I have this bush shaped plant growing where I would have planted a fruit tree over 10 years ago but it isn’t a tree and I can’t imagine it’s even fruit. I don’t remember planting anything there. I don’t know what it is. Can anyone ID it before I take it out?
Thanks in advance.
Mulberry
I absolutely agree mulberry. In fact those green/red things in the first picture are fruits
Scott
Are you kidding me? I don’t think I ever bought a mulberry. But it’s sitting there right in the place I would have put it.
I wonder if I put it near the Cherry tree to distract the birds.
I’m not usually a loony tunes … really I’m not … I swear…
When we moved here we got everything from on-line suppliers like Stark, Gurney, Harris, etc and none of them are entirely reliable with what they send vis-a-vis what we ordered. And the survival of what they did ship was not always assured anyway.
There was a period where I wasn’t sure what I was putting in as replacements and my notes show that would have been the spot for a cherry of some kind.
My old receipts from that long ago don’t show a mulberry purchase from anyone.
Okay … enough of my attempt to recover some self-respect.
Aren’t mulberries more obviously tree-like? This thing is a waist-high bush now and it should be a giant tree by now, no?.
It’s definitely a mulberry. Not sure what kind. Looks like it might have alba in its genes (White mulberry). Some cultivars and specimens can be naturally dwarfed, but that is not common, at least not with most albas. It might eventually get huge.
Yeah, I looked for some pictures last night … it’s a mulberry all right.
Now I don’t know what to do with it.
I’ll leave it for now. Mostly out of curiosity but if it’s gets too big it’ll have to go.
If the fruit tastes good,what this video shows can be done. Brady
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJQeNqwBls8
Man those things grow fast.
Good video … thanks.
I saved it.
Looking at what I have it almost looks wild and the fruits look like they’ll be very small.
The leaves don’t look like the ones in that particular video but they do look like some pictures I’ve seen.
Now I’m intrigued and glad I might be able to use it.
Just wanted to second the thought it could be wild. My neighbors had a wild mulberry when I was kid and I remember the berries being small, but pretty tasty. And since the tree was so big, there were plenty for the birds and for us kids. If it is wild, make sure you have enough room for it. I think the wild mulberry tree was taller than the neighbor’s two story house by quite a bit.
If the berries survive, I’m anxious to see what they taste like.
But I can tell you that if it looks like a monster size is in the offing it’s going to be disappointed.
When in doubt, graft.
I’ve seen wild Alba mulberries range in size from 7 feet to over 30 full grown. There appears to be quite a bit of variability in the genetics.
Growing up we had 20 foot (mulberry) trees in my back yard. I know of a 7-8 foot tree on the side of the highway nearby that hasn’t grown so long as I’ve witnessed it.
I wonder why dwarf mulberries are not more common.
Scott
I’ve seen Alba mulberries in Europe which were bushes about 4-5 ft high and planted as a hedge. They could be top-trimmed, I’m not sure. They produced white-colored fruit, pretty nice taste. And some Albas can be huge trees, I have one in my backyard, which is at lest 40 ft high (it’s a male, and this year I grafted Pakistan on its suckers at the base of the tree, the grafts already grew more than a foot each and are going to fruit). So there is a lot of variability indeed.
Graft what to what?
On to this established tree, graft any compatible variety of mulberry whose fruit might be more desirable than what this tree produces…or graft other varieties that you may want to sample or © all of the above. 
Members here have discussed exotic-sounding varieties that sound fun to grow…haha, the possibilities are endless.
Oh. That makes sense.
But I don’t think I want any mature mulberry of any variety right next to a mature cherry tree.
Then again, if the berries are incredible I could be convinced otherwise.
After all, the birds eat the cherries before I get any so why not supplement their diet for them?
Right. I found that the ‘trick’ is to control the form of the tree so that it suits your purposes. For my purposes, I first ‘define the fruiting space’, that is, where I want it to fruit so I can (1) see it, (2) spray/tend to it, (3) protect it from predators. That space, for me, becomes a rectangular box about 3-4’ wide, ~6-7’ high, and a convenient length that fits other constraints. The ‘open vase’ shape is for the birds - literally. The good news is that open vase captures the most sun; the bad news, it allows easy access to most predators. The rectangular box I describe is easy to prune to, and, drape netting over. I posted some pics here.
Here in my locale I’ve found more food for birds results in more birds. I thought once I planted blackberries here at the house, the birds would slow down pecking peaches. But bird pecks increased.
As the blackerries started to produce, the birds ate them all. I thought once the berries ramped up production, the birds wouldn’t be able to eat them all, but they called more in to help with the task.
I’ve found, if I net everything early on, the birds figure out there isn’t any food and aren’t as much of a problem as the season progresses.
Wild mulberries are a mixed bag for fresh eating. Some can be sweet, others are pretty bland. They all tend to be pretty small.
Pretty snappy setup Anne.
You have an easy way into those (I’m gonna call them) cages?
I have something similar for the blueberries. It has 2 gates, a removable top, annual weeds, and not enough room inside to move around to pick berries or pull weeds. A mixed bag.
Some things like the grapes, and blueberries are in cages so they’re safe. The blackberries are open but never had bird problems, (I should not have said that)
But the trees … no hope whatsoever for decent protection. Too big for netting. I use those balloons (the kids call them voodoo balloons - the neighbors probably have a different name for them and me), shiny tape, and those fake crows but I suspect I’m only kidding myself.
The birds always get the red cherries … and they have left the yellow ones alone.
Last year the crows damn near wiped out the pears. That’s why I started using the fake crows.
I’m curious about the strange mulberries. I can’t imagine they’d be my cherry savior and they might turn out to be white anyway.
We’ll see.
