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Mulberries!

PHRatz May 25, 2007 11:58 AM

It's the oddest thing! After that late freeze all my berries were dead. I have a either red or black mulberry tree, not sure what it is but they do turn a very dark color. I also have a white mulberry tree.. this is the odd part:
On both trees in the same position they produced berries only on the far east branches. There are no berries anywhere else on either tree.
They have become ripe & I have gotten enough to feed them to turtles.
I think I may try blanching & freezing what I can so I'll have some for later.. but I don't think there will be very many. Not like the year when I picked up 15 lbs or so of them.
I am so happy that I got any berries at all.
How odd that they are on the far east branches only.
go figure....
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PHRatz

Replies (7)

Peeperskeeper May 25, 2007 12:47 PM

The sun comes up in the east and maybe warmed that part of the trees limbs? We get that after really cold snaps on dogwoods sometimes(0nly bloom on the east south-east side).

StephF May 26, 2007 09:24 AM

Its not unusual for the combination of cold air temperatures and warm sunlight to have a damaging effect on plants, or, more specifically, one side of a plant.

Morning sun (from the East) is least damaging, which may explain why you have fruit on that side of the tree only in the wake of the cold snap.

PHRatz May 26, 2007 09:51 AM

Makes sense. I thought at first that perhaps the one tree on the west side of our house produced berries on those branches because the house itself was protecting that spot. Then when I found berries on the tree that's on the east side of the house & found it had berries in the same region as the other tree... that's weird.

I'm just happy that I got any berries at all!
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PHRatz

golfdiva May 26, 2007 07:43 PM

About freezing them:

I did this last summer. It works fine. I just picked them and put them into a zip lock bag an and stuck them into the freezer. When I thawed them they were a little mushy, but none of the critters complained, they just scarfed them up!
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0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
1.0.0 Yellow belly slider
0.1.0 Red belly cooter
0.1.0 Australian shepard
1.11.0 chickens
1.0.0 Dutch(rabbit)
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

PHRatz May 27, 2007 10:12 AM

>>About freezing them:
>>
>>I did this last summer. It works fine. I just picked them and put them into a zip lock bag an and stuck them into the freezer. When I thawed them they were a little mushy, but none of the critters complained, they just scarfed them up!

Hey thanks for the tip.. I wondered if I should blanch them first or just bag them & freeze them.
In the past when I've blanched fresh foods it seemed to make them too mushy, a little mushy is better than too mushy.
I'll get myself some good freezer bags & pop them in.
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PHRatz

Melgrj7 May 27, 2007 07:35 PM

A tip on freezing berries. Put them on a baking sheet first and freeze them. Then once frozen, transfer them to the freezer bag. They get less mushy and then are frozen individually instead of in one big glob.

PHRatz May 28, 2007 09:43 AM

Thanks Mel for that tip, it makes sense. Frozen on all sides before it's bagged=less mush.. I can see that.
I'll do that, I finally found a stainless steel baking sheet like I've been trying to find for years, (at what I think is is a good price) freezing mulberries on it can be it's first job.
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PHRatz

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