Mulberry weed or seedling?

General Fruit Growing
1

I searched mullbeery weed here and didnt find any hits.

Is this a mulberry weed or mullberry seedling?

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Thanks

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Looks like a young mulberry seedling to me.

Possible grafting rootstock if you need it.

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This is a kip parker mulberry… i got the scion late spring and grafted it to russian mulberry rootstock from burnt ridge. Late spring they had the russian mulberry rootstock for 5 bucks.

TNHunter

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This definitely appears to be a mulberry seedling. Whether it’s a weed or not is completely subjective.

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@JesusisLordandChrist … if you find those growing wild all around your place.

It could be a sign … you need to be growing more mulberries :wink:

I have the same problem… but for me it is with persimmons.

TNHunter

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Fatoua villosa

https://www.invasive.org/browse/subinfo.cfm?sub=5639

Thanks for the reply.

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Oh, that mulberry weed. I often hear people call mulberries weeds. Yours has a woody stem, so definitely Morus and not Fatoua.

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Same here with persimmons and like mullberries they seem to sprout up like weeds.

I was weed wacking last year and you know that voice said save that, so I did. Now I will wait for dormacy, dig it up and pot it. Then figure out what to graft onto it next spring. I could easily find more mullberry seedlings, so I might go searching and find a few more.

Thanks for the reply :+1:

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We don’t have that in VT; at least not yet

If it has hairy stems then yes it is mulberry weed; it also has purple flowers

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Thank you all, for the replies.

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@TNHunter

I think we are close by in way of usda zones. I would like to try and graft some mulberries this spring. What varieties do you favor that do well that I can research?

Thanks

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@JesusisLordandChrist …I am in zone 7b southern TN.

I just started collecting mulberries 3 years ago and started with Gerardi dwarf. I grafted it to a rootstock I had here and it grew well… 8 shoots grew 6 ft the first season I grafted it.
In year 1 it produced some berries but the flavor was not much… in year 2 it produced many more berries and the flavor improved… nice fruity flavor and good level of sweetness.

But this year… year 3… the flavor improved enen more… a very nice complex fruity flavor including both sweet and tart. Gerardi in year 3 was as good as any blackberry I have ever had.

I wonder if it will improve even more next year?

I am so impressed with Gerardi at this point… that I may have 3 or 4 of them planted eventually in my new home site orchard.

Gerardi (yr 3)
Silk Hope (yr 2)
Oscar (yr 1)
Kip Parker (yr 1)
Lawson Dawson (yr 1)

Silk hope was the second mulberry I started… this was year 2 for it. I got some very tasty berries off it in year 2 this year… and fully expect them to improve next year.

There is a disease that can affect mulberries here in the south east … popcorn disease… and silk hope is known to be quite resistent to that. That is why I elected to try silk hope over illinois everbearing.

I think that in more northern climates illinois everbearing is a great choice… but in the south east… silk hope is the better choice because of the popcorn disease resistence.

The other 3 that I have started… just started them this year. Have not had fruit from them yet… should get some first fruits from them next year.

I expect that most mulberries need around 3 years to start producing really good fruit.

TNHunter

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Thank You, i’m in 7a and will reseach yours and decide on a few to graft. Gerardi and Oscar both caught my attention before asking you. We have red mulberries growing wild, they grow fast into tall trees. I dont think I could manage them dispite how much I pruned them back.

Thanks again