My Pakistan mulberry, 10+ years old has never had any problem. I harvest many twigs and leaves every spring to feed my silkworms. Suddenly, this year,...
Knowledgebase
Mulberry disease or infestation #933189
Asked May 27, 2026, 5:16 PM EDT
My Pakistan mulberry, 10+ years old has never had any problem. I harvest many twigs and leaves every spring to feed my silkworms. Suddenly, this year, the new leaves are well formed but the older leaves on the same branch are malformed and distorted. Dark green, no discoloration. No insects, mites, etc under 3x mag.
Suburban street side, no other trees affected.
Prince George's CountyMaryland
Expert Response
Can you share a photo of the planting site overall, so we can see what size the tree is and how much of the canopy is affected? (Is the sample in the photo just a removed branch? Or is the tree young and still in a pot?) The older growth might be malformed due to the overnight freeze back in late April, which affected the tender growth of many tree and shrub species. Since leaves cannot heal from damage, they remain deformed (or in some cases, too much tissue damage resulted in leaves drying out and falling off), but younger new growth emerges fine, as it appears to have in this case. If that continues to be the case here (new growth still looks normal), then the condition was likely a passing issue that isn't affecting long-term tree health.
Depending on how/where the tree is planted, acute exposure to an herbicide application might have been the cause (sub-lethal doses can cause leaf deformities, depending on the chemical involved). In that scenario, nothing can be done, but the normal-looking younger growth suggests the plant is already growing out of the damage.