# Mulberry Tree



## Motara's Mom (Jul 1, 2010)

So I was thinking about planting a Mulberry tree for my sulcata and I was wondering about the fruit. 

Since it isn't good for them to have a lot (or any) fruit, would the Mulberry fruit hurt her if she got to eat a lot of it?


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## kimber_lee_314 (Jul 1, 2010)

You can get a fruitless mulberry. That's what I have.


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## DeanS (Jul 1, 2010)

Yep! Got a Weeping Mulberry (Chapparral). They are all male (fruitless) and only grow to be about 12 feet tall or so...compared to the giants that can be 40 feet +


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## Motara's Mom (Jul 1, 2010)

Thanks I didn't know. I just started looking into them and only looked up the two that was on the list. 12 feet, I like that better then the other ones too.


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## Laura (Jul 1, 2010)

Definately get a fruitless.. the purple berries are VERY messy!..
Carefull where you plant it tho,, the root system can be hell on sewers or septics!


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## Motara's Mom (Jul 1, 2010)

I had heard they were messy and seemed to get everywhere which was why I was so worried about having one. Once Dean said weeping I wondered if the root system was attracted to sewers and septics. Once we had a weeping willow that I loved and it was planted in the wrong place. You can guess the outcome!


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## Tom (Jul 1, 2010)

I'm just about to plant six of these. The fruitless ones, that is. I like the big ones. Good shade in the summer for the animals and good tortoise food. I've been around the fruiting ones in the past. It was on a big animal compound with hundreds of animals like primates and birds, so the berries were never wasted. My baboon would fill her whole mouth and both cheek pouches until they were falling out of her stuffed mouth with purple juice all over her face.


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## DeanS (Jul 1, 2010)

Tom said:


> I'm just about to plant six of these. The fruitless ones, that is. I like the big ones. Good shade in the summer for the animals and good tortoise food. I've been around the fruiting ones in the past. It was on a big animal compound with hundreds of animals like primates and birds, so the berries were never wasted. My baboon would fill her whole mouth and both cheek pouches until they were falling out of her stuffed mouth with purple juice all over her face.



The berries are good for RFs and boxies too!


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## spikethebest (Jul 1, 2010)

i LOVE mulberry trees. my torts love them!!! its pretty much an unlimited supply of free food during the summer.


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## Jacqui (Jul 2, 2010)

I like the mulberry with fruit. I enjoy watching all the birds it attracts.

I thought my two older sulcatas were eating the leaves when they were still inside, but now that they are out in the pen, it's like they have become too good to eat them...or maybe they heard it was free, so they decided they couldn't lower themselves to eating the leaves any more.


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## Tom (Jul 2, 2010)

spikethebest said:


> i LOVE mulberry trees. my torts love them!!! its pretty much an unlimited supply of free food during the summer.



Hey, I LOVE YOUR mulberry trees too!


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## Motara's Mom (Jul 2, 2010)

Thanks guys you have sold me on them.


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## Yvonne G (Jul 2, 2010)

I have a fruitless mulberry tree over my Asian tortoise "rain forest." Its a great tree and one of my favorites! The shade from this tree is so dense that when its 100 degrees in the sun, it is 10 or 15 degrees cooler under the tree. Love it....love it...LOVE IT!!! 

I had a volunteer mulberry tree come up that bore fruit. And while the tree was ever bit as nice as the fruitless one, the berries are a real mess. The ground was littered with terrible mess that you would get on your shoes and track into the house. The birds would eat the berries then poop this ugly purple poop all over and even on the sides of the house. Will never have one of those ever again!


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## Motara's Mom (Jul 2, 2010)

Yeah I had heard that the fruit is good but is makes a huge mess. Somone told me about the birds pooping the purple stuff all over her car and she was wanting to get rid of it. So, I she had almost talked me out of it until you guys told me about the fruitless one.  Now I can't wait to get some. I wont be planting until next year. Any advise that I might not find on the internet? I am thinking now about planting a few around where we all like to sit outside since emysemys said it is so much cooler under them.


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## Tom (Jul 2, 2010)

Motara said:


> Yeah I had heard that the fruit is good but is makes a huge mess. Somone told me about the birds pooping the purple stuff all over her car and she was wanting to get rid of it. So, I she had almost talked me out of it until you guys told me about the fruitless one.  Now I can't wait to get some. I wont be planting until next year. Any advise that I might not find on the internet? I am thinking now about planting a few around where we all like to sit outside since emysemys said it is so much cooler under them.



Just be aware that they get big, really big, and fast. I've heard the "grows like a bad weed" reference many times. They tolerate a very wide range of conditions and are very hardy. The roots get large and destructive and often stick up above ground for people to trip and stub toes on. I'm planting mine for shade in the middle of large dirt dog runs, so there are no sewers, water pipes or electrical lines any where near there. Also no concrete or structures to tear up. Unless you find some shade loving plants, nothing will grow under their 40' canopy either. Any grass under them will likely die.

The are the perfect tree for what I want and where I'm putting them, but not the best for every situation.


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## Itort (Jul 2, 2010)

We had a mulberry tree until a week ago. We had to remove it because it was growing against the house and causing untold messes. Well since it was nice fit with the torts I decided I would not be without one. So I took some of the smaller branchs and transplanted them into twelve inch pots to see if I could get starts. So far the branchs from this years growth are apparently dead but the two and three year branches (2" to 3" thick) have rooted and fully leaved. This fall they will be planted away from house but near tort pens. As I have mainly forest type torts the fruit drop is great and of coarse the leaves are an important part of diet for all. Oh yes, the slash we give the RFs (12 in all) lasted two days.


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## spikethebest (Jul 2, 2010)

if anyone wants some Mulberry leaves, let me know, I'm thinking of a way to ship it to people, very cheaply. But i want to see if there is any interest. 

Thanks.


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## DeanS (Jul 2, 2010)

Tom said:


> Motara said:
> 
> 
> > Yeah I had heard that the fruit is good but is makes a huge mess. Somone told me about the birds pooping the purple stuff all over her car and she was wanting to get rid of it. So, I she had almost talked me out of it until you guys told me about the fruitless one.  Now I can't wait to get some. I wont be planting until next year. Any advise that I might not find on the internet? I am thinking now about planting a few around where we all like to sit outside since emysemys said it is so much cooler under them.
> ...



Which is exactly why I recommend the Weeping Mulberry...the limbs can be trained to grow into a hollow hedge...EVER TRAIN A TREE, TOM?



spikethebest said:


> if anyone wants some Mulberry leaves, let me know, I'm thinking of a way to ship it to people, very cheaply. But i want to see if there is any interest.
> 
> Thanks.



I just thought of a cheap way...I'll come pick them up, since, like Tom, you're on my way home from work! The big mulberry has huge leaves and the weeping has smaller, more delicate leaves...my torts don't need anything 'delicate'


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## elegans (Jul 2, 2010)

I grow the big bad boy that drop crap loads of fruit and all of the tortoises that live underneath them love it and have for over a decade. I also feed off the leaves. I simply use a pole saw to keep the size of the tree down and let the torts eat the leaves off of the cut branches. I then chip and compose the wood that is left, win win situation. I have three different varieties of regular or "giant" mulberries and one dwarf, all fruiting. the birds love them also. Happy 4th to everyone. Douglas


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## alfiethetortoise (Jul 4, 2010)

Um, people, i may be a bit off topic but isn't it 'mulberry bush'?! you know like the song;

'here we go round the mulberry bush, 
the mullberry bush
the mulberry bush
here we go round the mullberry bush 
on a cold and frosty morning'

maybe this is just an english song? i dont even think mulbery are native round here....


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## Itort (Jul 4, 2010)

Mulberries can be trained into a bush form. This is how they raise silkworms (easier to harvest cacoons from bush).


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## Terry Allan Hall (Jul 5, 2010)

spikethebest said:


> if anyone wants some Mulberry leaves, let me know, I'm thinking of a way to ship it to people, very cheaply. But i want to see if there is any interest.
> 
> Thanks.



Definitely interested, Cory!


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