with. Sounds like these could be a solid zone 4 for sure. I bet one of the bigger nurseries in Winnipeg might carry larger trees possibly.

Denis - Maybe we could do a trade if you have/want some permaculturesque material? Are you on a farm or in town? I have a bag of Manchurian Walnuts that needs to get in the ground, as well as some sugar maple, both from Saskatoon trees. I have some different stuff, if there's anything you're looking for! I'm always looking!
Koren

Sent a PM Koren.

Hi Denis and Koren,
I am in Regina. I have been reading about Permaculture for a few years now. I am now on an online course with Geoff Lawton. I am interested in knowing more about your Mulberry trees. Have they given fruit? What have you used them for? How long does it take them to bear fruit.
I am a beekeeper for the past 6 years. I am willing to make exchanges of honey for seeds! I am in Saskatoon for meetings on occasion and would like to see your yards if you are urban based.
Thanks!

wybo

Hi Wybo,
I hope you're enjoying the online PDC!  My partner took it a few years ago and it was really good, I bet it's even better now
We are also members of the bee club as we had a swarm move into some used bee equipment we had in a shed.  This is our second time overwintering them and we have 3 colonies now.  Maybe next time you come in for a meeting you could let us know and we could meet beforehand for a visit.  I don't have any mulberries yet, I have seed on order but that's about it.  We do have some Black locust that's getting established and are excited for that to start flowering as it's a real good bee tree.  We also discovered sainfoin (a hardy perennial legume for dry sandy places) that bees ADORE and can really pump out nectar.  We also grow lots of borage, buckwheat and this year are planting tons of phacelia tenacetifolia.  We are starting a permaculture cutflower farm, our bees should be happy about that (if they're still alive after this extreme cold snap!).  TTYS!  Koren

I PM'ed you with a sapling source, Koren.

Denis, Could you pm me the source as well?
Thanks!
wybo

I never did get a mulberry tree. I read about a variety that was selected in North Dakota called the "Trader" mulberry.  It probably was Morus alba var tatarica. Likely can't get it Canada but if you find a source let me know. I'm tempted to buy an "Illinois Everbearing" from Grimo Nut Nursery. I believe this variety is a Morus rubra x Morus alba hybrid.

I live 80 km SW of Moose Jaw and am likely a little bit warmer than you. Very interested in bees but have too many projects on the go at the moment. I am experimenting with a variety of tree crops on a little bit larger scale and a kind of a tree seed nut. Feel free to contact me with questions about trees and shrubs and I will do my best to help you. Take care.

Morus alba tatarica is offered at http://treeeaternursery.com/tree-eater-nursery/

Koren Vangool wrote:Thanks for the replies!  I will do a search tonight for seed of that speices and see what I can come up with.  Sounds like these could be a solid zone 4 for sure.  I bet one of the bigger nurseries in Winnipeg might carry larger trees possibly.

Denis - Maybe we could do a trade if you have/want some permaculturesque material?  Are you on a farm or in town?   I have a bag of Manchurian Walnuts that needs to get in the ground, as well as some sugar maple, both from Saskatoon trees.  I have some different stuff, if there's anything you're looking for!  I'm always looking!
Koren

What kind of stuff do you have, specifically nuts or fruit?

Denis Huel wrote:I never did get a mulberry tree. I read about a variety that was selected in North Dakota called the "Trader" mulberry.  It probably was Morus alba var tatarica. Likely can't get it Canada but if you find a source let me know. I'm tempted to buy an "Illinois Everbearing" from Grimo Nut Nursery. I believe this variety is a Morus rubra x Morus alba hybrid.

I live 80 km SW of Moose Jaw and am likely a little bit warmer than you. Very interested in bees but have too many projects on the go at the moment. I am experimenting with a variety of tree crops on a little bit larger scale and a kind of a tree seed nut. Feel free to contact me with questions about trees and shrubs and I will do my best to help you. Take care.

What kind of tree crops do you have? I am growing trees and am getting a tree seed order in the next few weeks.

A Crossman wrote:

Denis Huel wrote:I never did get a mulberry tree. I read about a variety that was selected in North Dakota called the "Trader" mulberry.  It probably was Morus alba var tatarica. Likely can't get it Canada but if you find a source let me know. I'm tempted to buy an "Illinois Everbearing" from Grimo Nut Nursery. I believe this variety is a Morus rubra x Morus alba hybrid.

I live 80 km SW of Moose Jaw and am likely a little bit warmer than you. Very interested in bees but have too many projects on the go at the moment. I am experimenting with a variety of tree crops on a little bit larger scale and a kind of a tree seed nut. Feel free to contact me with questions about trees and shrubs and I will do my best to help you. Take care.

What kind of tree crops do you have? I am growing trees and am getting a tree seed order in the next few weeks.

Tried quite few types, but most of my trees are extremely young. Weather has been extremely difficult here the past year, driest on record (130 yrs) and wildly fluctuating temperatures, including some very damaging growing season frosts in 2017. Along with the deer my plantings received an tremendous amount of damage over the last 12 months. I think climate change is going make life very challenging in my area.

I have several hundred black walnuts from hardy seed sources (seed source is extremely important if you are in a marginal area). I am quite impressed with black walnut's toughness and am optimistic I will have some success with it. Have butternuts as well and although they don't seem as tough as the b.walnuts they are still promising. Have shagbark hickories that have survived one winter so far. Yellowhorn has also survived a winter. Bur oak is ironclad. Have seedlings of three hybrid hazelnut sources. They don't seem to like my heat and drought but I am not giving up on them yet. American chestnut was a bust.

Nut pines, I have Siberian(P.sibirica), Korean(P.koraiensis), Limber(P.flexilis), and Pinyon(P.edulis). Pinyon pine may seem a stretch but Natural Resources Canada has a plant hardiness site where they run species adaptions through various climate change models and some predict southern Saskatchewan and Alberta as the core area of climate suitability for P.edulis by mid century. Unfortunately deer ate many of my Siberian and Limber pines this fall.

Honeylocust seems OK in my area. Manchurian apricot fruits well occasionally, many apples, have some seedling pears with poor quality fruit but very tough plants. Saskatoons. Ponderosa pine is very good. I do like the North Plateau strain better than the Black Hills type for variety of reasons. Red pine which is never planted here seems to be doing very well. Not so fond of Siberian Larch. Would like to try Douglas fir.

When buying seed of trees, seed source or locality can be critical for some species.

Where are you from?

north of Prince Albert. I have been buying wholesale whips (fruit, nut, and for pollinators) but have been growing some trees from seed. We have outgrown our current homestead so we are looking at moving further south in Saskatchewan. This year I will be buying a propagation greenhouse that I hope to hook up to solar at our new location. I will be getting an order of tree seeds from Ontario Tree Seed Plant (which is closing in August). Have you tried the black walnut from Select Seedling? I will also be getting butternut from Pine Needle Farms in Ontario. Have you tried anything from Nutcracker Nursery? My mulberry from Richters was about 6 inches tall and was not in good condition when I got it and didn't make it. I am thinking about ordering mulberry from either Grimo Nut (1-3 feet) or Nutcracker Nursery (4-5 feet). i am also hoping to trial some pawpaws in a polyculture this year depending on the move. I have some Hardy Chinese peach I am growing from seed that I got from a FB friend in Ontario. They finally germinated and are doing well.

I am in Zone 3a, Interlake region of Manitoba.  I would love seeds and scion wood.  I have very little to offer in exchange, as I'm just beginning to seed bomb my property.  I have some cherries, josta berries, a crab apple, some blueberry and saskatoon plants.  Also have a great resource of native hazelnuts, but won't have seed until this August when I harvest (before the worms get at them!).  I really want to grow mulberries as well.  Any help would be appreciated.

Wiffletree Nursery has the Illinois Everbearing rated for zone 4. They are in Ontario They also carry many other cold hardy fruit species and ship to most of Canada. Here is a link.

https://www.whiffletreefarmandnursery.ca/about-us/

red mulberry is native to canada but only in southern ontario
because of siberian(white) mulberry being introduced here the native
reds are being cross bred out of existence
the only way to get a true red is to take cuttings from some of the older proven reds which started growing before the introduction of the siberian
there is an effort to re populate the reds in this manner
that said, the siberians are a couple zones more cold hardy
and the chances of pollenating a red from youre location are pretty slim
anyhow just thought i would throw that out there
mmmmmm   mulberry!

for anyone in southern ontario who is interested:
http://edibleforestfarms.ca/product-category/red-mulberry/

https://www.greenbarnnursery.ca/products/illinois-everbearing-mulberry-black
   here is a source for mulberries in Canada

Leona Dubois wrote:https://www.greenbarnnursery.ca/products/illinois-everbearing-mulberry-black   here is a source for mulberries in Canada

Link was broken. Here is the general berry page:
https://www.greenbarnnursery.ca/collections/berries

Ok, I am really upset. People always talk about with a tree will survive the winter in a given area but never about wither the growing season has enough heat to it to produce fruit. I live in zone 5a but we get the same amount of growing degree days, at base 5C, that places like fort hope and moose river in Ontario gets. And they are in zone 2b. Can someone tell me how I can find out what heat requirements various perennials need to set fruit?  

Jotham Bessey wrote:Ok, I am really upset. People always talk about with a tree will survive the winter in a given area but never about wither the growing season has enough heat to it to produce fruit. I live in zone 5a but we get the same amount of growing degree days, at base 5C, that places like fort hope and moose river in Ontario gets. And they are in zone 2b. Can someone tell me how I can find out what heat requirements various perennials need to set fruit?  

There's bound to be a more formal way, but I usually look up and use a heat zone map (one for the US is below; not sure about Canada). I speculate what would do well where based off what I know people grow successfully. For example, I know that I get similar heat units to parts of the Southeast. There's also a lot of hearsay in my community, as tons of people are experimenting with "pushing the zone" and are trialing things like pomegranates and olives.

https://www.ahsgardening.org/images/sized/uploads/subpage_header/HeatZoneMap1-548x344.jpg

It's often a combination of chill hours and heat hour necessary to produce fruit.
And the hardiness zone is extremely variable too. A zone 3 where there is little to no snow cover is going to kill plants that are fine in a zone 3 that gets deep snow. This means site selection is really important in cold climates.

Now, the OP was about mulberry in zone 3ish. I have found such a tree.  It's a mature mulberry that is about 40ft high and is located in Thunder Bay. It also produces fruit (I know because I ate some). But here is the catch. It was positioned by a genius in a microclimate which is probably zone 4 or even zone 5 so it might not actually count.

It lives in a building alcove with multi-story walls on the North, West, and East. The HVAC exhaust from the building complex pumps heat out into this alcove in the wintertime too.

Not too sure what to do with that. I was thinking of taking some cuttings and see if they survive a more natural climate. You never know right?

  " Denis Huel wrote:
   I never did get a mulberry tree. I read about a variety that was selected in North Dakota called the "Trader" mulberry.  It probably was Morus alba var tatarica. Likely can't get it Canada but if you find a source let me know. I'm tempted to buy an "Illinois Everbearing" from Grimo Nut Nursery. I believe this variety is a Morus rubra x Morus alba hybrid.

   I live 80 km SW of Moose Jaw and am likely a little bit warmer than you. Very interested in bees but have too many projects on the go at the moment. I am experimenting with a variety of tree crops on a little bit larger scale and a kind of a tree seed nut. Feel free to contact me with questions about trees and shrubs and I will do my best to help you. Take care.


What kind of tree crops do you have? I am growing trees and am getting a tree seed order in the next few weeks."



Hi Denis, I live in Moorhead, MN which borders Fargo, ND.   I purchased a Trader Mulberry from Northern Tree Specialties in Fargo.  My tree is a couple of years old and is doing great.   Our winters are brutal here, similar to Winnipeg and its still doing well.  This tree is a clone of a tree in Valley City, ND which is over 120 years old.  I fence it though 'cause the deer love the leaves.  https://www.facebook.com/pg/NorthernTreeSpecialties2/notes/

I recommend.  Good luck,  Mark

im in z3b . i planted a northrop mulberry i got from cricket hill.com in CT. so far its growing well. .i also have a 3 yr old unnamed Alba that gave me some small black fruit last year . i just grafted i.e  on it and it looks like they took! also planted a Riverview mulberry from rolling river nursery last year. its still small but supposedly z3 hardy as well. unnamed alba survived -38f 3 winters ago.

I'm trying out a nursery bed of Morus alba Tatarica, the Tatarica White Mulberry. They're described as zn 4 and we're in 3b.  I wonder if this is a good way to sort out the most cold hardy, the plan is to leave them in the bed for 2 growing seasons without any special protection just some good mulch and snow cover.

With respect to selecting hardy mulberries I would think that a bit more space than what a nursery bed provides would be preferable.

Many traits affect cold hardiness and the crowded conditions of the nursery bed might affect your ability to select for that. For example fast growing individuals may crowd out others in a nursery bed but slower growing individuals might be more better adapted to cold shorter season environments. I would think that 1m distance in a long rows in a sheltered site might be a better initial selection situation and easy to maintain.

Plant lots and try several seed sources.

Have you tried the Trader Mulberry?

D. Huel,
Saskatchewan

However, an advantage of the nursery bed would be the ability to initially screen a very large number of seedlings before moving the survivors to spaced rows for more advanced testing.

This nursery was recommended to me by someone on here, and is in Wisconsin. He was breeding mulberries when I visited a few years ago

http://www.thedraw.org/

Nick, do you have any details about where in Thunder Bay that mulberry is located?  I live nearby and would love to get a cutting!

Nick Kitchener wrote:Now, the OP was about mulberry in zone 3ish. I have found such a tree.  It's a mature mulberry that is about 40ft high and is located in Thunder Bay. It also produces fruit (I know because I ate some). But here is the catch. It was positioned by a genius in a microclimate which is probably zone 4 or even zone 5 so it might not actually count.

It lives in a building alcove with multi-story walls on the North, West, and East. The HVAC exhaust from the building complex pumps heat out into this alcove in the wintertime too.

Not too sure what to do with that. I was thinking of taking some cuttings and see if they survive a more natural climate. You never know right?

Would love to know some more details about this tree myself … Can you offer any mulberry address info?

I grown mulberry, and it lasts through winters here right now today was 1 degree, wind chill 15, and has gotten to 29 below zero. Would be glad to send you seed when, can, never collected prior just ate fruit, if someone can tell me best to collect seeds from it.