Mulberries from wild seedling

We  have a neighbor who has one and the birds have stole the seeds and planted them in quite a few places on our farm.  I was going to purchase some and while out walking one day I saw the different shaped leaves and looked them up.  Here I have 7 mulberries and I didn't know it.  Now I watch and try to get the berries before the birds do.  We do start all sorts of trees from seeds and sometimes forget what we planted.  This year I found a persimmons tree I must have planted 5-6 years ago.

Time does fly by. 12 years ago my 2 year old son and I planted 2 rows of red and white oaks at the end of our rotation pasture.  They were seedlings.  Now they range from 5-8 inches in diameter.  Couple more years and they will feed the cows and pigs.  Learning to stack functions is neat to see in the long run.

Christopher Shepherd wrote:We  have a neighbor who has one and the birds have stole the seeds and planted them in quite a few places on our farm.  I was going to purchase some and while out walking one day I saw the different shaped leaves and looked them up.  Here I have 7 mulberries and I didn't know it.  Now I watch and try to get the berries before the birds do.  We do start all sorts of trees from seeds and sometimes forget what we planted.  This year I found a persimmons tree I must have planted 5-6 years ago.

Time does fly by. 12 years ago my 2 year old son and I planted 2 rows of red and white oaks at the end of our rotation pasture.  They were seedlings.  Now they range from 5-8 inches in diameter.  Couple more years and they will feed the cows and pigs.  Learning to stack functions is neat to see in the long run.

Yes, the songbirds love mulberries too! We have mowed over quite a few, as I don’t have time to “rescue” and move every seedling that pops up in a bad place. But we do have a few growing along the fence line in the pasture. Those, I don’t try to harvest, prune, or treat in any way as an orchard tree. They belong to the wildlife, and are a free, no labor part of the hedgerow I envision, surrounding our pasture, one day.

Speaking of tree rescue and hedgerows, for a few years now I have been rescuing eastern redcedars planted by the wild birds. But that really should be the subject of another post - it is quite far afield from tree fruits. 😸

Nice mulberry trees, we have two that we planted in 2014 courtesy of the State of Arkansas because of the tornado, they are now 8 inch diameter trunks that stand over 15 feet tall and they produced enough fruit for our birds and for us to have some to eat.
I have to prune some low branches this year and those will become new mulberry trees.

I'm still trying to find some huckleberry bushes and service berry bushes.

I love mulberries.  Our neighbors had one behind their fence row but when they fixed their fence the company that did it took the tree out.  I managed to grab quite a few berries and got some put in the ground and marked so i can watch for trees in spring.   Fingers crossed i'll get at least one tree.

I pruned the 5 year old mulberry tree last fall. I had previously done a little pruning on it, but I raised it more, to make it less shrubby and easier for mowing, etc. The branches went to my future hugelkultur pile (it's on my long To Do list). I will raise it more next year.

It leans because I did not stake it as a wee transplant. It is shaded by a barn to the west and thus wanted to head east before it grew taller than the barn. But it is nonetheless happy in that spot, producing heavily and quite disease free. I think the trunk gives it character.

The newer transplant is not shaded and is growing nice and straight.

That's a gorgeous tree Myrth! I'll have to see how mulberries do in my area. I'd love that sort of quick-growing low foliage in my yard.

Great pictures Myrth!

That's awesome getting tasty fruit from the wild mulberry seedlings! I haven't found any wild seedlings in my area yet, and a lot of people have never even heard of mulberries around here.

I planted a few varieties this past Fall, so I'm hoping to enjoy some soon!

Thanks, Alexis and Steve! We get quite a few wild seedlings of various types volunteer around our property each year. I love finding them and, when I have the time, I will transplant them. They are well-adapted to our climate and growing conditions. And who can argue with free?