Tice Mulberry – Nematode Resistant Rootstock – 1 Gallon

Special Note – Our one gallon Tice trees grow tall quickly. To save you money on shipping, we mail them in 24 inch tall boxes. Most orders will have the tree trimmed to this height to fit in the box. Many of the trees have no leaves left at this height. Mulberries readily tolerate this pruning treatment. Rest assured, what may arrive as a bare stem will rapidly swell dormant buds and in a matter of weeks will have vigorous new growth. Trees will respond especially well to planting out or potting up. If the tree arrives during late fall or winter, it will sit leafless and dormant until ~late February.

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 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.  Please check out our YouYube video showcasing the nematode resistance of the roots of this mulberry here.  You can also check out the image attached to this listing showing the clean roots compared to the susceptible variety “Maui”.

We propagate our Tice trees from two sources, neither of which are 100 percent confirmed as the “Tice” clone.  We refer to these as “Estero Giant” and “Crohn”.  We are quite certain that these trees are Tice or something very closely related. Without DNA tests, it is impossible for us to confirm the identity. However, the trees bear every trait of “Tice” we can determine, such as coloration of different parts of the plant, fruit size and flavor, shape of leaves, dormancy breaking habits etc. “Tice” or very similar clones can often be found on older Florida homesteads as this used to be a commonly sold variety.  If Estero Giant or Crohn are not exactly identical to the original “Tice”, the differences are completely indiscernible.  “Crohn” comes from an old tree on our neighbor John Crohn’s farm.  “Estero Giant” was originally propagated from an old large tree in Estero, with Estero being notably near the city of Tice.  We use these trees because we have easy access to ample propagation material.  We include a label on all trees that indicate which source the tree was propagated from.

As a fruit tree Tice 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.

This listing is for a 1 gallon potted plant. Mulberry is a deciduous tree, losing its leaves for winter. Though they look weak with no leaves, this is actually a great time to ship these plants with the least amount of disturbance in transit. Mulberries break dormancy at varied times in the Spring, depending on variety.  We ship mulberries throughout the year so trees will arrive in varied states of having foliage or not.

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. We have several mulberry budwood varieties available here.