You can grow a mulberry tree from seed and harvest delicious small fruits from your own trees. Mulberries are a delicious, small fruited tree, that grows in many temperate climates. There are mulberry trees that are native to North America, as well as unique varieties native to Asia and Europe as well.
A mulberry tree is a great candidate for your permaculture food forest, or for a garden nook. It is a medium fruit tree between 20 and 30 feet tall, with small fruits. The tree can be pruned to help keep fruits accessible, while fruits on the topmost inaccessible branches are great for birds. There are native red mulberries to Canada, and also native white mulberries, so you don’t have to worry about potential tree volunteers. Other than the fruits, mulberry leaves can also be used for tea, and in herbal preparations.
Mulberry trees can have a bad reputation when left to grow unchecked, and un-pruned. It is a small tree, about the same size as a dwarf apple, but can produce for up to 50 years, unlike a dwarf apple that’s productive lifespan is about 15-20 years. Mulberry trees are vigorous growers, and thrive in cool and cold climates, including my zone three growing area. Mulberry trees can bear fruit in 3-5 years, about the same time frame as a grafted apple, peach, or pear tree. Also, this is a unique fruit that you won’t find in the grocery store as a fresh berry (some dried fruit mixes do contain mulberry fruits!).
Mulberry Trees to Grow:
Morus mycrofilla also known as the Texas mulberry. hardy in zones 5-9 and is native to more southern areas of North America. Texas mulberry trees like warmer weather, and don’t need cold stratification for seeds to germinate. They grow well in the southwest of the USA.
Morus rubra also known as the Red Mulberry is also native to Eastern North America. Red mulberry is hardy in zones 4 – 8 and is endangered in it’s native range in Ontario, Canada. Red mulberry is most often propagated by hardwood branch cuttings, due to the prevalence of cross pollination with invasive white mulberry.
Avoid starting white mulberries from dried fruit mixes, even though that is doable. The white mulberry tree, morus alba, from other continents are invasive in North America, and can cross pollinate with our native red mulberry, especially in Canada, reducing the populations of true red mulberry trees. Avoid morus alba, and morus nigra, if you can, and if you plant it or have it locally, make sure to remove seedlings to keep it from becoming invasive.
If you are outside of North America, look for mulberry varieties that are native or local to your area to grow. Native mulberries provide extra food for local wildlife. You can plant trees that produce less desirable berries into hedges and hedgerows to support birds, and native pollinators. Especially if you’re growing red mulberry in Eastern Canada. If you’re buying mulberry trees from a nursery or seeds from a supplier, make sure to check the botanical name to know if they’re the native species or the invasive ones.
Preparing the Seed:
Mulberry trees can be grown from seed sourced either from a reputable seed company, or that’s harvested from mature fruits of your chosen variety of mulberry. Seeds from a seed company shouldn’t be cross pollinated with invasive mulberry, but harvesting seeds from local trees could have some cross pollination in effect. This is less of a concern with Morus Mycrofilla, and more of a concern with propagating Morus rubra. Trees can also be propagated from cuttings. and cuttings from different areas and trees can help establish a true-to-type grove for pollination and seed saving purposes.
Some mulberry seeds need stratification for good germination, especially the red mulberry since it’s native to a cooler, winter prevalent, climate. The Texas mulberry may or may not need stratification.
To stratify mulberry seeds, soak them for 24 hours, rinse and drain them, then soak again for an additional 24 hours, and repeat one more time. So, three water changes with 24 hours soak between them. Then mix with some lightly damp potting soil in a zippered bag. I like to dampen potting soil for cold stratification with peroxide and add a pinch or two of cinnamon to prevent any mold forming during the stratification process.
Leave the bag of mulberry seeds in your refrigerator for 3 months. Then, transfer to your seedling trays.
For Texas mulberry, also sometimes called dwarf mulberry, you can simply plant the seeds into your seedling trays after the soak. If you’re trying to start seed sourced from store bought dried fruits, they are likely to not be the cold hardy mulberry varieties so won’t need the cold stratification, just the soaking.
Growing Mulberry Trees:
After transferring the stratified seeds to seedling trays, preferably deep trays, lightly cover the seeds with soil. You can use a seedling mix of soil, perelite, and vermiculite if you wish. cover the seedling tray with a clear dome to help the soil stay moist and encourage the seeds to germinate. Once you see the seeds begin to germinate, make sure the tray is close to a grow light to keep the seedlings from becoming too leggy and weak.
You can direct seed the seeds in a marked section of your garden, or in a deep 2 to 5 gallon pot too. Simply keep the area lightly covered and moist until the seeds germinate. If planting them directly outdoors, aim to plant them around the same time as peas.
Keep the seedlings under a grow light until they’re 2-3 inches high, if growing them in a tray indoors, or keep them in a protected outdoor grow space. If in small pots, seedlings may need to be fed a light nitrogen fertilizer to encourage continued growth, do not over feed.
Once the tree seedlings are 2-4″ high and have multiple sets of leaves, you can divide them into individual pots with potting soil. Fertilize trees only once a month during the growing season, stop feeding 1 month before your first frost date. Pot up into larger sized pots whenever the roots seem to be getting too big for the pot. You want to encourage lots of root growth as this will help you establish a strong, healthy, tree. Mulberry tree seedlings may need to be re-potted up to 4 times in the first growing season.
Protect the seedlings, in pots, by mulching around the pots or placing them in a secure and wind-proof area. Voles and pocket gophers like eating mulberry trees, so protect your new trees’ pots with hardware cloth or wire if you have voles.
Note, not all mulberry trees grown from seed will have large, plump, fruits. You can grow the trees in pots for 2-3 years until they produce fruits and you can taste test to see which one(s) you want to keep as your cultivars. Once you have a good tree, you can clone it via cuttings to gain enough trees for your desired mulberry production. Less juicy berried mulberry trees, especially if you’re growing red mulberries in Canada, can be planted into hedgerows or permaculture hedges to keep the red mulberry genome active and provide food and shelter for wild birds and small animals.
2nd year seedling care:
Your second year mulberry tree can be planted into it’s permanent home if it’s 18″ tall or over. Mulberries like moist but well-draining soil. Dig a hole double the size of the plant’s root ball. Mix a small amount of natural fertilizer, like finished compost or leaf mold into the hole. Loosen the roots and settle the tree into the hole. Pack the soil back into the hole, and then mulch 2-3 feet around the mulberry tree, avoiding mulching against the trunk.
If planting a tree guild, you can also plant comfrey, lemon balm, clover, and other guild plants with your mulberry tree now.
Stake the tree against the prevailing wind. Mulberry trees can grow weedy, so staking will help keep the trunk growing straight.
Mulberry trees will send up shoots from the base each spring, these can be pruned back freely, and/or used for rooting new bushes if you want to clone more trees.
Pruning the Mulberry Tree:
To keep the mulberry accessible for harvesting, you want to prune a trained canopy that is about 5-6 feet above the ground. In the 2nd year, encourage side branches in each direction that will arch up to form your main picking zones for mulberry fruit. In the 3rd year, trim up some of the lower branches below the “ideal picking zone” and also trim any double leaders. You can encourage a single, tall, leader to provide mulberries out of your own reach for birds and other animals. Otherwise, train the canopy to level off at about 12′ in the 4th and 5th years, and on-going after that point.
Branches that you prune can be rooted to make new mulberry cultivars for new permaculture guilds, or for hedgerows. Use semi-hardwood branch cuttings, rooting hormone and plastic bags over the containers to root cuttings. Secure the bags with rubber bands over the rooting pots. You can also find a full how-to root mulberry cuttings here (coming soon). Cuttings will root best in early spring.
Harvesting Mulberries:
Mulberries are similar in flavor to a good raspberry, and somewhere between a raspberry and blueberry in sweetness and juiciness. Like cane fruit, mulberries don’t ripen all at once. So you’ll need to hand pick the fruits as they ripen. White mulberries grow white, and can either ripen white, or ripen more purple – white to purple is sometimes called a black mulberry. Red mulberries grow reddish and ripen into a dark and rich purple.
Harvest red mulberries when dark purple. You can shake the tree with a tarp underneath to make harvesting a little easier if there’s a ton of ripe berries. Most of the time, hand-picking is the most efficient.
More on the Mulberry Tree:
Native mulberry trees can be drought tolerant, and do their best fruit production in full sun. You can include them in your landscape in hedges and more shaded areas as well, they are very adaptable. However, a shaded mulberry tree will produce less fruit than one with full sun exposure. You can grow the seedlings in partial shade for the first year, or several years.
In some areas mulberry is a common landscape tree, though it’s normally black mulberry trees or white mulberry that is used for landscaping. Traditionally, white mulberry is the tree that silkworms are raised on. Deer and other grazing animals also enjoy eating mulberry leaves and berries.
Back to You:
Mulberry trees can give you an abundance of sweet, unique, fruits in early summer. The trees are beautiful, with their dark green leaves and small blooms that support native pollinators. They are hardy trees, and the red mulberry fruit is unique and deliciously like a raspberry without the thorns, canes, and fungal diseases that can show up in raspberries near juniper bushes.
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