Mulberry tree as decoy

I am planning for an orchard which will go on the back of my property. I am interested in using mulberry trees as a decoy to protect other fruit which will be bearing at the same time. What are the other fruit trees that would benefit from living near mulberry trees? Fruits that are especially susceptible to bird damage.

Or, does it work out that the birds eat the mulberries and everything else as well?

Usually the latter, they are a bird magnet.

Gloria,
I've cut & pasted, below, my response to this question in our off-forum discussion on this topic, in the event others might find it useful (or not). As I stated with regard to named varieties, mileage may vary - and this may hold for whether or not they work as a diversion crop or not.

Tart(pie) cherries and strawberries benefit from a diversion planting of mulberries. I've experienced this first-hand. Beyond those two, I'm not certain anything else gets much help from the mulberries - *maybe* the earliest blueberries, and that's a big maybe.

I've got a row of mulberries planted along the perimeter of my orchard - mostly named selections with larger/better fruit quality -'cause we like to eat 'em, but there are also a couple of M.alba seedlings - one purchased as M.rubra, which it is NOT, and the other purchased from the infamous TyTy Nursery(before I knew better) as 'Black Giant', but it's nothing but an unselected M.alba seedling. Both bear heavily, early, with small fruits not really desirable for human consumption, but the birds love them, and they ripen about the same time as the strawberries & cherries; they don't totally preclude bird depredation, but they do help.

I'm somewhat concerned about the prospect of weedy M.alba seedlings becoming invasive out here in the country, where the native M.rubra still has a good foothold, so 2006 may be the last year for those two trees: I'll replace them with something better.
I've not paid enough attention to the distribution of M.alba as an ivasive in your area - I know M.rubra was still prevalent throughout the woods on our family farm at Auburn, when my parents sold it last year.
Looks like the biggest invasive threats y'all have to deal with from what I've seen recently, are mimosa(Albizia) and callery pears. Chinese tallowtree was a big problem on our Auburn farm, as well.

As far as the clothes are concerned - there are white-fruited mulberry selections, and I've seen white-fruited 'volunteer' M.alba trees, but the fruits have - to me - an insipid, mildly sweet 'grassy' flavor, not very appealing, and I don't notice nearly the amount of bird 'activity' in the white-fruited trees as in those producing good lavendar fruits.

For cultivated mulberry varieties, 'Illinois Everbearing' is, in my opinion, the 'gold standard' - heavy bearer of large tasty purple fruits with good sweet/tart balance - over an extended period; from early June to late July here - about 6-8 weeks. Others that have done well for me include Collier, Stearns, Kokuso, and a couple of M.rubra selections I've made - one from KY 'Lawson Dawson', and one from AL 'US 280'(this one was growing next to a county-provided dumpster on highway 280, not far from home. You could probably also have good success with some of the more 'tender' M.alba selections, like 'Pakistan', 'Shangri-La', 'Cat's Tail' , etc. - some of these have fruits up to 4" long, but they're not winter-hardy here, often kill back to the ground almost every year.
'Wellington' has been a disappointment here - really crappy growth habit, shy production of fairly small fruits, not much better than the two unnamed M.alba seedlings. But, your mileage may vary; I have a friend in Flint, MI whom I trade plant materials with, and in his orchard, Illinois Everbearing is not that great - he has one he calls 'Packy'(he purchased it as Pakistan, but it wasn't) that bears better for him - but here, it's just a nice, average M.albaXrubra hybrid, not nearly as good as IE, Collier, or Stearns.

http://www.ars.usda.gov/Main/docs.htm?docid=12835

this is the link to the National Clonal Germplasm Repository at U.C. Davis mulberry page.

they also have cudrania -- 1 cultivar, che seedless.

the contorted and weeping forms of the mulberry sound interesting as landscape trees--although I would not like to sit under them in my summer whites!

Lucky_P: I am comparing your list to the ones available on the UC Davis list. I am thinking about putting in another order to propagate under mist this summer.

There is a shrubby big leaved plant that is trying to grow in my yard. Ive been told that it is a mulberry, but I whack it before it has had any berries so I don't know for sure. The leaf looks like what I think is mulberry.

Gloria,
Your shrubby plant could be 'paper mulberry' - Broussonetia papyrifera.
http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook/trees/brpa.html

Or, it could be a native M.rubra that has taken on that shrubby appearance due to frequent coppicing.
http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/species/moru2.htm

I think probably paper mulberry. It is coming onto my property from an adjacent strip of land supposedly maintained by the city. They use it as a trash dump and "arboretum" for china berry trees. and paper mulberry. I don't remember ever seeing the berries. Guess I ought to let one grow and take a look.

I've never seen the fruits, either, but ViburnumValley started a thread here back during the summer with photos of 'em. Might be able to scroll back through the more historic pages and find them.
I mostly see Broussonetia around old homeplaces, and there are several clumps around town here, but again, I've never noticed them in flower or fruit.

Here's that VV thread, with photos, from the Trees & Shrubs forum:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/631559/

Yes thats what I have. I have never seen the fruit, though. I have bought a Black & Decker Alligator. I hope that will dispense with that tree! Hey, you got the last word in that thread. Isn't that a first?

Hmm. I hadn't noticed that.
I always get in the last word at home - "Yes, dear."

I've never seen - or, maybe just never noticed - one with tree stature, all I've seen have been multi-stemmed clumps of shrubs, up to 8-10 ft in height.
I don't know what the B&D 'gator is, but I suspect a dose of Tordon/Pathway/Brush-B-Gone or some other concentrated herbicide(and possibly more than one dose) on exposed cambium may be required to terminate this thing.

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-LP1000-Alligator-Electric/dp/B000BANMUY/sr=8-10/qid=1167336368/ref=pd_bbs_sr_10/002-6919666-3096020?ie=UTF8&s=hi

Black & Decker alligator -- chain saw for little ol' ladies.

Yes. the mulberry is a multitrunked tree, about 8 to 10 ft.

You probably need some of this, or that thing'll spring right back up, with a vengeance:
http://www.dowagro.com/ivm/forestry/prod/pathway.htm

I could use a 55 gal drum of that stuff. hurry. buy stock.