Anyone grow Mulberry?

Marty Mitchell wrote:Looks like they love ultra compacted clay!

They thrive on neglect. It’s why they’re such a wonderful tree!

All the berries on my dwarf everbearing black mulberry shrivelled and died. It’s very neglected because it’s in the same hole as a tough established rose plant and surrounded by grass. But my regular English mulberry fruit are getting juicer by the day, even though it’s planted in the same spot as a huge tough tree stump that hasn’t yet died

We had a large 30+ year old Mulberry tree in the suburban backyard in Sydney (so-called Temperate) that was a seedling taken from a tree on my Grandparents farm. (Subtropics). At some stage in its life, it split to form a fantastic climbing tree for us kids, and shaded the chook pen.

Unfortunately, it decided to collapse during a storm one year and that was that.

It was a prolific cropper of huge black fruit. We ate them straight off the tree, gave them to friends and neighbours. The chooks ate so many their eggshells were coloured mauve! Mum made stewed fruit, pies and jam from them. Consequently, I usually give them a miss these days - ate too many as a kid.

Time rolls on, I purchased the Grandparents farm so now have the original tree, which is almost 100 years old and still producing lots of fruit.

However, the tree will need to be relocated/removed so a new shed can be constructed. I don't know if a mature tree of that size will transplant well - will need to take several seedlings beforehand just in case.

They do prosper on neglect - zero fertiliser and irrigation, so may be tough enough to survive it as long as it is managed correctly.

Deb Stephens wrote:Those thread-like things coming off the individual fruits are just the styles leftover from the super tiny flowers. Mulberries form catkins with each individual flower composed of a calyx with 4 sepals. They don't actually have petals like most flowers. So that is what you are seeing--not bugs or worms, but flower parts. Enjoy them, they're delicious!

Pretty sure I know what you’re talking about though it’s been a while. But if I remember correctly, ours “wiggled”....

Dennis Bangham wrote:

I found out that Mulberry Leaves have some melatonin.  What other ingredients do you add?  I may make some extractions.
thanks

There is only one other ingredient, black beans that have a green centre, I have no idea of the varietal name.

Terri Pine wrote:As I understand it, red mulberries and white mulberries are both native and highly resistant to popcorn disease.  However, they hybridize vigorously, and the hybrids are supposed to be (mostly) susceptible to popcorn disease.  Also, a lot of nurseries sell hybrids without saying so.  I have a whole line of mulberries and would like to hear feedback on this topic.

i only read silk hope is resistant to popcorn disease compared to other morus alba varieties. do you have an update on your mulberries?

i grow several types of mulberries. im testing to see which has least dieback and disease for my PNW zone 8b.

Alex Arn wrote:

James Landreth wrote:

Alex Arn wrote:My grandmother's farm in northern Missouri had quite a few of them.  Does anyone know varietals that will work in zone 3b?

If any would do it it would be Northrop (sometimes spelled Northrup). I believe it's good to zone 3. That's its rating but I would definitely protect it when young

https://www.treepeony.com/products/northrop-mulberry

Thanks for the tip.  Ill plant some next spring.

Trader mulberry is another one thats z3 hardy. comes from N.D. i have one coming in the spring. bought and planted northrop last spring. came to me as a nice 5ft. tree with 2 small berries already on it.

I love mulberry and will be planting many! Anyone here in southwest Washington?

Just about time for me to coppice my mulberries.  I'm going to coppice them this year, then pollard them after that so that the main buds are out of reach of the geese who love chewing them in the spring.

I planted over 30 Mulberry trees around my property this weekend. Illinois Everbearing, Silk hope, red and white varieities....MMMMMulberry!

Deb Stephens wrote: Most Americans think food comes from a grocery store. If it isn't there or in some fast food restaurant, they don't see it as food. Sad but true.

I had to laugh when I read this. I was visiting California once and a cousin had a small garden in the corner of the her yard. She had a couple of tomato vines and her grandchildren would not eat them because they came out of the ground.
We've all heard about the young lady who berated hunters saying they could get their meat from the grocery store where no animal is ever hurt.
Oh, that was a good chuckle this early in the morning!

My girls (5 always hungry goats) love for me to walk around their pasture and pull down limbs for them to eat new growth leaves.
Yesterday I pulled over a small tree for them to nibble on and saw I had pulled over a wild mulberry. It had white fruit turning red. I let them munch for a bit and let it go. I'll have to do some research to find out what kind it is.
I don't break the limbs or trees and I don't let the girls strip them, but man do they love tender, young leaves!
Even the property owner didn't know the mulberry tree was there.

Mike, i like your quote on the bottom of your posts. ;) my grandfather was a ww2 Marine , my father was Army, i was Army, my son is a serving Marine.

Yes but I'll believe it when I see the fruits.

I grow mulberries.

The ones next to my sheds didn't fruit the last ten year finally did this year.


The ones on my Hügelkultur berms may not fruit at all for another ten years...until after they think they are big enough...

steve bossie wrote:Mike, i like your quote on the bottom of your posts. ;) my grandfather was a ww2 Marine , my father was Army, i was Army, my son is a serving Marine.

Outstanding! Well done!

i have several good size trees in the hedge row around the field. i usually put a larger tarp down, and shake the hell out of the trees
the fun then starts as i have to get as many as possible before the goats grab them. i usually end up with a couple of 5 gallon buckets full

I got some pictures of the wild mulberry I found if anyone could venture a guess.