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Little River Cooperative

Dwarf Everbearing Mulberry Tree

Regular price $12.00 USD
Regular price Sale price $12.00 USD
Sale Sold out
Everbearing Mulberry
Morus

days to maturity:
plant spacing: 1 plant per 20 square feet
sunlight requirements: 6-14 hours
look out for: whiteflies
harvest notes: berries fall off the tree when ripe, pick daily
food forest layer: understory canopy
perennial


There aren’t many berries to be grown in here in South Florida. Sadly, most popular berries like blueberries, blackberries &raspberries don’t appreciate our heavy doses of humidity, but the Mulberry doesn’t mind one bit! This perennial medium sized tree grows quickly in most soil types and can be pruned to any shape or size. If allowed to grow without pruning it will become more of a bush with many stalks coming from the soil, but you can also prune the lower growth and make it shaped more like a tree. To keep the fruit low, prune the branches at eye or head height while its in its more dormant winter state. While fruiting you can pick ripe berries daily, before the birds get to them. They can be eaten out of hand or turned into jam or jelly, frozen, baked into pies, turned into ice cream, you name it and this berry can do it. 

Mulberry trees also have multiple medicinal uses. Mulberry leaf has been used for thousands of years in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for its sweet, bitter and cold energetics. It is commonly associated with the Liver and Lung meridian and functions to clear lung heat (which manifests as a fever, headache, sore throat or cough) and to clear fire in the liver (which manifests as red, painful and watery eyes). Mulberry fruits have also been used in TCM for their cold bitter and sour energetics. The fruits are commonly associated with heart, kidney and liver and are tonic herbs for Yin deficiency. They are known to tone the blood, lubricate the intestines and to rehydrate the bodies fluids. Our favorite medicine to make with Mulberry leaf and fruit is a syrup rich in color like Elderberry, rich in iron and minerals and is a delicious cough treatment that you’ll crave again and again.

A number of pests that are Common in South Florida like mulberry trees. Keep an eye out for whitefly hanging out on the undersides of the leaves, and for a white cottony substance on the bark and trunk, which is indicative of a fungal issue. Mealybugs also like mulberries (they scrunch the leaves up from their center when present) and leaf webber worms might show up and eat the young leaves while also covering them with webbing.  

 

 


Materials

All of our plants are produced using OMRI certified organic materials (potting mix, fertilizer & pesticides) however our nursery is not certified organic. Plants are shipped in compostable peat moss pots and we use heirloom & organic seeds whenever possible.

Shipping & Returns

We ship plant orders every Monday. Due to the nature of shipping plants we only offer expedited shipping for our live plant orders. Our returns & exchanges policy is also quite strict since its hard to control the quality of a plant once it leaves our facility, however we do our very best to make sure that each and every customer is satisfied with their plants. Read more about our policies here. 

Size

All of our plants are potted in 4" pots and their foliage size varies based on how large the plant is naturally when its root ball is the correct size for the pot. If a plant is too tall for our shipping box we may prune it to fit (bonus: many plants do better after being pruned since they make bushier growth). We do our very best to ship all of our plants in the "sweet spot" of maturity however so long as the roots have colonized the pot we will consider a plant mature enough to ship.

Care Instructions

When you receive your plant its critical to get it out of its box and into the light the day it arrives. It will also want to be removed from its compostable plastic wrapping and given fresh water to drink. Keep in mind, this plant was grown in the tropical humid climate of South Florida, so if it's terribly cold or dry where you are it'll need to be hardened off before planting outdoors. Visit our care instructions page for more thorough info about caring for your new plant friend.

  • What Our Customers Have to Say:

    This is a great, local organization with really knowledgeable & friendly staff. They make gardening easy and accessible, and I've purchased many high quality plants and equipment from them.
    -Kate Black (5 star google review)

  • And Another One:

    How lucky we are to have a resource like Little River Cooperative here in Miami, not only for the access they offer to a great selection of plants and produce, but also for the knowledge they provide and the sense of community they foster!
    -Nick Vagnoni (5 star google review)