Berries falling into backyard from tree. Can you identify these?

[Fishersjohn48]

I had a 20 footer in my yard when I was a kid. They are sooooo tasty when ripe. The only bad thing was the giant thorns. ouch!

Three mile island Mulberries? Don't recall mulberries having giant thorns.

 

[pudly]

Three mile island Mulberries? Don't recall mulberries having giant thorns.

That's what I was thinking. I have 2 mulberry trees with no thorns.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

I'm constantly pulling up mulberry seedlings at my place. I typically see the seedlings at the base of a fence, or just inside the edge of a raised bed.

Almost every mulberry tree results from a seed "planted" by a bird pooping it out. That's why they're so often right next to a fence or railing.

I don't let them grow, except for one that I pulled from a garden bed and stuck it in a bonsai pot like ten years ago. It's still just about a foot tall.

 

[Cameramonkey]

That's what I was thinking. I have 2 mulberry trees with no thorns.

The one we had definitely had thorns. 2" long ones at that. they werent close together except on the sections smaller than your fingers, and were woody and did not regrow after they were broken off.

 

[Clay]

I have a love hate relationship with mulberry trees. On one hand I love having some around for the fruit, on the other they are the weed of the tree world. They will grow anywhere and you can't kill the darn things!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I fight them every year!

 

[T.Lex]

I think they are elderberries. Surprised you didn't recognize the smell.

 

[patience0830]

I think they are elderberries. Surprised you didn't recognize the smell.

Silly English K-niggets.

 

[ghuns]

I have a love hate relationship with mulberry trees. On one hand I love having some around for the fruit, on the other they are the weed of the tree world. They will grow anywhere and you can't kill the darn things!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I fight them every year!

They are persistent. I just picked one up from a friend who had several trees cut down. The sections of the trunk were over 24" diameter. I had never seen one that big. Guess we always killed them off the ditch banks before they were full grown. Makes good firewood though. Also a good wood if you're into making traditional longbows. I heard once it's a close cousin in the tree world to the osage orange.

I think they are elderberries. Surprised you didn't recognize the smell.

Ye old low blow.

 

[KokomoDave]

Them are radioactive dingleberries!

 

[Hardscrable]

The one we had definitely had thorns. 2" long ones at that. they werent close together except on the sections smaller than your fingers, and were woody and did not regrow after they were broken off.

Mulberry trees are one of the most common trees growing wild in fence rows, ditch banks, etc. in my area...looking at one through my living room window as I type this. I have "owned" literally thousands of them in my life and never saw one with thorns.

 

[actaeon277]

Misread the title.
Thought it said, "Bernie's falling into backyard..."

Racoons also love them...then they leave colorful "deposits" .

Yup. All over my back yard.

 

[ghuns]

Racoons also love them...then they leave colorful "deposits" .

Groundhogs too.

Looking out my office window one day, I saw a big, fat city groundhog climb a mulberry tree, and walk out on a thin, low hanging branch. I was impressed. I'd never seen a groundhog climb a tree, let alone a big, fat one. I couldn't figure out what it was doing. It could have easily stood up and reached the berries on that branch. It walked out near the end, bowing the branch to the ground. Then came the procession of baby groundhogs. They picked clean what they could reach, and momma moved to another branch and repeated the process.

I thought about what a nice moment it was, seeing nature all up close like that. Then I thought about how nice it would be to have a suppressed .22 I could stick out the window and smoke the whole lot of them.

 

[Slawburger]

... I don't care much for them but the birds sure do. Then they leave blue poop everywhere.

So, you're saying that Lexington KY was founded in a Mulberry orchard?

 

[AtTheMurph]

Mulberry don't have thorns but I am at a loss to name what tree that has purple berries that does.

 

[1861navy]

The one we had definitely had thorns. 2" long ones at that. they werent close together except on the sections smaller than your fingers, and were woody and did not regrow after they were broken off.

You sure that it wasn't a hawthorn? Mulberries do not have thorns. Though I find it hard to mistake a mulberry for a hawthorn tree, they do have thorns and produce berries.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crataegus

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Mulberry don't have thorns but I am at a loss to name what tree that has purple berries that does.

I wonder if the Mulberry tree in question was growing up against the tree with thorns, Osage or Hawthorn? I've seen them grow like that and it almost looks like one tree with two or more trunks.

 

[Cameramonkey]

You sure that it wasn't a hawthorn? Mulberries do not have thorns. Though I find it hard to mistake a mulberry for a hawthorn tree, they do have thorns and produce berries.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crataegus

Im thinking the haze of age has clouded my memory and I'm mixing trees in my mind. (It was my boyhood home after all, and I havent seen that tree in probably 25 years) It was probably a hawthorn and there was a mulberry tree nearby.

 

[winchester]

i know my serviceberry (juneberry) trees are ready for picking. i about made myself sick eating them and the ripe mulberries when i was supposed to be mowing. maybe the tree was a locust tree if they were big thorns???

 

[churchmouse]

I grew up with a mulberry tree above our swing set, tree house and sand box when I was a kid. Those things make one hell of a mess. They stain skin, clothes, feet, everything.

If you can keep them out of your yard, I'd recommend doing so.

The birds post up on the fence and drop the seeds in their waste along the fence lines and these things take over very quickly.

 

[1DOWN4UP]

There are 2 kinds of mulberries which grow in this area.The native is the Red Mulberry.It comes in 2 varieties,red berries,and a aberration,or a whitish albino berry.The more common Mulberry is the White Mulberry(which produces red purple fruit,but not white berries) which was imported from China in colonial times to try to establish a American Silk production market which was a total failure.Its what is the common crappy pain in the butt tree that seems to sprout everywhere. very confusing.