BRIX and pH Values for 42 Accessions of Mulberries

 All fruits were harvested on May 1, 2026 from a single location in Sacramento Valley, California.

BRIX numbers reflect the dissolved sugars content, the higher BRIX, the more sugars are in the fruit. 

pH numbers reflect the acidity of the fruit.  The lower pH corresponds to more acid in the fruits.

We believe that all long white mulberries such as Australian Green, Pakistan White, Saharanpur Local and Unknown Long White are the same.  However, their BRIX numbers are different here. Australian Green is the most developed large tree, and Saharanpur Local is a small shaded tree on only a partially compatible rootstock. Pakistan White is a young tree and not shaded by other trees. Uknown Long White is a graft on a multigrafted tree. The tree health, and the sun exposure affect the BRIX numbers and possibly the pH too.

We also suspect that Tice and Estero Giant might be identical, while they produced different BRIX number.

Red Himalayan Taiwanese Long was at the very end of its fruiting, and normally has very long fruits similar Skinner.  Red Himalayan Murray's fruits are also normally longer, these were at the end of its season too.

In the below table, most selections were at their perfect maturity.  Only Four Seasons, Taiwanese Dwarf, Chiang Mai #60, and Buluklu will need to be reevaluated at a later date. 

The BRIX and pH data is based on 3 juiced fruits and two technical replicates. 

Australian Green and Pakistan White BRIX reading were above the upper range of the refractometer we used.  Their values are above 35.

BRIX data is an important component of fruit flavor, but the degree of acidity and various specific compounds will influence the final flavor perception too. The taste preferences are also different for different people.  

My evaluation of individual cultivars can be found here in this Playlist on YouTube https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiwjdtJGDLQcA0f5VTpgCIs9vaPh01iqe&si=gez5QHy43hiLLnSs

We sell cuttings for rooting or grafting from our website in winter and early June reallygoodplants.com

Pilot Test of Acidity in Mulberry Cultivars

 Apparently, the consumer electronics manufacturers made a lot of advances in the recent years. I just got a simple pH meter for food and tested it on six mulberry cultivars. Looks like it works like a charm. I was looking into the complex scientific pH meters for low volumes and those are some expensive pieces of equipment! Apparently, all I needed was a $37 device from our largest online retailer. 

The mulberry cultivars I selected for this pilot had contrasting amounts of acidity and the device detected these. Over the season, I hope to measure the pH values across all cultivars we grow.

Below are the data from today. I was lucky to find a couple of fruits of Murray’s Himalayan which I suspected might be the most acidic one. It produced the lowest pH out of these six cultivars. 

BRIX and Weight Data for 33 Mulberry Cultivars Harvested on April 20, 2026

 

In the below table, not all selections were at their perfect maturity.  The cultivars with low BRIX numbers will need to be re-evaluated at later dates.  

We believe that all long white mulberries such as Australian Green, Pakistan White and Saharanpur Local are the same.  However, their BRIX numbers are different here. Australian Green is the most developed large tree, and Saharanpur Local is a small shaded tree on only a partially compatible rootstock. 

We also suspect that Tice and Estero Giant might be identical, but we only have a small graft of Estero Giant on a multigrafted tree. Tice is a large vigorous tree and produced higher BRIX. 

Red Himalayan Naples normally has very long fruits, longer than Skinner.  On this date we only found smaller and partially ripe fruits. 

There are probably few other things I need to warn about, but don't remember now. We will try to do another round of evaluations when the later season mulberries are ready.

The weight measurements are average of 5 fruits with the exception of Naples, where only 3 fruits are used. The BRIX data is based on 3-5 juiced fruits and two technical replicates.

BRIX data is an important component of fruit flavor, but the degree of acidity and various specific compounds will influence the final flavor perception too. The taste preferences are also different for different people.  

My evaluation of individual cultivars can be found here in this Playlist on YouTube https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiwjdtJGDLQcA0f5VTpgCIs9vaPh01iqe&si=gez5QHy43hiLLnSs

We sell cuttings for rooting or grafting from our website in winter and early June reallygoodplants.com

Graft Compatibility of Cherry with Adara Plum

 This post describes my personal experience with grafting compatibility of various sour cherries, Dukes, and one sweet cherry cultivar with Adara plum.  The only cherry that wasn't compatible in my personal experience, based on just two grafts is Schattenmorelle. Tamaris sour cherry grafted onto Adara, but never grew well; I suspect due to the unsuitable climate for this cherry selection.

The following cultivars were successfully grown on Adara rootstocks and/or interstems:

1.  Balaton - Duke cherry
2.  Bell Magnifique - Duke cherry
3.  Bianco Rosato di Piedmonte - sweet cherry
4.  Chornokirka - sour cherry
5.  Csengodi Csocros - Duke cherry
6.  Danube - Duke cherry
7.  Duke - Duke cherry
8.  Erdi - sour cherry
9.  Favorit - Duke cherry
10.  Jubileum - Duke cherry
11.  Kantor Janosi - sour? cherry
12.  Oblachinskaya - sour cherry
13.  Pandy 38 - Duke cherry
14.  Sumadinka - sour cherry
15.  UZ1 - sour cherry

Below are the photos of the trees on Adara rootstocks or interstems taken on March 24, 2026.

Balaton and Favorit

Belle Magnifique and Pandy 38 on Adara

Bianco Rosato di Piedmonte, Erdi, Oblachinskaya, and Sumadinka on Adara

Chornokirka on Adara

Csengodi Csocros on Adara Interstem on Lovell Rootstock

Danube and Kantor Janosi on Adara

Duke on Adara

Jubileum on Adara

Sumadinka on Adara

Sumadinka on Adara interstem on Lovell rootstock

UZ1 on Adara interstem on Lovell rootstock

More info about the above cherries is available in this playlist:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiwjdtJGDLQfkhpBr6-ffl-H8wnuRHjiR&si=6sZWmdjnsRIcDB8m

Cuttings Sale in December 2025

 This post describes the cuttings sale on reallygoodplants.com in December 2025. This year we are offering wood from 594 different cultivars.

The sale will open at 6 PM PST on December 12.

 1. We will cut and ship the orders as soon as the wood is ready. The deciduous wood will be cut when the trees become dormant. The wood of white sapote, rose apple, yangmei, and avocado do not store for a long time. These should be used in under a week or two after receiving. 

We did our best estimate on the amount we can cut, and we might be able to restock some cultivars after the shipment of early orders.

 2. The information about most of our cultivars can be found on our blog and YouTube. 

3. Most of the material offered here should be grafted; however, there are some accessions that can be rooted.  We successfully rooted all Elaeagnus species, kei apples, figs, grapes, rose apple, sour cherry PV Hybrid #1, Adara plum, and many mulberries.  You may want to check out our post on mulberry rooting abilities, as well as our rooting video. If you plan on rooting some material, we would still recommend grafting a piece for a backup. 

All pomegranates root fine.  If you want to graft these, make sure to graft onto strong young shoots.  More about grafting in this post.

 4. The cuttings’ length and diameter will depend on the species.  We will supply at least 6-inch-long cuttings with at least 3 buds.  A 6-inch-long apricot scion can have up to 20 buds, while some vigorous mulberries might have 6- to 8-inch-long internodes.  On average, mulberry cuttings will be longer than avocado, apricots, and feijoa. Some mulberries grow very thick shoots. If you are planning on getting the Himalayan types like Naples, Steve Murray, etc., these may be up to 1 inch in diameter and will require established rootstocks to graft onto, or you should prepare to chip-bud onto your smaller rootstocks. 

Cuttings Sale in June of 2025

 This post describes the greenwood cuttings sale on reallygoodplants.com in June of 2025.

The sale will open at 6 PM PST on June 5.

• All species will be cut to order. This kind of wood doesn’t store for a long time, and should be used in under a week or two after receiving.

• Our summer temperatures are pretty high in June, and the shipping transit time may negatively affect the wood viability.   We will only offer the one and two days UPS shipping options, as well as local pickup in Davis, CA. Your shipping charges will be calculated according to your location and you will be presented with your mailing options. If our weather is too hot, we will postpone shipping until the conditions are more favorable. 

• For most cultivars you will find the links to our blog and/or YouTube channel. Some are missing, as we are still working on getting the pictures and descriptions for them.

• Cherry, pistachio, apricot, peach, nectarine, and loquat wood should be grafted. We successfully rooted all Elaeagnus species, Adara plum, all figs, and many mulberries. Here is the post on mulberry rooting abilities you may want to check. The greenwood cuttings can be rooted in the same manner like dormant cuttings, please see this video. They can also be rooted in a cloner. If you plan on rooting some material, I would still recommend grafting (or budding) a piece for a backup. On our YouTube channel we have the Grafting Playlist with a number of videos covering various grafting options, tools, etc.

• The length and diameter of the cuttings will depend on the species. We will supply at least 6 inch long cuttings with at least 3 buds. We might need to split some single mulberry cuttings into two pieces as they might be too long for economical shipping. Some of our mulberry cultivars have 8-inch internodes. 

Cuttings Sale in December 2024

 

This post describes the cuttings sale on reallygoodplants.com in December 2024. This year we are offering wood from 440 different cultivars.

The sale will open at 6 PM PST on December 1.

 1. We will cut and ship the orders as soon as the wood is ready. The deciduous wood will be cut when the trees become dormant. Please see the recently posted video about dormancy in various mulberry cultivars. The evergreen species will be cut ASAP. The wood of white sapote, rose apple, and avocado do not store for a long time. These should be used in under a week or two after receiving. 

We did our best estimate on the amount we can cut, and we might be able to restock some cultivars after the shipment of early orders.

 2. The information about most of our cultivars can be found on our blog and YouTube. 

3. Most of the material offered here should be grafted; however, there are some accessions that can be rooted.  We successfully rooted all Elaeagnus species, kei apples, figs, grapes, rose apple, sour cherry PV Hybrid #1, Adara plum, and many mulberries.  You may want to check out our post on mulberry rooting abilities, as well as our rooting video. If you plan on rooting some material, we would still recommend grafting a piece for a backup. 

All pomegranates root fine.  If you want to graft these, make sure to graft onto strong young shoots.  More about grafting in this post.

 4. The cuttings’ length and diameter will depend on the species.  We will supply at least 6-inch-long cuttings with at least 3 buds.  A 6-inch-long apricot scion can have up to 20 buds, while some vigorous mulberries might have 6- to 8-inch-long internodes.  On average, mulberry cuttings will be longer than avocado, apricots, and feijoa. Some mulberries grow very thick shoots. If you are planning on getting the Himalayan types like Naples, Steve Murray, etc., these may be up to 1 inch in diameter and will require established rootstocks to graft onto, or you should prepare to chip-bud onto your smaller rootstocks.