White shahtoot mulberry

I really like my white shahtoot mulberry.  Each spring it is absolutely covered in long sweet mulberries.  As we are heading into winter here in Australia my mulberry trees are going dormant.  Then in spring they will erupt in catkins and leaves.

Most white mulberries (Morus alba) have dark fruit that causes mess.  White mulberry doesn't refer to the fruit colour as white mulberries come in white, pink, purple, or dark black.  Unfortunately most 'black mulberries' sold in Australia labelled with the binomial name of Morus nigra are either incorrectly labelled white mulberries with dark fruit, or are hybrids of white mulberries, instead of the black mulberry species.  I would love to get a black mulberry one day as their flavour is absolutely superb but I am yet to find anywhere that actually has one for sale,  but I am getting off topic.

As the white shahtoot mulberries are green/white when ripe, instead of dark purple/black, they don't stain faces, or hands, or washing, or cars etc.

White shahtoot mulberry is either a species of its own (it is often claimed to be Morus macroura), or it is a hybrid between the white mulberry and another mulberry species (which is highly likely).  My white shahtoot is grafted onto white mulberry rootstock.  When it is larger I would like to graft a few more of them.

Like many other mulberries, white shahtoot mulberries are pretty low maintenance and highly productive.  The bowl of mulberries above was collected one day and was pretty standard for the amount that was collected most days while it was fruiting.  This does not include the ones I ate whole picking, or the ones the kids ate while no one was looking, or anything that was stolen by birds or other animals.

The mulberries on white shahtoot are quite long, making them fast and easy to pick.  When they are ripe they change colour slightly, when ripe even the slightest touch makes them come off the tree, and slightly under ripe mulberries still taste good, so harvest is a breeze.

At this stage my tree has only grown slowly and is still very small.  Even as a small tree it is absolutely covered in berries in season.  I can hardly wait to see how productive this thing is when it is larger!

Shahtoot mulberry, one branch laden with fruit in Spring

Look how productive they are!

I don't think that the white shahtoot handles hard frost as well as other mulberries.  Each spring it seems to have some minor damage to a few branches.  That being said, my little tree has survived a few winters of hard frosts and is growing larger and stronger each year.  I am told that once it is larger the frosts will be less of an issue.

I have had a few berries that are forked, unfortunately I didn't notice until they were picked so haven't any pictures of them

At this stage I only have the one little tree.  I am told they don't grow from cuttings very well and are best grafted.  This spring I plan to try and graft a few more.  If that goes well I may be able to sell them through my for sale page.