New dwarf Mulberry Charlotte Russe - Your opinions please

[Brack]

Akion- they're the styles of the flowers (female bits). Mulberries are wind pollinated. They shrivel and shrink as the fruit develops.

Sparrow - look forward to your thoughts. Unfortunately I'll not be getting enough berries at once to make jam until this little bush is a lot bigger. I'd be interested to hear a taste comparison as its well known that m. nigra tastes better than m. rubra or m. alba but the exact parentage of Charlotte Russe is a bit of a mystery. m. rotundila seems to be found in Thailand so far as I can tell and the genetic studies I found show it to be more closely related to alba/rubra than nigra.

Having said that, I like them and I'm half tempted to get a second Charlotte Russe.

[devonuk]

I ordered my Charlotte Russe Mulberry as soon as they announced it, it came a while ago and it's been living on my windowsill (East facing bay window) since then. It will eventually go outside this summer, but I couldn't resist the temptation to have a crop of berries before then. I've had about 10 fruit off it in the past week, they ripen from red to black overnight!
The little thing wants to make hundreds of berries, I removed about 30 or 40 in order to allow it to have some energy to grow (and it produces impressive amount of sap from the little tiny flower stalks, no wonder you shouldn't prune mulberries when in leaf - dread to think what chopping a branch would do), but it seems like every day there are another half dozen flowers appearing.
Taste of the berries: well, they're certainly very nice, but not ground breakingly amazing. I've never actually had a fresh mulberry from another source, but I've had some fantastic mulberry jam I bought online. I wonder if I should plant a King James Mulberry so in 2025 I'll be able to compare the taste (actually I've been wondering about root restricting or espalier to make a morus nigra stay under 10 foot or so).

I assume if mine is fruiting now that anyone else who couldn't resist the temptation to keep theirs indoors til they'd harvested a crop must also be eating them - how do others think they compare on taste?

m nigra espaliers well, I did it following instructions in RHS "Growing Fruit" - no different from an apple espalier. Sadly moved house after the first 2 sets arms were there so can't tell you about long-term prospects.

And I've had one in a large pot for 10 years, now a bit under 5 ft tall. Seems very happy. No fruit yet.

[sparrow100]

Well, it's been named plant of the year at RHS Chelsea...

I tasted my first ones today. They're a third of the size of m.nigra and if you wait till they are totally black they taste sweet, but don't have any flavour at all. The ones with a bit of red left in them taste more like mulberries, but sort of a faded version and not very juicy. The texture is slightly rubbery, which is also a bit off-putting.

I don't know whether my watering, or lack of, impacts on the flavour/texture - I'd love to know what others think and whether there's a way to improve it. If they stay like this, I personally wouldn't bother splashing out on it. It's nice, but nowhere near the utter gorgeousness of a proper juicy mulberry.

[Losos]

Well, it's been named plant of the year at RHS Chelsea...

I tasted my first ones today. They're a third of the size of m.nigra and if you wait till they are totally black they taste sweet, but don't have any flavour at all. The ones with a bit of red left in them taste more like mulberries, but sort of a faded version and not very juicy. The texture is slightly rubbery, which is also a bit off-putting.

I don't know whether my watering, or lack of, impacts on the flavour/texture - I'd love to know what others think and whether there's a way to improve it. If they stay like this, I personally wouldn't bother splashing out on it. It's nice, but nowhere near the utter gorgeousness of a proper juicy mulberry.

Sparrow, thanks for the update, from what you've written I think I'll hold off ordering one at least for this year, have more than enough things to do in the garden anyway.

You've also confirmed what I suspected about these new hybrid varieties, i.e. they trade good old fashioned flavour for one or two 'special' features e.g. fast growing or small size.

[Fourbears]

Fragile little bush

I purchased a dwarf Mulberry: Charlotte Russe and repotted carefully, ensuring that all conditions were met.

The bush appeared to thrive, initially, but then lost all its leaves. I am left with a fragile little bush bereft of all its original leaves (new growth has appeared, which is promising) BUT a dozen or more fledgling fruits. Whether these will plump up and ripen remains to be seen...

I'd be interested to hear if anyone else had the same or similar experience with the leaves dropping.

[sparrow100]

Did you keep it inside or out? If it was outside it may have initially got too cold. If it was inside I have no clue I'm afraid.

[Brack]

Ive spent the past 2 weeks hardening mine off (several leaves seem to have been scorched on the edges but I think it's doing ok) then I stuck it in the ground yesterday. I hope it'll be ok, no leaf drop as yet.

[Harbinder Marok]

Mojo Berry

Hi, this plant came through a few weeks ago from Burfords Garden Centre and it has taken off like a, well like a mulberry, but to be fair with the weather we have been having you could be ripening mangoes here at the moment.

The label on the pot, which I preserved and displayed next to the plant calls it the "mojo berry"and it appears imo to share characteristics with the dwarf Morus Issai, which has been grown for some years.

It came with a fair number of unripe berries of which a few have turned black and the sweet taste/ juice and texture imo is similar to nigra which I also grow, perhaps a diluted version to some degree, but very happy with this as a potential indicator, considering this is from a young plant supplied in a small pot. My experience with other fruit is as the plant estabilishes itself well the flavours develop.

Btw in reply to the original poster a grafted nigra can fruit well even in the first year in my experience and by the second year can be bearing several hundred fruit.

Personally I am looking forward to the unique aspect of having a mulberry that grows naturally to a human level, in the same way as cherry trees on gisela 5 with the added benefits of a longer fruiting period.

footnote - I may throw a hessian wrap over the plant over the winter months described as an online discussion/ anectodes about trials with Charlotte Russe have got me thinking this may be worth it as a contingency. Nigra leafs out late after frosts but observations by some indicate other varieties such as the Shahtoot and Issai have can leaf out early risking damage to buds/ newly emerging leafs.

[TheChonk]

Any updates?

I also bought a Charlotte Russe Mulberry which arrived A few weeks ago looking a little Twiggy but has been leaving out under the LED. I'm curious to see if peoples berries harvested later in the summer improved any. I also have a king James Chelsea tree planted outside (here in Dublin) as a standard in a root bag that went in a year ago and I have a black Persian in a pot that I am over wintering inside. I also have an Illinois ever bearing on the way. All this without ever having tested a single Mullberry! I really hope I like them!!

[sparrow100]

I'm curious to see if peoples berries harvested later in the summer improved any.

Nope. Still a pale copy of a true black mulberry.

[Bolets]

Anyone knows who sells this for trnasport to me in Sweden? I havn`t seen it anywhere but in the UK for transport to the UK.

With kind regards
Martin from Sweden

[veggiechicken]

Suttons have these in stock again if anyone wants one. Big IF, having read the posts above!

They're £17.99 but you may be able to save £5 if you order before Midnight January 4th using Code SUTXMAS17
Just saying - I'm not tempted but thought one of you may be!

[The Unusual Fruit Garden]

would anyone who has purchased and grown this consider doing so again or would you go for a normal mulberry and try and train it? I can get a 12l Nigra for £48 or a 30l 2.0-2.5m tall for £88 but don't know if they would then be too big to train

[sparrow100]

Personally I wouldn't buy the Charlotte Russe, I would definitely buy a normal black mulberry because they are delicious. I'd train as an espalier cos I have very little room, but a large unconfined mulberry is a very splendid thing.

[veggiechicken]

would anyone who has purchased and grown this consider doing so again or would you go for a normal mulberry and try and train it? I can get a 12l Nigra for £48 or a 30l 2.0-2.5m tall for £88 but don't know if they would then be too big to train

UFG, is this to grow in a container or open ground?