Tice/Crohn Mulberry – Ideal Rootstock

Our neighbor John Crohn has a large, old mulberry that he has generously allowed us to harvest cuttings from. We are quite certain that this tree is Tice or something very closely related. Since there’s no way to determine the origin of the tree, we are unable to confidently confirm it is in fact the original “Tice”. However, the tree bears every trait of “Tice” we can determine such as coloration of different parts of the plant, fruit size and flavor, shape of leaves, etc. “Tice” or very similar clones can often be found on older Florida homesteads as this used to be a commonly sold variety.

We have been paying close attention to mulberry for some years. In our opinion Tice is the best rootstock for mulberry in Florida. The trees show high vigor and seeming total resistance to root knot nematodes, the bane of many cultivars. Decades old trees peppered throughout the sandy parts of the state are a testament to the nematode resistance and over all strength of this variety. Our trees grafted to the Tice/Crohn rootstock are showing very lush growth and good fruit production at Cody Cove Farm. Other trees in the same soils grafted to different rootstocks are showing less vigor and overall health. Tice has made a perfect rootstock for our high vigorous and productive “Skinner” mulberry.

As a fruit tree Tice/Crohn mulberry is great in it’s own right. The fruit are large and classically flavored, with a nice sweet/acid balance and strong mulberry flavor. They are large and juicy. Fruit are great off the tree but have poor handling qualities. The tree does not produce many fruits per node so it does not produce well if managed as a dwarf. If allowed to become a large dooryard tree, it has good productivity. I would recommend this tree for larger properties or homesteads where a big old fashioned mulberry tree is desired. These trees provide a deep shade and become a nice climbing jungle gym for kids seeking the fruit. For a small yard where one highly productive tree is desired, other varieties are superior. If using for rootstock, it can still be planted in a small space with a compact variety grafted to it.

At this time, we don’t have propagated plants to ship so the best we can do is to ship cuttings. This variety is relatively easy to root from cuttings, but not quite as easy as some others. We have good success rooting them in a mix of construction sand and perlite, though other media can work as well. We will include 10 cuttings with each order (and if I’m being honest it’s quite likely you get a bunch of extra in the box). This amount of cuttings should give everyone a great chance at getting at least one rooted tree, which can be grown out and propagated from later to make your own rootstock. We harvest the cuttings and ship right away so the cuttings have very little sitting time before they go into your rooting media.

If you want to grow a special variety like Skinner and have a tree that lives for decades, this rootstock is the key. You can check out our youtube video on chip budding to learn how to graft once you have rootstock plants.

10 cuttings