I’m a full-on fruit weirdo with dozens of figs, persimmons, stone fruit, pome fruit, citrus - South Carolina 8a. I’ve entirely held out on getting mulberry trees for a few reasons and wanted to see what’s folks’ experiences have been. I’m mostly concerned with the following:
Maintaining size. I know there are dwarf types which would suit my potential location better, but I’ve been able to easily keep my other trees at reaching height with some basic pruning and I’ve seen first-hand that the wrong type of mulberry can get huge quickly.
Staining / mess. Surely white mulberries present less of an issue with this but I’ve heard they taste vastly inferior.
Overproduction. I can handle eating or processing a few dozen peaches or figs with no issue, but do mulberry trees produce so much that if you don’t stay on top of it then you’ll have buckets of mulberries to deal with?
Birds. They obviously would eat a bunch of them which wouldn’t be a huge issue, but I worry about bird poop and subsequent seedling popping up everywhere.
I know mulberries can taste great and are versatile, it just seems that they have some real downsides that other fruit trees don’t present. I don’t mind some work to earn my fruit but I’m not trying to plant a tree that will cause constant maintenance. Appreciate any insight.
I personally could not care less about staining. theres some lavender ones that present less staining but better flavor than pure white.
Personally i already deal with mulberries popping up from the feral invasive alba everywhere i dont see this as a downside. im already pulling up mulberries all the time.
Overproduction, i guess but they make jam relatively easily.
The staining thing is way overblown in my experience. Yeah it happens but so does any soft fruit. The size control is the real issue though, they want to be massive trees and fighting that takes commitment. If you have the space and don’t mind the mess for a few weeks in summer they’re genuinely low maintenance compared to most stone fruit.
I’ve easily managed a Gerardi at 8 feet. It’ll eventually settle into 12+ feet if you let it though. Not a big fan of the taste of my Gerardi but mulberries aren’t a favorite in general. My neighbor will eat off my tree though. Got totally zapped by a late frost and currently waiting for it to recover.
I have it on strip next to my driveway. I barely notice staining. You’ll get lots of mulberry infused bird poop everywhere though.
I have a dwarf everbearing mulberry purchased from Stark Bros. It is about 3 years in ground, 20’. Supposed to grow up to 25’. We got an initial flush of berries, fun to snack on. Fingers were stained a bit. We have it at the back of the yard so don’t care about staining the ground cover.
After the first flush, I only see the red berries. Birds are getting all the good stuff now. Nothing on the ground.
So nice to just go out and graze on your own fruit.
I am a no spray guy… and that works for mulberries.
My Gerardi .. I keep pruned to 8 ft high.. it is 6-7 ft wide. It has very tight leaf nodes.. and puts fruit out at each node. Loads and loads of fruit.
Zoom in on the tree picture and check the fruit load. Awesome.
Gerardi fruit flavor will vary with the weather conditions… If it is cool and wet.. they may only accomplish a mild fruity flavor and mild sweetness. But when the heat cranks up and you have dry conditions the flavor will amp up nicely.. complex fruity flavor both sweet and tart. As good as any blackberry you ever had.
I am in zone 7b.. southern middle TN and that has been my experience with Gerardi.
It seems like the only mulberry with this attribute. I wonder if someone could make a cross against it with an Everbearing variety like Illinois Everbearing to make a variety with 1. Dwarf, 2. Everbearing 3. Short leaf nodes
We have wild mulberries here everywhere. The native reds have crossed with the Asian whites. I have had some bland reds and some tasty whites now. So, here, you either have to buy a known variety or take some freeby chances.
I know of one “mulberry bush”. It is a mulberry that is on the edge of a parking lot. Every few years they cut it back to ground level, and it grows back as a bush. Works great for hand picking!
For a full size tree, the easiest way to harvest (for me anyway) is to go to the local Sal. Army or Goodwill and buy an old sheet. Spread it on the ground under the tree, and take a pole and shake the limbs. Then dump the fallen berries in a bucket. Don’t use a good sheet for it will stain. Do this every day until your belly is full and you are out of jelly jars.
Birds love em. Chickens go hog wild when you shake a limb. They will clean up the grass after you harvest. I have no issues with stains on the vehicles unless you park them underneath the tree.
Danny, I would think the catfishes in the pond would go nuts on them!
I’m in the same area as you and mulberries grow wild here. They are very easy to grow. We did have an issue with ambrosia beetle this year due to that late freeze but they grow back quickly.
I even grafted a wild mulberry on our property and it has done great.
Your birds’ mulberry market isn’t saturated yet. Where I live there are many mulberry trees. Birds mainly leave mine alone when they can go for the 30’ ones down the street.
But there is a dearth of blueberries here, the nearest wild population I know of is over a mile away and it’s small. So birds and mammals eat any that they can.
Just saw this post. I didn’t read all the responses, so here’s my independent view:
Size. The dwarfing mulberry Gerardi is very productive and stays small. Here in my cool climate, the fruit were bland. Others growers I trust who grow Gerardi in warm growing zones love them. Otherwise, if you grow. a standard variety you might look into a pruning technique that maintains a stable size without too much work, such as pollarding.
Staining. This can be an issue. I’d suggest growing them over lawn or mulch, not a driveway or patio.
Overproduction. Varieties that bear more or less all-at-once present an issue. Some varieties (e.g., Illinois Everbearing) ripen fruit over an extended season, like 6 weeks. Look for an “everbearing” type. But maybe not IE itself because it is susceptible to disease in the South.
Birds. Yes, birds eat a lot. One benefit is that this keeps them away from your other fruit. You can manage this problem by picking 1st thing in the morning each day. But also, mulberries are so productive that you may not care.
The fruit is delicious. It is my wife’s favorite (“blackberries without seeds”).
OK, other note. I’ve used heavy duty bird netting to protect blueberries, figs, and – yes – mulberries. If you want to try this approach to protecting your mulberries from birds, be sure to get a net that is big enough to fall to the ground. Catbirds and mockingbirds will exploit any gaps.
