Am I a mulberry tree?

[wsmoak]

We moved to the country in February and the place is loaded with hidden treasures.

Two trees I thought were dogwood from a distance turned out to be an apple tree and its companion crabapple!

Here's another I've been pondering... http://www.flickr.com/photos/10803470@N00/4635786982/

I think I have a mulberry tree.

(It had some tent caterpillars in it... just one tent. Should I ignore it, cut off and burn the branch, spray it with something, or ... ?)

 

[elf]

Go Fishing! Or sell the worms to a bait shop.

OOps! Thinking of the catalpa tree we had next to our mulberry tree where I grew up.

 

[lesa]

I would not ignore tent caterpillars- take down the tent and drown them in a bucket. They can strip your apple tree leaves fast!!! How cool that you are discovering all these treasures! Enjoy!

 

[journey11]

Yep, that's a mulberry tree. A messy, but valuable tree to have around. It will draw the birds away from your other more valuable berries.

Tent caterpillars are real devastators and can defoliate a tree pretty quickly if there's enough of them. When I first notice their tents come out, I go out with a stick and twirl them up in their own tent around the stick. Then I stomp on them! The earlier you can get them the better. You might have to do that a couple times to get the majority of them. They'll build their tent back the next day.

On trees that you don't care so much about, you can spray the tent with WD-40 and light 'em up. I learned the hard way NOT to do that on apple trees. It scorched the thin bark and left a bad wound on the tree the next year.

 

[elijahboy]

i have a mulberry tree but the cardinals just go crazy over

i found that the best way to harvest is stick a sheet or something similar around the bottom as big as the canopy and just start shaking the limbs

the ones that fall off will be the sweetest

 

[ksacres]

Yup, Mulberry. Mmmm, I love Mulberries!

When I was a kid there were three Mulberry trees, and every spring/summer we'd stuff ourselves silly. Yes, it will upset your stomach, but hey, it was worth it!

When the berries are ripe they turn all black.


Great, now I want a Mulberry tree...

 

[wsmoak]

When the berries are ripe they turn all black.

When the berries are ripe, they *disappear*! The birds get them before I have a chance, and the deer love to munch on the suckers and low branches.

-Wendy

 

[ksacres]

When your tree gets bigger (and it will get BIG!), you should have plenty of berries. Or you could try netting the tree to keep off some of the birds and deer. It's not foolproof, but if you really want some berries next year, it might help??

 

[hoodat]

i have a mulberry tree but the cardinals just go crazy over

i found that the best way to harvest is stick a sheet or something similar around the bottom as big as the canopy and just start shaking the limbs

the ones that fall off will be the sweetest

When I was a kid granny would spread old bedsheets under the tree (old because the berries stain) then she'd send all us kids out to climb the tree and shake the berries down. She made jam with them. Grandpa made wine.

 

[retiredwith4acres]

My grandparents had a mulberry tree in the front yard and the cousins and I spent many an hour under that tree eating berries. Yep, they do make a mess and yep, they do send you to the bathroom, but boy are they good. Good memories! I would like to find a tree growing around here.