Black Mulberry & Home Orchard Pear Varieties

blueKYstream

5 year old buck +
I had a couple random questions I hadn't seen any discussion about. I bought a Chestnut Hill Outdoors Black Mulberry (Morus Nigra) from Walmart. I also rooted a cutting from it. After looking on the CHO website, it says that the hardiness is Zone 7 to 10. If accurate, it seems odd they would be selling it in my area (Zone 6a/6b). Does anyone have any experience growing these in colder zones?

I'm also curious if anyone has fruited any of the pears from The Wildlife Group (TWG) or Century Farm Orchards (CFO) and can comment on some of the better tasting varieties. I'm grafting over a couple wild callery pears in the back yard to multiple varieties. I have the following from TWG: Gate, Becton, Gallaway, Orient, Arthur Ledbetter, Kieffer, McKelvey. I later grafted Ms. Laneene, Gilmer Christmas, Ayers (different source), and Dixie Delight. From what I understand after watching their YouTube videos, Dixie Delight is one of TWG better tasting pears. I'm hoping I'll get a chance to taste Becton this year as its the first pear to fruit for me. I also have Korean Giant, Moonglow, and Plumblee (which sounds from the description like it might be a tasty variety) from CFO. I wasn't sure if any of those would be good selections for the back yard or if there are better options out there.
 
I've got Becton and Gate fruiting for about the third year now, they are loaded. I would say they are some type of Kieffer variant the way they look/grow/taste...about the eighth year in ground maybe 15' tall.
Also have Gilmer Christmas first year it has fruited, still waiting on Ms. Laneene to fruit. I think all my WG pears were planted same time.

I've got a six year old Korean Giant with first fruit this year and it is loaded...not from WG. I've also got a few Moonglows that have been fruiting for a while, good producers great pollinators. The Moonglow are a little too sweet and juicy for my taste but deer and everything else love them.
Ayers is a great tasting pear that I highly recommend...my go to pear is Kieffer for taste, heavy bearing, DR, fast growing, holds fruit into Nov, I think I have eight or more of them.
I probably have 20+ varieties of pears out now most are either fruiting or very close.
 
I tried some black mulberries in zone 6b they top winter killed came back from the roots second year top killed again. I pulled them out after that and planted something else in their place.
 
I've got Becton and Gate fruiting for about the third year now, they are loaded. I would say they are some type of Kieffer variant the way they look/grow/taste...about the eighth year in ground maybe 15' tall.
Also have Gilmer Christmas first year it has fruited, still waiting on Ms. Laneene to fruit. I think all my WG pears were planted same time.

I've got a six year old Korean Giant with first fruit this year and it is loaded...not from WG. I've also got a few Moonglows that have been fruiting for a while, good producers great pollinators. The Moonglow are a little too sweet and juicy for my taste but deer and everything else love them.
Ayers is a great tasting pear that I highly recommend...my go to pear is Kieffer for taste, heavy bearing, DR, fast growing, holds fruit into Nov, I think I have eight or more of them.
I probably have 20+ varieties of pears out now most are either fruiting or very close.
That's great to hear about Becton and Gate. I have 3 or 4 of each. I had 2 Bectons fruiting this year for the first time and I think it was Ms. Laneene I grafted to a side shoot on a Becton last year that has a pear or two already. That's interesting that Kieffer is your go-to pear. I didn't realize they were top notch eating pears. Maybe I'll add it to my Frankenstein tree. I'm looking forward to eventually trying Olympic, or Korean Giant. I appreciate your input! Helps a lot!
 
I don't know why Chestnut Hill Outdoors ships black mulberry this far north if they aren't hardy as their website outlines and @b116757 has experienced. @Native Hunter From what I've read, Black Mulberry is the best tasting mulberry variety but I've heard great reports on Illinois Everbearing. I wanted to try one this spring but the birds beat me to it.

Now that I think about it, I wonder if CHO didn't mislabel it. They offer another mulberry, Everbearing Mulberry (possibly the Illinois Everbearing?). They state both Zone 7 and 6b hardiness in the description of that one. The leaves are huge on this...hand size on a young plant. Does that look anything like yours?BM.jpg

I think this may be a white mulberry or a hybrid that I have growing next to my deck (fun times when it's dropping). However, I'm no expert on differentiating mulberry varieties.
WM.jpg
 
I don't know why Chestnut Hill Outdoors ships black mulberry this far north if they aren't hardy as their website outlines and @b116757 has experienced. @Native Hunter From what I've read, Black Mulberry is the best tasting mulberry variety but I've heard great reports on Illinois Everbearing. I wanted to try one this spring but the birds beat me to it.

Now that I think about it, I wonder if CHO didn't mislabel it. They offer another mulberry, Everbearing Mulberry (possibly the Illinois Everbearing?). They state both Zone 7 and 6b hardiness in the description of that one. The leaves are huge on this...hand size on a young plant. Does that look anything like yours?View attachment 44876

I think this may be a white mulberry or a hybrid that I have growing next to my deck (fun times when it's dropping). However, I'm no expert on differentiating mulberry varieties.
View attachment 44877

It looks somewhat like mine but not exactly.
 
I don't know why Chestnut Hill Outdoors ships black mulberry this far north if they aren't hardy as their website outlines and @b116757 has experienced. @Native Hunter From what I've read, Black Mulberry is the best tasting mulberry variety but I've heard great reports on Illinois Everbearing. I wanted to try one this spring but the birds beat me to it.

Now that I think about it, I wonder if CHO didn't mislabel it. They offer another mulberry, Everbearing Mulberry (possibly the Illinois Everbearing?). They state both Zone 7 and 6b hardiness in the description of that one. The leaves are huge on this...hand size on a young plant. Does that look anything like yours?View attachment 44876

I think this may be a white mulberry or a hybrid that I have growing next to my deck (fun times when it's dropping). However, I'm no expert on differentiating mulberry varieties.
View attachment 44877
Looks like it could be a white mulberry. I had some white mulberries grow up in my grow box randomly. There are some growing down the street. I'm assuming they got planted by birds. I was going to transplant but I read and was told on here that they're pretty invasive. I know the local ones here all stem from one tree. Seems to be pretty true at least for my area.
 
I'm guessing it's labeled correctly as a black mulberry if it's not the same as yours Native Hunter. I guess I'll throw it in a hole and temper my expectations of survival. Maybe I'll get some of those IE mulberries.

@PatinPA ,The fruits were so-so on it, not good or bad. I suspect it's a white mulberry as well. The one pictured above is one tree as well. My neighbors have them up and down the fence line. I'm not sure if they can be grafted to a better variety or not. I might do a bit of research on that.
 
I'm guessing it's labeled correctly as a black mulberry if it's not the same as yours Native Hunter. I guess I'll throw it in a hole and temper my expectations of survival. Maybe I'll get some of those IE mulberries.

@PatinPA ,The fruits were so-so on it, not good or bad. I suspect it's a white mulberry as well. The one pictured above is one tree as well. My neighbors have them up and down the fence line. I'm not sure if they can be grafted to a better variety or not. I might do a bit of research on that.
I haven't tried any fruit. What I'm assuming is the mother tree is right behind a local gas station and it's at the top of a 10 ft. slope so reaching the fruit is tough. Everything falls into the parking lot and I'm not picking them up to try them.
 
The black mulberry I planted for turkey and other birds have been doing pretty well, but I'm in zone 7a
 
I've got two. I suppose I might as well plant one (wintering the other in the garage) and see if it makes it. I might wait until Spring though.
 
I'm also curious if anyone has fruited any of the pears from The Wildlife Group (TWG) or Century Farm Orchards (CFO) and can comment on some of the better tasting varieties. I'm grafting over a couple wild callery pears in the back yard to multiple varieties. I have the following from TWG: Gate, Becton, Gallaway, Orient, Arthur Ledbetter, Kieffer, McKelvey. I later grafted Ms. Laneene, Gilmer Christmas, Ayers (different source), and Dixie Delight. From what I understand after watching their YouTube videos, Dixie Delight is one of TWG better tasting pears. I'm hoping I'll get a chance to taste Becton this year as its the first pear to fruit for me. I also have Korean Giant, Moonglow, and Plumblee (which sounds from the description like it might be a tasty variety) from CFO. I wasn't sure if any of those would be good selections for the back yard or if there are better options out there.

Update on TWG pears, in particular the Gilmer Christmas.
This was the first year mine really fruited, it really put it on. Right now it still has 80% of pears still hanging. Taste is OK, loved the fruit set and how they are still on the tree…it has been crazy windy this fall blowing off almost all the other pears. My Gate still has a few.

As far as taste, I posted this on another thread..the Olympic/Korean Giant was amazing. Superior taste to any pear I’ve ever had. We picked almost all of them for family use, they do keep longer if refrigerated.

So next spring my focus will be on grafting Olympic and Gilmer Christmas on OHXF97, I will be planting more of those and gifting to my buddies!

Gilmer Christmas right now;
6CA9CE80-DD14-4A0E-9ED8-1EA3D90DE9E7.jpeg
 
Update on TWG pears, in particular the Gilmer Christmas.
This was the first year mine really fruited, it really put it on. Right now it still has 80% of pears still hanging. Taste is OK, loved the fruit set and how they are still on the tree…it has been crazy windy this fall blowing off almost all the other pears. My Gate still has a few.

As far as taste, I posted this on another thread..the Olympic/Korean Giant was amazing. Superior taste to any pear I’ve ever had. We picked almost all of them for family use, they do keep longer if refrigerated.

So next spring my focus will be on grafting Olympic and Gilmer Christmas on OHXF97, I will be planting more of those and gifting to my buddies!

Gilmer Christmas right now;
View attachment 46929
I believe you sent me the Gilmer Christmas scions along with Ms. Laneene. I was surprised to see Gilmer Christmas already with a fruit a year after grafting on one of the trees. It's good to know it's turned out to be a great tree for you! The Korean Giant I grafted in the back yard snapped off because of a strong wind storm (Ayers and Plumblee too but my T-bud grafts in late summer took). I saw your other post, so I definitely plan to try grafting again with Korean Giant this coming Spring.

As an update to my original post, I did end up getting a Becton pear to taste this year. So far, it might be my fastest grower and first to fruit. The taste is good - fairly juicy and sweet. The skin is gritty though.
 
I ordered the Late Drop pear package from WLG this fall to plant on the new farm next spring. Hope they do well for me.
 
I ordered the Late Drop pear package from WLG this fall to plant on the new farm next spring. Hope they do well for me.
I imagine they will. I would suggest not getting them in the last window available to ship (I believe they don't ship after late March or early April if I recall correctly). TWG is in the south and came already leafed out. A late April and mid May frost that year after planting really knocked them back the first year and I lost 2.
 
I imagine they will. I would suggest not getting them in the last window available to ship (I believe they don't ship after late March or early April if I recall correctly). TWG is in the south and came already leafed out. A late April and mid May frost that year after planting really knocked them back the first year and I lost 2.

Good advice.
When I bought mine from WG they came in late fall and some were still leafed even though it was early Dec, I don’t like planting them like that the chance for root shock is so much higher. Have lost a couple trees trying to do that way.
In the spring if they are just budding or starting to leaf they seem to be fine planting. Fully leafed out is another thing. I always ask for my trees to be shipped late March if possible wherever I am ordering from. I’m in zone 6A.
I’ve had nurseries from CA/WA/OR want to ship to me in late spring in the past and I’ve said no.

Sooner I can get them in the ground sooner they can get settled in and have the advantage of spring rains.
 
Gilmer Christmas….As of today December 7th after a few freezes and some very hard 30mph winds. Maybe 45-50% still hanging.
Starting to get a little mushy but still hanging.

D2D27AA3-E2A8-4A6D-9558-C38B51CB495D.jpeg8F84C0EF-3210-447D-A291-E94FF509CFA0.jpeg
 
It w
Looks like a wild pear I've grafted. Is the flesh very gritty?
It wasnt before it froze and thawed a few times...just kind of hard fleshed, taste wasn't anything special to me at all. I thought it was very blan. But...the animals seem to like it, right now it is about the only thing I have in this orchard that is still dropping fruit.
I've got a handfull of apple trees with a little fruit still hanging Galarina/Arkansas Black/Gala/Golden Russett but they are shriveled and mummyfide right now. As far as crabs..Golden Hornet/DropTine/30-06 still have semi mushy fruit on them.
 
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