Plant Database / Fruit & Berries / Mulberry
Fruit & Berries

Mulberry

Morus species
Moraceae (Mulberry)

Fast, tough, and absurdly productive. Choose a fruiting type and expect purple-stained everything in season.

EdiblePerennialDrought-toughVigorous
Mulberry (Morus species) illustration — Texas Roots plant database, by Jordan Polasek
Sun
Full sun
Water
Low once established
Soil
Tolerant
pH
5.5–7.0
Hardiness
Hardy fast tree
Height
20–40 ft
Spacing
25 ft
Days to harvest
2–3 yr to bear

What it is

Mulberry (Morus species) is in the Moraceae (Mulberry) family. Fast, tough, and absurdly productive. Choose a fruiting type and expect purple-stained everything in season.

How to grow it

It wants full sun, water it low once established, and give it tolerant soil. Target a soil pH around 5.5–7.0. Space plants about 25 ft apart. Expect roughly 2–3 yr to bear. Hardy fast tree.

How it's used

Mulberry is used: fresh, jam, dried.

🔎 How to identify it

  • Variable lobed/heart leaves
  • Catkins in spring
  • Blackberry-like aggregate fruit

Edibility

PartsRipe fruit
UsesFresh, jam, dried
CautionFruit stains; unripe fruit can upset stomachs.
🌤 Before you plant: check the live 7-day garden weather to time it right for frost and heat.

Part of the free Texas Roots plant database, compiled by Jordan Polasek from his greenhouse in El Campo, Texas. Free to read and share. If it helped, the best thanks is to grow something.