Is My Fruitless Mulberry Tree Worth Saving?

Question

I think the fruitless mulberry tree in my front yard might be dying. One half has leaves and the other half has nothing. I was wondering if I should try cutting the leafless side out. Would it grow back? Is the whole tree gone? I’m going to try to prune the entire tree, fertilize it and water it. I don’t want to do if it’s too late though. Please help me figure out what to do.

Answer 1

It does sound like it is suffering and with that much damage, you have a tough choice.

You can try to treat it and it may come back, but it may take years before it fully recovers, if it can recover at all. Or you can replace it with a new tree, which will likely take years to real that tree's size.

If you want to treat it, you can try spraying it with neem oil. It is both a fungicide and a pesticide and is systemic, so will be absorbed by the parts of the tree that you can reach to spray and carry it to the parts you cannot. This will cover many of the problems that could be affecting it.

I would also recommend that you have an arborist come and look at it. Tree problems are very difficult to diagnose without directly examining the tree.