# Killing mulberry bushes



## checkitnice (Aug 10, 2010)

...And no, I'm not keeping the ---- things. 

I have mulberry seedlings coming up in every flower bed, around my fences, at the base of other trees, pretty much anywhere a bird would land, if you get my drift. 

What can I do to kill these? Some of them were here before we moved in, and no matter how much I cut them down, they come back. I'm usually very organic but am at the end of my rope here. Is there a way to use Roundup that won't kill the surrounding flowers/trees? One bush is coming right out of the base of a large pine tree.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

I also have them everywhere and find that it takes 2 years to get rid of one which have become too big to pull out. Cut them off at ground level now while all the sap is in the trunks. Repeat several times next year and you should beat them. I've never had them come back a third year.

Martin


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

> Is there a way to use Roundup that won't kill the surrounding flowers/trees?


Cut them off and use a spray bottle or a brush to apply full strength Roundup to the stubs,


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## checkitnice (Aug 10, 2010)

Got it. If only I could get my neighbor to do the same thing to her 40 ft mulberry tree, this vicious cycle would end and we'd all be happy. 

:grin:


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

Get a 40 lb. bag of salt ,water softner salt, the kind you put on the side walk,ect. Put on the ground at the base of the tree. It will kill them.


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## rags57078 (Jun 11, 2011)

I cut the branches off and my my rabbits ,, and wow do they love them


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

Are they fruiting bushes or will they grow into tall trees? If they are bushes I will take some from you, and send you the shipping, or we can make a trade.


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## checkitnice (Aug 10, 2010)

Right now they are raggedy looking, non fruiting bushes. Even the ones that are getting eight feet tall don't have any fruit. The tree that spawned these things has an absolute ton of fruit, but it's tasteless. I tried harvesting some earlier this summer and it was a total waste of time. They really didn't have any flavor.

Also, how would you want the bushes? I've tried to dig them out and can't get the roots out.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

That initial big yellow root goes down a "mile". A seedling may be only a foot or so tall and takes a good pull and produces a tap root which broke off 2' down. My tree was a cluster of 3 which probably started as a bird dropping. They were cute when taking some Concord grape vines up with them when they were growing. Not so cute when I had to borrow an extension ladder to harvest the grapes. Two were taken down about 5 years ago and I dearly wanted the third to also come down. The third is shade for the pigeon lofts and that's the only reason for it living. 

Martin


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

Check, forget it then, the bush sounds like a hassle

Mulberries have a subtle flaver that other foods can over power. They are best eaten on their own. Taste varies from tree to tree. i have had some that were bland, and I have had some that were two inches long and bursting with juice and flavor. They get ever sweeter if you dry them and eat them like raisons.


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## geo in mi (Nov 14, 2008)

Try to get down to the single trunk. Then wrap bare copper electrical wire four or five times around it and tighten it. The trunk will expand into this copper necklace and eventually kill the tree, root and all. You can still trim the unsightly branches each year while this is in process..... I keep and strip old electrical wiring during the winter just for this use.

geo


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Seedling mulberries like most native fruits are a shot in dark what they will taste like. Can vary greatly from tree to tree. There are several grafted mulberries that will give you a known result.

This year I planted two seedling mulberries I got from one of the Burgess clone catalogs. Think they were like 2 for $5 or something. And I got a grafted Pakistani mulberry that cost an arm and a leg from Raintree.

The seedlings leafed out. Neighbor's commando cows chomped top off one. The other didnt grow as vigorously but grasshoppers finally took it out. Well the commando cow victim regrew somewhat and releafed before the two month drought and record hot temps. It must have developed a good root cause its still doing ok, grasshoppers didnt bother it for some reason. The other seedling the grasshoppers even stripped bark. It however is sending up a sprout from root. I was amazed both survived. Any bare root transplant tree that could survive this past summer is probably in it for long haul.

The Pakistani was super slow to leaf, sent out four or five leaves, looked nice. Then all at once leaves died. ??? Last time I looked maybe six inch or so of the whip above ground is still greenish, rest dead and brittle. No idea if it will survive or not. I suspect not or at best next year it will send up a sprout from root which of course will be like whatever seedling rootstock they used.

Oh and if you dont want a tree, you can just keep mulberry severely pruned and it will become bush.

I still dont understand why there arent naturalized mulberry trees in this area. We have simular climate to E/SE Kansas and I saw lot of them in fencerows there. They do get bit more rain in typical year but not that much more.


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## mgbeheler (Mar 23, 2016)

An enterprising early American planted fruitless mulberries for a potential silkworm farm here on what was to become my great-grandfather's 80 acre farm, sometime before the Civil War. The guy may have planted all male trees. If there are any berries, they are invisible. Most of his farm has been sold off and "civilization" and diligent lawn mowing is gradually eliminating the trees on the smaller lots, but the trees here at the main homestead along the river bank keep sprouting. (Can't mow the steep river bank.) 
They come up from the roots. When my landlord (a cousin) can't mow due to rain, a whole forest of mulberries pop up in the back yard. (Front "yard" is paved with asphalt.)
I noticed some sprouting at the junction of the asphalt parking lot and concrete block apartment building, a good 25 feet or more away from the nearest tree. I was afraid they would damage the foundation. I cut them off. They came back. I cut them off again and again, for about 3 years. Finally, I tried spraying roundup on the leaves of the sprouts. It seems to have worked. I did it in 2014, and nothing sprouted in 2015. 
(I'm 70, and landlord is even older.) This year, I'll be carefully spraying and/or brushing roundup on some in the back yard.
I read that roundup enters plants through the foliage to get to the roots. I think it is probably true.


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## thericeguy (Jan 3, 2016)

No need for expensive chemicals. Use basal stump treatment and diesel. Been a while, but I am fairly sure diesel is still labeled for this use. Farmers use it on fencelines and such. 

Cut off the trunk. Using a paintbrush, "paint" the top of the stump with diesel. It is dead. $1 will do many stumps.


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## ksfarmer (Apr 28, 2007)

Remedy plus diesel fuel. Cut the stem off and paint the stump. It won't come back.


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