Advice needed re: Mulberry Tree

[SinLA]

So at first I was kind of excited when this "stray weed" started getting bigger and bigger and I used PlantNet to determine its a Black Mulberry tree and I thought since its a good Tortoise food, I'd leave it. To be clear - I did not choose where it started growing, it just grew organically, and It has literally doubled in height in less than a year.

Its around 25' from my house, but its "trunk" (such as it is as a baby) is about 2ish feet from the edge of my neighbor's driveway (see photo with red line added).

At first I thought it would be a good shade tree, and good tortoise food, but now I'm wondering if its going to likely rip up my neighbor's driveway with roots and be a complete mess in terms of berries (no fruit yet, but its probably less than 2 years old). I don't know if it will produce berries, and I am not sure how many years I have to give it before I know.

Right now its small enough i could take it out myself, but probably not after another 1-2 years at most.

So is this going to be a mess that I should just take down now while its still small or is this kind of tree not likely to cause a problem? I read differing things online about how bad these trees are for yards... (PS: I like my neighbor and don't want something that will cause bad blood)

(also this is front yard, not a tortoise-occupied space)

 

[wellington]

I don't know if the roots will be a problem but if it gets berries, it will stain the cement
What if you dug it up and replant in a better spot?

 

[Yvonne G]

So at first I was kind of excited when this "stray weed" started getting bigger and bigger and I used PlantNet to determine its a Black Mulberry tree and I thought since its a good Tortoise food, I'd leave it. To be clear - I did not choose where it started growing, it just grew organically, and It has literally doubled in height in less than a year.

Its around 25' from my house, but its "trunk" (such as it is as a baby) is about 2ish feet from the edge of my neighbor's driveway (see photo with red line added).

At first I thought it would be a good shade tree, and good tortoise food, but now I'm wondering if its going to likely rip up my neighbor's driveway with roots and be a complete mess in terms of berries (no fruit yet, but its probably less than 2 years old). I don't know if it will produce berries, and I am not sure how many years I have to give it before I know.

Right now its small enough i could take it out myself, but probably not after another 1-2 years at most.

So is this going to be a mess that I should just take down now while its still small or is this kind of tree not likely to cause a problem? I read differing things online about how bad these trees are for yards... (PS: I like my neighbor and don't want something that will cause bad blood)

(also this is front yard, not a tortoise-occupied space)

I learned from Walker's keeper, Len, that serious pruning in winter or fall keeps berries from forming (berries form on last year's growth).

 

[SinLA]

I learned from Walker's keeper, Len, that serious pruning in winter or fall keeps berries from forming (berries form on last year's growth).

do you remove ALL the leaves? I wonder if that would work where it is so warm here most of the year

also concerned about the roots...

 

[SinLA]

I also add that fezzik will not touch the leaves, lol but I keep planning on working on it

 

[wellington]

You can remove the leaves if you eventually lose them in the fall/winter.
I'm in Chicago, so I strip mine of the leaves before they go yellow and fall. I save mine for winter feeding.

 

[wellington]

I have dwarf fruitless mulberry, they only get 10 feet. My roots are showing above the ground. If the kind you have does the same, it will ruin the neighbors drive.

 

[SinLA]

I have dwarf fruitless mulberry, they only get 10 feet. My roots are showing above the ground. If the kind you have does the same, it will ruin the neighbors drive.

I wonder how I know if it will be a dwarf. its already taller than me so I can't imagine it is.

yeah roots are a big concern, but there's nothing to 'stop' it from sending its roots downward. Sometimes things break concrete b/c they have nowhere else to go, this doesn't have that issue, but yah... not sure

 

[wellington]

Most likely not a dwarf.
If you can find some adult ones, similar to yours, you could find out if the roots are showing or not.

 

[wellington]

Maybe @Len B are similar and he can tell you if his roots are above ground at all.
If they go deep, it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Cathie G]

My opinion is to move it now or never. Maybe to a better spot that's not a potential problem for any of your concerns in your front yard. Especially if you have a big backyard. Birds would love it. And other animals as well. The roots are as deep as it is tall already at least. so the sooner the better.

 

[SinLA]

My opinion is to move it now or never. Maybe to a better spot that's not a potential problem for any of your concerns in your front yard. Especially if you have a big backyard. Birds would love it. And other animals as well. The roots are as deep as it is tall already at least. so the sooner the better.

I don’t think I’ve got a great spot in the backyard for us unfortunately but I’ll look around over the weekend and see if I can find that would work

 

[Yvonne G]

do you remove ALL the leaves? I wonder if that would work where it is so warm here most of the year

also concerned about the roots...

Not leaves, branches!

 

[Len B]

I've never had or seen any problems from the roots of a mulberry tree. But I wouldn't leave that tree where it is. They grow fast and will dominate that area pretty quick. I cut most of mine back to the main trunk with no limbs left from the previous years growth. Even doing that the new growth gets 15 feet or taller the next growing season. But never has berries on the new growth. I have one I've never cut back and it hasn't gotten big. It's been there since 2006, gets a few berries but not enough to cause a problem. I don't cut it back because I get early leaves from it and the cut ones take a little longer to produce leaves. I have another one that I cut back to the ground and it grows like a bush.

 

[SinLA]

I've never had or seen any problems from the roots of a mulberry tree. But I wouldn't leave that tree where it is. They grow fast and will dominate that area pretty quick. I cut most of mine back to the main trunk with no limbs left from the previous years growth. Even doing that the new growth gets 15 feet or taller the next growing season. But never has berries on the new growth. I have one I've never cut back and it hasn't gotten big. It's been there since 2006, gets a few berries but not enough to cause a problem. I don't cut it back because I get early leaves from it and the cut ones take a little longer to produce leaves. I have another one that I cut back to the ground and it grows like a bush.

So are you suggesting removing it because it will dominate the area or because it will cause damage and mess? The area is OK to have a pretty good size tree assuming it doesn’t damage the driveway next to it. That’s pretty much my biggest concern. If it grows pretty big and tall that space can handle it and the shade on the house it would provide would be welcome.

That said I don’t know how I would trim the branches back to base each year once it becomes a full-fledged tree and not a baby

 

[SinLA]

I don't know if the roots will be a problem but if it gets berries, it will stain the cement
What if you dug it up and replant in a better spot?

Thinking on this, I already have a giant ficus tree in my backyard that I call ”The F@#$&*%# Ficus” because of the amount of berries it drops in my backyard. The idea of intentionally putting any kind of berry tree in the back makes me wanna pull my hair out just the thought of dealing with another one…

 

[Tom]

Thinking on this, I already have a giant ficus tree in my backyard that I call ”The F@#$&*%# Ficus” because of the amount of berries it drops in my backyard. The idea of intentionally putting any kind of berry tree in the back makes me wanna pull my hair out just the thought of dealing with another one…

I was not familiar with "black" mulberry. Had to look it up. I have the white and red varieties here. Are you sure its not the more common red variety?

All of them lose their leaves annually. As Yvonne clarified, pruning indicates cutting branches, not leaves.

It will be decades before the root structures get big enough to damage the concrete at that distance. I'd leave it.

 

[SinLA]

I was not familiar with "black" mulberry. Had to look it up. I have the white and red varieties here. Are you sure its not the more common red variety?

All of them lose their leaves annually. As Yvonne clarified, pruning indicates cutting branches, not leaves.

It will be decades before the root structures get big enough to damage the concrete at that distance. I'd leave it.

Truley I have no idea but I’ve done it mulriple times on PlantNet and it always says black. But I’m not sure it matters are they equally messy? Will it have the same impact regardless (messy fruit and or damaging roots.

I can leave it for now and see if it sheds leaves this winter.

 

[wellington]

I was not familiar with "black" mulberry. Had to look it up. I have the white and red varieties here. Are you sure its not the more common red variety?

All of them lose their leaves annually. As Yvonne clarified, pruning indicates cutting branches, not leaves.

It will be decades before the root structures get big enough to damage the concrete at that distance. I'd leave it.

That's funny you never heard of the black ones. That's all we had in my childhood. When I saw the white and red ones in adulthood, I thought they were just picked too soon lol

 

[Tom]

That's funny you never heard of the black ones. That's all we had in my childhood. When I saw the white and red ones in adulthood, I thought they were just picked too soon lol

99% of my mulberry experience is with non-fruiting ones, so the fruit color never entered my mind. I just didn't know there was a third species commonly available.

We had fruiting ones at the animal college that I attended and those were a terrible mess. The fruit eating animals sure liked them though.