Mulberry Tree Fruit

[jj]

I have a male and female Mulberry trees planted side-by-side in Phoenix, AZ. They have been beautiful for almost thirty years. Why doesn't at least one bear fruit? While vacationing in Pennsylvania this summer, I ate my first Mulberries directly from a tree. I had no idea what they were, but having eaten myself sick on blackberries as a child, I couldn't resist. By the way, I found ticks in my hair the next morning. Hadn't had those since childhood in the South either. Thanks.

[Backburner]

I recall eating mulberries as a kid was something of a rite of passage. Mothers did not care too much for their kids to come home all purple-stained. When taking walks in a park and the mulberries are ripe it is a treat to eat a few and see the gawking from onlookers who think I'm crazy for eating unknown fruit (to them). Ditto for wild sweet cherries (Prunus avium). A few years back as an assistant scout master I found that the scouts had no idea what a mulberry tree was. Most learned to recognize poison ivy however. ;-)

Thanks for the memory of mulberries. :-)

jj wrote:

[Lar]

In article , [e-mail] says... :) I have a male and female Mulberry trees planted side-by-side in :) Phoenix, AZ. They have been beautiful for almost thirty years. Why :) doesn't at least one bear fruit? While vacationing in Pennsylvania :) this summer, I ate my first Mulberries directly from a tree. I had no :) idea what they were, but having eaten myself sick on blackberries as a :) child, I couldn't resist. By the way, I found ticks in my hair the :) next morning. Hadn't had those since childhood in the South either. :) Thanks. :) :) Thirty years is about the time when fruitless mulberries were popular to plant as a fast growing shade tree (twenty-five years ago is about the time of thinking "Why the hell would anyone plant a fruitless mulberry tree" came around. Possibly the wrong trees were planted for you/sold to you.

[David Hare-Scott]

Mulberries have both male and female flowers on the same tree and they are self fertile. If your trees have distinct male flowers on the one and female flowers on the other they are not mulberries. Apparently there are ornamental mulberries (I haven't seen one) and these might be non-fruiting. In any case mulberries typically fruit quite young so if they haven't done it by now they aren't going to.

If you really like the fruit plant a black mulberry and you will have fruit in 2 or 3 years.

David

[jj]

Thank you everyone. I have to plead ignorance to this point. I had no idea there might be a fruitles mulberry with all those flowers. Thirty years ago the builder gave us a list from which to select landscape plants. I suppose it was about the time and place to use them for shade. And they do that well. Guess I won't be planting any fruiting ones tho, they'd surely grow over neighboring properties. There are no complaints about my magnolias hanging over, but it'd probably be different with dropping fruit. Bet I will be looking for them on our trip to Penn. each year. Thanks all again.