I might have to cage my mulberries until they get big enough to start producing. Most of them are wild, some are bought, some are in-between (planted deliberately but from seed that I foraged).
Mulberries were the first wild food I ever harvested, so they hold a special place for me. When I was little, we lived in a townhouse in a rough neighborhood. Near the edge of the parking lot there was this mulberry tree growing in the fence. After I found out the berries were edible, I’d go pick a pan full of them, then sit at the kitchen table with a potato masher “making jam”. (I was VERY little at the time.)
Cheap fun from my parents’ perspective, albeit a little messy. And it got me hooked on wild fruits forever.
I sometimes wonder what we could have done if my family had known then all the stuff I’ve learned since then. That tree could have provided enough jars of real jam for PBJ sandwiches. We could have made pies, and cobblers, and syrups to go on ice cream or pancakes. My parents were struggling at the time, a little self-sufficiency would have gone a long way. But instead, I just mashed them up, ate some of the mush with a spoon, and the rest would disappear while I was in the next room washing up.
My mulberry was “planted” in a pot by birds at my last home. When we picked up and moved, we brought it along. We couldn’t positively identify it until around 2008, when it produced it’s first crop of berry’s.
We even took a small branch and leaves to a nursery, and the “experts” told us that it was a Chinquapin Oak. Big difference between the two.
I put mine in the ground in 2006 when it was 3ft tall. It now stands 12ft tall with a crown to match. I wish you luck! I love my mulberrys!