Mulberry Trees

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Peanut

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I have a nice mulberry tree in the woods by my driveway. Today I noticed that it is just about time to make a mulberry pie. They taste like blackberries. However, when picked the little stem usually stays with the berry. Also, the size of the fruit around the seed is smaller than blackberry, so there are a lot more seeds in a pie. The fruits are first white, then red, then turn black when ripe.

Moraceae aka Mulberry family of trees. A few members – Figs, Mulberries, Osage Orange.

There are two species common in the south.

Morus rubra - red mulberry is native to north america, more common in the southeast.

Morus alba - white mulberry is introduced from China

The flowers present on Mulberry trees are unisexual. A given mulberry tree may be monoecious (male and female flowers on the same tree) or dioecious (trees produce either male or female flowers but not both). Around here I find male and female trees, have yet to see one that is unisex.

The fruits of Red Mulberry trees are edible. The ripe fruits are dark red to black in color and are botanically described as a multiple fruit composed of numerous drupes; the fruit is the product of numerous flowers, each of which produces a drupe. The fruits have some resemblance to blackberries but blackberry fruits are aggregate fruits composed of drupes; that is, the fruit is the product of a single flower having numerous pistils. The fruits of mulberry trees are quite delicious, both raw and in pies. One can find recipes for a mulberry pie online. A few sites are listed below:

The fruits of White Mulberry are also edible and used in Chinese medicine. I know nothing about the medicinal properties.

Mulberry has another use common in rural parts of the south. They make great fence posts, naturally rot resistant. Since I was a kid I've seen them used here on the farm many times.

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I cut down a mulberry that was threatening my garage foundation last year. The wood is extremely dense.

The tree we cut the limb off of 2 weeks ago is also a mulberry. The fruit is ok but not sweet enough for the granddaughters. Harvesting the berries when ripe would require some cheating since the birds are all over them when ripe.

Ben
 
For what it's worth, we large had a mulberry tree in our yard when I was a kid. I was responsible for mowing the yard and keeping the yard looking good. I recall at times during the year the tree made a mess when the fruits fell. I recall getting yelled at tracking in mess after carefully mowing and raking the yard. No good deed goes unpunished...

Otherwise it was a nice tree!
 
Wild mulberries are not very sweet but neither are wild blackberries and dew berries. The domesticated versions are sweet, part of selective breeding.

They still make a nice pie though. It's made just like a blackberry pie.

And yes birds are a nuisance. I only attempt to pick enough for a pie in years with a bumper crop, like this one. Other wise the birds get all of them in a bad year with few berries.
 
We've got one in our front yard. Normally produces very well. We pick over maybe 2-3 weeks and wife makes jelly with them. I'm known to stop around it while mowing and eat my fill as well. Birds always get more than we do, but thats ok. They come in close to our blueberries and the mulberry seems to keep them at bay and out of the blueberries.
Didn't know they were of the fig family. We have a Turkey fig. Never seems to ripen before frost, so this winter I cut several limbs out of it and tried to root some. I had 7 out of 12 leaf out. Gonna let them grow thru the summer and plant them in a different location this fall.
Hoping to do some blueberry starts here in the next 2-3 weeks.
 
They are considered weeds here in Iowa. Everybody hates them because the birds crap the seeds out alongside buildings and fence lines, and then the fast growing trees have to be removed. It's a never ending battle. There are quite a few people who love to eat mulberries - my daughter is one of them - but there's not a market for them.

One thing mulberry trees are good for is smoke wood. Pork smoked with mulberry has a wonderful flavor, as good as any other fruit wood...
 
I have a small tree/bush on the farm, need to check it.
 
There was a mulberry tree in the yard of a house I lived in. We had parking in the back. When I would come home from work from my second job in the evenings, there would be critters under that mulberry tree when the fruit was ripe and dropping. I don't remember what critters there were, but I always thought possums. I don't think they would eat mulberries, though. Maybe it was racoons.
 
We have has non bearing mulberries. The bearing ones were banned because of the pollen. They make nice big shade trees if people would quit butchering them. I hate the way they prune them down here.

Dew berries.... Yum. They grow wild along the waterways in central Tx. They about covered the banks of the old irrigation canal that ran behind a house I lived in as a kid.
 

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