Tree · Moraceae
Mulberry
Morus rubra
Give it full sun and room to spread, and the mulberry will thank you with berries by the bucketful every early summer.
Full sun
Every 7–21 days
USDA 4–9
25–60 ft · 7.6–18.3 m
Overview
A mulberry is one of the most forgiving trees you can plant, a fast grower that rewards you with shade and fruit. It sits in the fig family and gets big, reaching 25 to 60 feet (7.5 to 18 m) tall with a wide, generous crown. The red mulberry is a native of the eastern US, while the white and black kinds came over from Asia, and every one of them ripens sweet, blackberry-like fruit in early summer.
The very things that make a mulberry easy also make it a bit of a character, and that's nothing to fear. It laughs off cold down to -29°F (-34°C), handles drought once it's grown, and fruits so heavily that birds carry seedlings all around the neighborhood. The dropped fruit stains pavement a deep purple, so choosing where you plant matters just as much as how you tend it.
Pick a good spot and your mulberry asks almost nothing of you. Give it sun, deep soil, and plenty of space clear of patios and paths, and it will happily settle in for decades. Just know that the white mulberry has gone invasive across much of the US, so the native red mulberry or a named cultivar is the kinder, safer pick.
Care
The short version: full sun, deep well-drained soil, and generous room to spread. Water young trees through their first seasons, prune only in the depths of winter, and plant well away from anything the staining fruit might spoil.
Light
Your mulberry will fruit best in full sun, though it happily takes partial sun or light shade too. More sun brings more fruit and keeps the canopy open so it dries fast after rain, which quietly holds mildew at bay.
Water
Give a young tree a deep drink about once a week while it finds its feet. Once it's established, a mulberry turns quite drought tolerant and only wants watering through a long dry spell, so you can relax.
Soil
Offer it deep, well-drained loam loaded with organic matter and it will thrive. It puts up with clay or sand but struggles in thin, poor ground, and it stays easygoing about pH anywhere from 5.5 to 7.5.
Temperature
A mulberry is wonderfully hardy, weathering cold to -29°F (-34°C) and heat up to 104°F (40°C). That wide range lets it feel right at home across USDA zones 4 through 9.
Humidity
Ordinary outdoor humidity, somewhere around 30% to 70%, suits it just fine, so there's nothing here for you to fuss over. Good airflow through the canopy helps far more than any number, since it keeps the leaves dry.
Feeding
Mature mulberries rarely need feeding, and they often fruit better left alone, which takes one more chore off your list. If a young tree seems sluggish, a light balanced fertilizer or compost in early spring is plenty, since overfeeding only pushes weak, floppy growth.
Pruning
Wait to prune until the tree is fully dormant in late winter, or the cuts will bleed sap heavily. Take out any dead, crossing, or crowded branches, shape young trees, and keep your cuts under about 2 inches across.
Repotting
A mulberry is a landscape tree that lives in the ground, so repotting never enters into it. Move a young or container-grown tree only while it's dormant, and keep a gentle watch for roots circling the pot or growth that stalls come spring.
Size & spacing
Look forward to a big tree, 25 to 60 feet (7.5 to 18 m) tall with a crown reaching 35 to 40 feet (10.5 to 12 m) wide. Give it that much open room, comfortably away from buildings, paths, and other plantings.
When to plant
A mulberry keeps time with the seasons, and that makes it easy to follow. Plant a young tree in spring once the frost has gone, or set it out in fall while it rests. The flowers open through April and May, and the fruit ripens across May and June, carrying on into summer on some types.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: Spring after the last frost, or in fall while the tree is dormant
- Harvest: Blooms April-May; fruit ripens roughly May-June (into summer for some types)
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 4–9
Temperature: down to -34°C
Troubleshooting
A mulberry is a tough soul, so most of its troubles are mess and pests rather than real disease, and each one is manageable. Keep a friendly eye on the trunk for borers, the leaves for mildew, and the ground for stains and stray seedlings. Find your symptom below, then step in while the job is still small.
Wilting branches, sawdust, and little holes low on the trunk
Take heart, because this looks worse than it is: a borer grub is tunneling under the bark, and you can read its work in the round exit holes, the oozing, and the powdery frass. Snip out the affected limbs and burn them, then keep your tree well watered and mulched so it has the strength to seal off any new attack. The kindest thing you can do is steer mowers and trimmers clear of the trunk, since a fresh wound is where the beetle likes to lay her eggs.
Fix:
- Prune out and destroy infested limbs
- Keep the tree vigorous with proper water and mulch
- Avoid bark wounds that invite egg-laying
A soft white dust settling over the leaves in late summer
Don't worry, this dusty white film is only powdery mildew, a surface fungus that wipes right off a leaf and shows on both the top and the underside. On a tree this size it seldom causes any real harm, so simply thin any crowded growth to let the air move through and gather up the fallen leaves to carry away the spores. A bright, open spot and dry foliage will keep it from returning.
Fix:
- Improve air circulation by thinning crowded growth
- Rake and remove fallen infected leaves
Purple stains underfoot and little seedlings springing up all over
A generous harvest is simply part of the deal with a mulberry, and the fallen berries will color the ground below while the birds carry the seed far and wide. It's an easy fix, though: tug out the young volunteers while they're still tiny, and sweep up dropped fruit before it settles in. The lasting answer is where you put the tree, so keep a fruiting mulberry well back from patios, drives, and walkways, and turn to a fruitless cultivar only where pollen-allergy rules allow it.
Fix:
- Hand-pull volunteer seedlings while young
- Site away from patios, driveways, and walkways
- Choose a fruitless cultivar only where allergy bans do not apply
Toxicity
The ripe fruit is sweet and safe for people and pets alike, and that's the whole joy of the tree. The one thing to mind is the rest of it. Unripe green berries and the milky sap in the leaves and stems can irritate skin and unsettle a stomach, so gently keep grazing animals and curious children away from the green parts.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats Mild
Rest easy, because ripe berries do a cat no harm at all. The milky sap and green unripe fruit are the only worry, and at worst they leave a little drooling or a short bout of vomiting, so keep the nibbling light and the upset stays minor.
Dogs Mild
Your dog is welcome to the ripe fruit with no trouble at all. It's only the unripe berries and the sappy leaves that might bring on soft stools or a touch of vomiting, and even that clears up on its own.
Horses Mild
Ripe windfalls are perfectly fine for a horse in moderation. Grazing on sap-heavy leaves or green fruit is the only thing that might loosen the gut or dull the appetite for a day, so nothing here needs to alarm you.
Rabbits Mild
A little ripe fruit makes a lovely, safe treat for a rabbit. Their gut is a sensitive thing, so unripe berries and sappy leaves can bring on soft stools, which just means going easy and keeping a gentle eye out.
Livestock Mild
Cattle, goats, and sheep can eat fallen mulberries with no harm to speak of. A big helping of green fruit or sap-laden leaves may cause passing diarrhea, and in real quantity the unripe berries can act as a mild intoxicant, so just moderate the feast.
Birds Mild
Birds gather to ripe mulberries and come to no harm whatsoever, which is half the reason the tree travels so far and wide. Only the green, unripe berries might unsettle a stomach, so there's really nothing to fret over.
People Ripe fruit safe
Ripe mulberries are a sweet, safe fruit to enjoy fresh or baked into something warm. Just leave the unripe green berries be and avoid the milky sap, which can irritate skin and, in quantity, upset the stomach or even cause hallucinations.
Ripe berries are safe, but unripe green or white berries and the milky sap of leaves and stems can cause mild gastrointestinal upset, and the sap is a mild skin and GI irritant.
Varieties
Three species and a handful of hybrids cover most of what you'll come across for sale. Telling them apart helps you pick the right tree with confidence and gently sidestep the invasive one.
Morus rubra (red mulberry)
Native to the eastern US, it wears dull, non-glossy leaves and ripens dark red-to-purple fruit.
Morus alba (white mulberry)
Once brought from Asia to feed silkworms, it shows glossy leaves and has turned invasive across much of the US, where it crosses with the native red mulberry.
Morus nigra (black mulberry)
It gives the largest, richest-flavored fruit of the three, though it is the least willing to take hard cold.
Illinois Everbearing
A productive cross of M. alba and M. rubra, this cultivar keeps fruiting through a long, heavy season.
Companions
A mulberry works best as a decoy for hungry birds and worst as a neighbor to anything that needs sun or clean ground beneath it.
Plant near
Cherries and blueberries: Birds strongly prefer mulberries, so a mulberry can act as a decoy that draws them away from other fruit crops.
Clover or other low groundcover: A living groundcover suppresses weed seedlings and adds organic matter under the canopy.
Keep apart
Vegetable and flower beds: Dense shade, greedy shallow roots, and staining fruit drop make underplanting and nearby beds difficult.
How to propagate
You can raise more mulberries from a cutting, a graft, or a seed, and the method you choose simply depends on whether you want a copy of a favorite tree or just more trees to go around.
Stem cuttingsEasy
Hardwood cuttings in late winter; softwood cuttings in early summer · About 4-8 weeks to root
You have two easy windows here: take hardwood cuttings in late winter or softwood cuttings in early summer, and most will settle into root in about 4 to 8 weeks. White mulberry roots so willingly it feels like cheating, while red and black mulberry ask for a bit more patience before they take hold.
GraftingModerate
Late winter to early spring (whip or bark graft) · One growing season
Grafting is how you carry a named fruiting cultivar, or a species that hates to root, onto tough seedling rootstock. Make your whip or bark graft from late winter into early spring, and a good union will knit together over a single growing season, so give yourself that time.
SeedModerate
Sow after 1-3 months of cold stratification · Several years to first fruit
Chill the seed for 1 to 3 months of cold stratification before you sow, then settle in for a patient wait, since a seedling needs several years before it fruits. The young trees come out a mixed bag, and white mulberry in particular self-seeds with abandon wherever birds drop the fruit.
Myths
A fruitless male mulberry gives you a clean, trouble-free shade tree.
Going fruitless simply swaps one mess for another. Those male trees, usually Morus alba, release enormous clouds of allergenic pollen, and some cities such as Albuquerque restrict or ban them outright to protect the air people breathe.
Every part of a mulberry is poisonous.
Happily, that isn't true. The ASPCA lists mulberry as non-toxic, and the ripe fruit is a delight to eat. Only the unripe berries and the milky sap give any trouble, and even then it's just a mild, short-lived stomach upset.