Fruitless Mulberry

They can be large and good for climbing

Fruitless Mulberry is a fast growing, rugged trees that were a preferred planting for many developers in Davis. They provide broad leaves that most elementary school children have used to feed the classroom silkworms.

There are two schools of thought on pruning a fruitless mulberry; Ball it by taking a chainsaw and cutting off everything that doesn't look like a trunk, or prune the tree, requiring either skill and an esthetic sense or the hiring of a professional. Balling a mulberry will result in a distinctive shape where the trunk ends in a blossom of suckers. The sucker branches are smoother and faster growing, but will require that the tree be balled again. Pruning on the other hand can result in a healthier tree with a larger canopy.

No matter how you choose to prune you will be faced with two seasons of raking, the buds in the spring, and the leaves in the fall.

For info on other local plants see Town Flora.

I have a fruitless mulberry in my front yard and it is an awesome tree for climbing. -NickSchmalenberger

I wish I had a fruitless Mulberry. The neighbor has a White Mullberry and the mullberries get all over our back yard. They're squishy and sticky and have started to stain the white carpet in the house. ACK. — ss