Mulberry

**Please note: Mulberries are unique in that individuals are most commonly monoecious (bearing both male and female flowers), but they can also be dioecious (bearing only male or female flowers). Only trees bearing female flowers will produce fruit so plant several seedling trees to ensure fruit production. If you end up with more males than desired, they can be top-worked/grafted to a cultivar of your choosing.

Varieties we offer:

Akiva White Mulberry - Seedling trees grown from seed gathered by Akiva Silver from a prolific cold hardy tree in Ithaca, NY. These are fast growing seedlings - exceptional individuals have reached 8+ ft in 2 years from seed in our nursery beds, though 5-6 ft is more common. Vigorous vegetative growth is great for tree fodder grazing. If you are looking for high quality fruit these seedlings make excellent rootstocks for grafting improved cultivars.

**NEW** Lavender Life - Seedlings grown from seed sourced from Ken Asmus at Oikos Tree Crops. For more info, check out the description on his website.

Sheffield’s Red Mulberry - The native red mulberry is notoriously mislabeled and misidentified in the nursery trade, and many trees sold as ‘red mulberry’ are actually red x white hybrids. The seedling trees we offer are grown from seed sourced from Sheffield’s Seed Co., a reputable seed supplier, and we have observed features such as leaves with scabrous (rough) tops that are associated with red mulberry. However, given the prevalence of white mulberry in the landscape and its tendency to hybridize with red mulberry, we cannot guarantee that these seedlings have 100% Morus rubra genetics. (Cold hardiness update: All of our 2021 red mulberry seedlings experienced significant winter dieback then proceeded to put on 5+ feet of new growth during the 2022 growing season. The jury is still out on how these 2 year old seedlings will fare this Zone 4b/5a winter. Stay tuned!)

More info on Mulberry:

Mulberry is one of the most researched and widely used tree crops for animal feed globally with initial breeding and selection efforts stretching back thousands of years to the advent of the silk industry. Mulberry offers both a fruit crop for poultry, hogs, and farmers looking for a snack, as well as highly digestible (over 80%) and nutritious (15-28% protein) leaf fodder for ruminant livestock.

The two species of interest for USDA Zones 4-5 are the native red mulberry (Morus rubra) and the introduced white mulberry (Morus alba). The white mulberry is considered invasive in some regions, but it is the most cold hardy of the mulberry species and more vigorous than red mulberry. Red and white mulberries hybridize freely, and given the widespread planting of white mulberry in the U.S. stretching back centuries, 100% red mulberries are increasingly uncommon.