Mulberry trees- how big?

[Anonymous]

My neighbors have let a couple volunteer trees grow in their yard close to the fence line- they’re not sure what they are but my Seek app is telling me mulberry. How big (wide) do they typically get in this area in full/part sun? They’ve gotten pretty big already in just 2-3 years, maybe 4-5 inch circumference and are only a couple inches from the fence. I would have taken them down but it’s not my yard. I just don’t know how much to pressure them to take them down- admittedly part of my motive is that all my perennials on that side of the yard need sun and the trees will soon shade them out, lol. But I also am not sure the trees could coexist with the fence.

(And no, the neighbors are not old/disabled, they’re younger than us and very active)

[Anonymous]

As big as a house

[Anonymous]

We have one on the other side of our fence. It has new skinny long branches coming out every year and it gets taller, but it's trunk doesn't widen much. I hate it and prune it on my side every other year. It is covered in birds and squirrels once the berries ripen some.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As big as a house

Yep, they get huge! Nice if they're what/where you want. Not nice if they're not.

[Anonymous]

They do get huge (40-50ft), and they last for years. We cut down two mature, large red or black mulberries trees that were at least 60 years old. Some mulberry's live over 100 years.

Unfortunately for us, they made our back deck and yard a slippery, fly catching mess on the years with large crops. Planted in the right space, they are great for wildlife and canopy cover.

White mulberry trees are smaller and do not live nearly as long, but are somewhat invasive.

So it really depends on the variety.

[Anonymous]

My neighbor let a mulberry grow from a volunteer right on our shared fence line. In 18 years the tree has grown to 40 ft tall and 30 ft wide. I don’t know if it’s the native mulberry or the invasive variety. Birds and squirrels go berserk for the fruit every summer.

[Anonymous]

A neighbor has two that are just on their side of the property line but the branches and roots are on ours.

The red/black is 40ft tall, branches are 50ft across, roots have cracked our driveway. Not ready to invoke Fancer v Fagella but the thought has crossed our minds about hiring a lawyer. The white mulberry is slower maturing but still getting big.

The tree and berries are well beyond a nuisance. And as a previous poster indicated - several animals love them.

[Anonymous]

Maybe they want to host silkworms/make silk.

[Anonymous]

They are fast growing and do become quite large (30+ ft). When they’re mature, the dropping fruit creates a mess, as do the droppings from the birds that the fruit attracts. Due to their size, the root system is also quite large. You don’t want them close to any structure, like a fence or foundation.

So many people in urban and suburban areas don’t bother to look these trees up and ignore them as they establish. In your shoes, I’d assume good faith on your neighbor’s part and that they don’t know what problems they may get into with this tree later. I’d try fairly hard to convince them to remove it just so the tree doesn’t become my problem later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are fast growing and do become quite large (30+ ft). When they’re mature, the dropping fruit creates a mess, as do the droppings from the birds that the fruit attracts. Due to their size, the root system is also quite large. You don’t want them close to any structure, like a fence or foundation.

So many people in urban and suburban areas don’t bother to look these trees up and ignore them as they establish. In your shoes, I’d assume good faith on your neighbor’s part and that they don’t know what problems they may get into with this tree later. I’d try fairly hard to convince them to remove it just so the tree doesn’t become my problem later.

OP here- thanks! That was what I was afraid of. Going to try to convince them to remove the trees.