The berries should persist after the leaves drop. The only thing I have researched that affect beautyberries (beside deer) are leaf spots (Atractilina callicarpae) and black mold (Meliola cookeana).

Sorry, mine grow in my sugar sand with no supplemental watering or fertilizer, so I don't have any personal experience with problems.

Hmm I would say get it a few seasons to see if this continues to happen. Thinking of it like a fruit tree, most wouldn't produce a good crop until a few years in the ground

Every year is better. That has been my experience.

Y'all are giving me hope, at least! I've had mine in the ground for two summers and they have yet to bloom for me, much less grow berries.

Thanks so much for confirming berry retention after leaf fall. Will look forward to it getting better established in its new digs.

I grow mine quite hard and it took awhile for them to look good. They had to establish themselves the old fashion wild way. They like a bit of moisture but are very drought tolerant once established. I did not water them in the big drought and they took a vacation and did not perform very well but did greta this year. I see them in the wild in Central texas in bottom land or in canyons not far from streams. Mine are in part shad. not far from a grey water drip. The others that are further away under an oak tree with morning sun but dry grow slower and loose their leaves when drought comes. The birds got all of the seed this fall.

I've been out and about in all sorts of wild places where beautyberries grow naturally and they all adapt in their own ways. Sometimes the berries stay on, sometimes they don't. I wouldn't worry about it too much, they are pretty hardy plants.

They do not grow very fast on Caliche uplands and outcrops where I live. I have never seen a wild one in those conditions but I have seen them in the valey where soil and moisture stay awhile.