Anyone got a Mulberry tree?

[SaltyNuts]

How do the berries taste? They seem to look like blackberries sort-of, do they taste similar, or at least good? I read that they can drop a ton of fruit, potentially staining things. Is that an issue?

Thanks!

Moved from Off Topic.
admin allisolm

 

[IronWing]

Mulberries stain everything, or, more specifically, birds eat the mulberries and poop purple, staining everything. They are very messy trees. On the other hand, mulberries taste great. If you have an eastern European or middle eastern grocery, you should be able to find mulberry preserves to try to see if you like them.

BTW, I looked up the Pop Goes the Weasel song as a common American version mentions a mulberry bush. That turns out to be a can of words as the English version is completely different and there is much disagreement as to the right true lyrics.

 

[Iron Woode]

I have seen plenty of mulberry trees. They are very messy. Birds go nuts over the fruit and poop everywhere. The berries fall and stain everything.

The berries taste nice.

are you planning on growing some?

 

[RadiclDreamer]

They are amazing but i havent gotten to see/taste one in probably 25 years since i was a kid. My grandpa had a tree in his yard, it eventually died and i havent seen one since.

 

[SaltyNuts]

Thanks guys. Yea, I thought I heard they taste pretty good, was thinking about getting a small one. But the birds leaving mulberry shiat everywhere is a really big downer. I just don't think it would be worth it. Unless there is some scarecrow or something that I could put up to scare the birds away? Don't want to be having to shoot birds left and right lol.

 

[ondma]

I have seen plenty of mulberry trees. They are very messy. Birds go nuts over the fruit and poop everywhere. The berries fall and stain everything.

The berries taste nice.

are you planning on growing some?

Hmmm. We had one in our yard when I was a kid. I remember it being very messy. Birds ate the berries and pooped purple everywhere.
I did not know people could eat the berries, so I never tried them.

 

[Leymenaide]

Only get one if you have a place out back and away from anything you love. Yes hey are fun but they are messy. Depending on where you live a prune tree or fig could be a better choice.

 

[Iron Woode]

Thanks guys. Yea, I thought I heard they taste pretty good, was thinking about getting a small one. But the birds leaving mulberry shiat everywhere is a really big downer. I just don't think it would be worth it. Unless there is some scarecrow or something that I could put up to scare the birds away? Don't want to be having to shoot birds left and right lol.

if you have relatively small bushes you can use a netting to keep birds away.

Mulberries are as much fun to grow as Pussy Willows. In other words not that much fun.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

I've got one that's about 30 feet tall that makes a crazy amount of 1" berries every year. Yes it makes a huge mess. The neighbors complain about the purple poop stains, and the area under the tree will stain shoes and pants, but I like the berries so I keep it. Don't look too carefully at the berries as they are usually filled with tiny silk worms. Nothing you can do about it but ignore them down the hatch.

 

[SaltyNuts]

I've got one that's about 30 feet tall that makes a crazy amount of 1" berries every year. Yes it makes a huge mess. The neighbors complain about the purple poop stains, and the area under the tree will stain shoes and pants, but I like the berries so I keep it. Don't look too carefully at the berries as they are usually filled with tiny silk worms. Nothing you can do about it but ignore them down the hatch.

Wholly crap that is disgusting. Never would I swallow berries that have worms I can visibly see lol. Mulberry tree is officially OFF the list lol.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Wholly crap that is disgusting. Never would I swallow berries that have worms I can visibly see lol. Mulberry tree is officially OFF the list lol.

We didn't really pay attention when we were kids. I didn't notice until I inherited one with my house. After how many years of eating them as a kid, it was too late to care.

For what it's worth, I just looked it up they aren't silk worms (which are pretty big). I guess they can one of several minuscule, barely visible insect that live on/in the berry. Oh well nothing you'd notice.

 

[lxskllr]

Mulberry sucks. The berries don't taste that great, and you end up with mulberry trees growing all over the place. If you let the feral tree get established, it's hard to manually get rid of(I don't use chemicals). The mess has already been mentioned, but that doesn't bother me so much. If you want nice berries, get berry vines, or go for a hike, and pick wild berries.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

If you're worried about the tree being hard to get rid of, you sure as hell don't want blackberry or raspberry vines on your property.

 

[lxskllr]

Blackberry/raspberry is easy to get rid of. They pull up easily, or you can just mow them over. Cut a mulberry, and it suckers like a hydra.

 

[feralkid]

Blackberry/raspberry is easy to get rid of. They pull up easily, or you can just mow them over. Cut a mulberry, and it suckers like a hydra.

It also loves to grow along fence lines and foundations where it is hell to remove.