Re: Fruiting mulberry?
I'm awfully sorry John but I cannot agree here. My book says that mulberries have
"male and female flowers borne on the one tree in catkin-like spikes" (I can never
keep this "monoecious" business sorted out). On our farm we had one black mulberry
- miles and miles from any neighbour - which bore heavily every year. I currently
have a white mulberry tree which is now bearing and there aren't any other trees
nearby to my knowledge.
What do others think?
Beverly
John MacGregor wrote:
> Nan,
>
> Mulberries are dioecious (from the Greek, di+oicos, in two houses, i.e.,
> sexes on separate plants). Monoecious (one house) is a plant that has
> separate male and female flowers on the same plant. I know this because I
> am violently allergic to mulberry pollen, and the house in Albuquerque where
> I lived when I was in high school was shaded by three huge mulberries--a
> red- and a white-berried female and one male. The females produced huge
> crops virtually every year, and the berries were delicious, but when they
> were in bloom, I was on an oxygen tank. On these trees, the flowers opened
> just before the leaf bud were beginning to break (to better facilitate
> pollen transport). If I remember correctly, by the time the catkins faded
> the leaves were about half expanded.
>
> John MacGregor
> jonivy@earthlink.net
>
> ----------
> >From: Nan Sterman <nsterman@mindsovermatter.com>
> >To: "John MacGregor" <jonivy@earthlink.net>
> >Subject: Re: Fruiting mulberry?
> >Date: Sun, May 14, 2000, 8:25 PM
> >
>
> > Hi John and thank you for that information. I was trained as a
> > botanist long ago so I never expect easy answers to plant questions!
> > I always expect to experiment a bit. I didn't realize that
> > mulberries are either male or female (is that monaceous or
> > diaceous?). I have two plants so maybe I'll be lucky and end up with
> > one of each. Once they are mature enough to bloom, will they bloom
> > before they leaf out?
> >
> > Nan
> >
> >>Nan.
> >>
> >>First you must understand that mulberries have male and female flowers on
> >>separate plants. Thus some trees will have fruit and some just pollen-laden
> >>catkins. Statistically, you probably have a fifty-fifty chance of having a
> >>seedling fruit eventually, but in small numbers, yours could be either sex.
> >>In my experience, it may take several years before they bloom, and then
> >>fruiting will depend somewhat upon getting pollinated, although mulberries
> >>are so commonly planted in urban America and the pollen is so widely
> >>distributed by the wind that the chances are high probably that when your
> >>female plant does get around to blooming, it will set fruit. I'm not sure
> >>that this is the easy answer you were expecting, but that's the way it is.
> >>
> >>John MacGregor
> >>jonivy@earthlink.net
> >>
> >>
> >>----------
> >>>From: Nan Sterman <nsterman@mindsovermatter.com>
> >>>To: medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
> >>>Subject: Fruiting mulberry?
> >>>Date: Sun, May 14, 2000, 9:05 AM
> >>>
> >>
> >>> Hi everyone and happy mother's day to all mommy's in North America
> >>> (how many countries celebrate mother's day on the second sunday in
> >>> May?)
> >>>
> >>> I have a question about fruiting mulberry -- The birds brought me two
> >>> mulberry trees -- and since they arrived by seed, I had assumed that
> >>> they were fruiting mulberries (there was one across the street). The
> >>> trees are now 2 or 3 years old and about 9 feet tall. Leaves are out
> >>> but there is no fruit. Will they fruit? When will they fruit?
> >>>
> >>> Nan
> >>> --
> >>> **********
> >>> '''''''''''''''''''''''
> >>> Nan Sterman
> >>> San Diego County California
> >>> Sunset zone 24, USDA hardiness zone 10b or 11
> >>>
> >>>
> >
> > --
> > **********
> > '''''''''''''''''''''''
> > Nan Sterman
> > San Diego County California
> > Sunset zone 24, USDA hardiness zone 10b or 11
> >
--
Julius and Beverly Elischer
Perth, Western Australia
Ph. +61 8 9386 5244
