Aus Turk Mulberry – Cuttings/Budwood

*Highly limited quantities this year. Next year should give better availability as our trees get bigger.*

At the moment, I wonder if this may be the ultimate all around mulberry for Florida gardens. I saw photos of this variety for years, and leapt at the opportunity when I saw a vendor was offering cuttings in 2021. The name of this mulberry invokes Turkey and Australia, though it seems also to be quite important in Thailand. Where it truly originates, I do not know. This variety has many desirable traits that make it an ideal variety to cultivate in Florida.

The fruit of this mulberry has a classic flavor, reminiscent of something like “Tice”. The fruit can be enormous, as shown in photos. The tree is highly precocious, bearing immediately when the cuttings root. Fruit are produced very densely per node, making it highly trainable as a productive small tree just like with the Skinner mulberry. I was very pleased this year to see a small, waist high tree this year yield a few cups of fruit. What is truly special about this tree is that it can produce multiple times a year. I discovered that when I pruned to take cuttings in late summer, the tree immediately put out new growth with a full crop. Other mulberries will often produce a couple odd fruit after pruning. The Aus Turk seems to be capable of a full, proper out of season crop. In fact, the summer/fall crop has larger and sweeter fruit than the main spring crop. There have been some reports of bland fruit with this variety. One year we observed somewhat bland fruit in the spring, followed by very sweet fruit on the second crop. This year the spring crop was sweet and flavorful. The sweetness of the spring crop may be determined by temperatures or the age of the tree. We don’t know yet.

The tree produces upright, vigorous growth. Since the tree is so upright, an intense pruning regimen to induce fruiting can keep the width of the tree very narrow. I speculate that these could be spaced 6 feet apart in a row for intensive production. Since I have been highly managing our trees, I don’t know how it grows left to it’s own devices. Our trees show very high vigor but inspection of roots does show some root knot nematode infection. It may ultimately be best to graft to “Tice” but it is possible the tree can outpace the nematodes for many years. Our trees are highly vigorous and healthy in an area where other trees are stunted from nematode pressure.

We have found this variety to be relatively easy to root from cuttings. My original order in 2021 was for 3 cuttings and I believe all 3 took and grew after traveling in the mail!

This listing is for 5 cuttings. These can also be used as budwood. Pulling chip buds may maximize chances to secure the genetics in your garden since there would be around 15 chances.