There will be tremendous variation in fruit quality among a population of seedling mulberries, and most will probably be less desirable than the valued parent. However, you could grow up a batch of seedlings, learn to graft, and 'clone' the original, which seems to be - at least to your tastes - a very good one - then, you'll know from the outset, what the fruit quality and productivity will be like. Mulberries are really quite easy to bud/graft.
Mulberries can be propagated from cuttings, though I've had minimal success getting it accomplished and getting the rooted plantlets to establish and do well.

Thanks, lucky p -- I am not familiar with grafting and cloning, but sounds like an interesting process.

I think that I'll read up on it, and maybe give it a try.

Thanks again!

If I understand my mulberry botany correctly, there are also male and female plants; only the females will bear fruit. So, it may take years for you to determine if your seedlings were male or female. In addition, I would suspect that seedlings take years, if not more than a decade, to fruit. Theoretically, plants grown from cuttings should fruit sooner, perhaps in a few years.

I have read that mulberry can be rooted both as hardwood dormant cuttings in the winter, and semihardwood cuttings (with a heel) in summer. I am currently playing around with the semihardwood cuttings, and will try hardwood this winter.

And, maybe I've got it all wrong; in that case, maybe someone who knows this plant better will come a long and set me straight!

Cheers!

Redneck,
I've done cuttings both ways - dormant-collected and summer greenwood cuttings. I've had more success with the summer semi-hardwood cuttings for M.rubra. M.alba is probably easier to root either way.
Mee too doesn't say - and may not know - if they have an M.rubra, M.alba, or a chance M.albaXrubra hybrid. I doubt that it's M.nigra.

And yes, theoretically 50% of the seedlings could turn out to be non-fruiting males, but you'd have to wait 5-10 years or more for them to begin fruiting in order to find out.

while you were near the mature tree .... you should have pulled out some of the million of seedlings that were probably hidden all over the yard ....

man i hate these trees ... but i tolerate them as the kids spend hours eating the berries ....

you could probably m ail order one for planting at the appropriate time of year for your zone.. for perhaps 20 bucks .... and be eating berries in a few years..

otherwise i see you waiting 10 years or so from seed to fruit ....

or even better.. go back in fall .. just before leaf fall .. and dig up a few ....

ken

Ken's suggestion of purchasing a named-variety mulberry from a nursery is a good one.
You don't say where you're located(it's very helpful for posters to include that info - state/country/zone, etc., in your profile or username), but here in my orchard, "Illinois Everbearing" a M.albaXrubra hybrid, is the one to beat - heavy production of extremely tasty berries with good sweet/tart balance, for a period of 6-8 weeks from early June to late July.
A grafted specimen will begin producing fruit within just 2-5 years - less than half the time you'd wait for a seedling to begin bearing - and fruit quality will be a known entity.