Dan O.

One tree that never seems to get meantioned here is mulberries. Today, in broad daylight, I had a deer cross the main road in front of my house to feed on the fallen mulberries in my back yard. He went by all of the other fruit trees, vineyards, gardensand plants in the area to hone in on a white mulberry tree. From what I've read farmers used to pasture pigs and chickens under mulberries to fatten them up.The trees are aesy to grow, have a long fruiting period and bear abundantly. Putting out minerals will help antler growth but the mulbrerries feed the deer through the early-mid season until the apples. etc are ripe.

Dan O.

M.Magis

We could make a very long list of things deer will eat. That doesn’t mean they’re all worth the effort plant. The nutritional value would be limited, as would the total amount of forage provided. It would seem to me that there are much better alternatives. Perhaps I misunderstood the point you were making. If so, I apologize.

doc098

I cannot speak for Canada, but here in Louisiana they drop fruit from around Mid-May to early July, depending on the weather. There is not alot of nutrition in the mulberries.

In my own opinion, deer are just looking for something different. I have a corn/ soybean mix that I use and the deer will tear it up, until the acorns start dropping. They won;t touch it again until all of the acorns are off of the ground.

Dan O.

M. Magis, the mulberries supply a plentiful source of carbohydrate and other nutrients to the deer early in the growing year. It's very good that everyone talks about plantingsoybeans, corn, etc. These mature later in the season. If the deer are replentished after winter starvation and fawns are given a good start they can better make use of these crops when they mature in the fall. Nutrition shouldn't be looked at as minerals for antlers or late forage as draws. If you were truly interested in a sustained and healthy deer population you need to supply ample food throughout the year.

Dan O.

M.Magis

Perhaps you've not seen the effects of a bean field. Beans provide real nutrition from the time they break ground until every single bean is picked from the dirt. Usually a solid 5 months of forage for the deer, and that's not counting what they pick up after harvesting. They are not strictly a fall food. In fact, they are more of a spring/summer food. And I'm not sure why you keep referring to mineral sites since no one else has mentioned that.
Eachfall I see deer with mouthfuls of yellow maple leaves, but I'm not going to plant a "plot" of maples. They just don't provide much. I have no doubt that deer like to occasionally eat mulberries, but hey simply don't provide much in the way of nutrition.

Dan O.

M. Magis, if you stop planting the beans what happens to the deer? On the other hand heavy bearing mulberries are p[erennial and have the following nutritional value:

Nutritional Value of Mulberry[/align][*]Carbohydrate (in the form of sugars, mainly glucose and fructose) - 7.8 to 9.2%[*]Protein (with essential amino acids) - 15% to 28%[*]Fatty acids like linoleic, stearic, and oleic acids - 0.4 to0.5%[*]Malic acid, producing sour taste - 1.1 to1.9%[*]Fiber - 0.9 to1.4%[*]Calcium - 1.8 to 2.4%[*]Phosphorus - 0.14 to 0.24%[*]Potassium - 1.90 to 2.87% in leaves, 1.33 to1.53% in young stems[*]Magnesium - 0.47 to 0.63% in leaves, 0.26 to 0.35% in young stems [/ul]

"He quotes the case of a small farmer in North Carolina who kept pigs and claimed that one-third their weight was due to the mulberries falling from his trees -- about 625 lb of pork to an acre of "rather thin, sandy land with little care and no cultivation".

Russell Smith says mulberry trees are cheap, very easy to propagate, easy to transplant, they grow rapidly, start fruiting almost immediately, have a long fruiting season and don't need harvesting. The leaves can also be eaten as a vegetable and make a nutritious feed for dairy cattle."

"Fruit yields are estimated at 4-14 tons per hectare. James A. Duke, in "Handbook of Energy Crops" (1983, unpublished), sees the mulberry tree as a source of energy: "Those of us who have seen solid coats [of mulberry fruits] on the ground realize that there is a lot of sugar there that could be converted to alcohol."

The deer don't occasionally eat mulberries and their leaves, they search them out.

Dan O.

timbercruiser

Hey Dan O, did you have any luck at all with the Sawtooth Oaks you planted???

Dan O.

Hello Timbercruiser, the tallest one is about 3 1/2 feet at my home. They won't handle the climate of my hunting property up north. The trees grow through the summer and then the new growth dies back each winter. The rabbits unfortunately love them. Overall it was a good test and a few dozen are still growing. They may be sold as the fastest growing oak but in our climate I've found that English oaks grow much faster.

Dan O.

Dan O.

The deer did it again. I visited my hunting property this weekend. The deer went past young apple trees and cleaned all of the new growth off the mulberry trees that I planted. I look at wildlife management as providing the deer with food and shelter year round. This allows a self sustaining population to maintain itself in the area. I wouldhighly recommend planting mulberries.

Dan O.

TRACKER

Just curious and will try anything once for testing , etc,
Can you buy mulberry trees ? Or do they just grow wild .
You say they easly transplant? And produce fruit the first year ?
Thanks for any tips...