At first glance (although difficult to see with the upside down photo) my first thought was fireblight, but Mulberries don't get fireblight. Knowing this I suspected some form of bacterial blight. A quick search turned up exactly that...bacterial blight. Bacterial blight comes in several different flavors. The closest photos resembling yours is Bacterial leaf scorch. Leaf scorch behaves just as you say...browning from the tips and leaf margins moving back until the entire leaf turns black/brown. I thought that was probably it until I read your post about the wiggly roots and it's feeling not well anchored. Even worse you said it leaned on it's own. I'm thinking almost for sure there is some root issue at play here. Root rot is very common in Mulberry trees, but with your weather being dry it seems less likely (though not impossible). Have you watered this tree? If so, how often and how much? Does the tree reside in low lying ground where it may be subject to wet feet? Have you recently applied a herbicide to your lawn like glyphosphate (roundup), 2,4D, or any broadleaf weed killers? Has your neighbor? It doesn't look like that kind of damage at all, but you never know. Do you have issues with moles/voles? Plants that suffer from too little water uptake (this does not necessarily mean too little watering) often begin dying from the top down because as the leaves transpirate the lack of water is unable to reach the top and tips adequately enough to maintain life. Too little water can be caused by root rot or some other root disturbance caused by burrowing animals etc. Ironically too much water (wet feet) will often exhibit symptoms of too little water in almost all plants I know of. If adequate moisture is available and the roots are damaged by rot or whatever, the roots cannot deliver water to the tree. If I had to guess, I'd think it's a bacterial infection of the roots which has also manifested itself within the tiny trees canopy. Either way or anyway it's not good. Not good at all. Prune away the damaged area well below the damaged tissue and discard (do not compost) it to the trash. Stick your finger down into the soil (if you can) and make sure there is moisture there...but not wet. Be prepared to lose that tree...you may get lucky and it may recover, but looking at the photo on a young tree like that I can tell you it doesn't look very promising. Stay tuned for other responses. There are folks here who grow Mulberry and are familiar with it (I am not).

Kill it!? I will do no such thing! As I said I find it to be a lovely tree with a tropical feel to it, and one of the few trees remaining after they cleared the woods; it offers a bit of privacy. And unlike the pesky maples and stalks growing up through my fence and into my yard, it seems content to stay on the edge there for the past few years at least (been here 12 years, just now noticed it). Why on Earth would I try to kill it? (Hell, even if I wanted to, I'm far too lazy.) And I don't really care if it feeds the birds or not -- they have plenty of dogwoods, poison ivy, blackberries, field corn, and as I've discovered, mulberries for that. Just because it supposedly doesn't do something for birds, does not make it a "waste" tree! Just because anything does not conform to your wishes or desires does not make it a "waste" organism! That's entirely the wrong attitude to have, no offense. I digress, I don't think it's a Tree of Heaven anyways. I looked up pictures of both Tree of Heaven and sumac and they look so close as to be in the same family, perhaps the same genus, but I've not the time to look into it. Tree of Heaven looks to have spurs at the base of the leaves and the leaves of this tree are smooth. I was thinking it might be a staghorn sumac, but actually smooth sumac looks closer. I might have to wait til fall to figure it out, and then research how to propagate it. Since this forum sucks at resizing pics, here's some on photobucket (click to embiggen) : Assuming that's poison oak growing up it. Provides a nice screening effect but it might need to go if it interferes with my tree. They certainly do seem to be mulberry *trees*. Funny, I heard of mulberry bushes but not mulberry trees before. This is an excellent discovery; I can use some of the leaves to grow tomato hornworms! I was thinking about buying a mulberry and then I find two barely on the edge of the property, what luck! I just wonder howmany the killed when they tore up the trees. Neat how the leaves change shape/ are asymmetrical as you go up the stem; that's really different from a lot of plants: Still dunno what this thing is: I have to admit it's pretty in it's own way with the splotchy leaves like that, but it's invading my personal space a tad too much. Someone said to dig it up? CBA with that; too much like work and far too much of it. Like I said, it went crazy after they cut the trees down; I guess the trees were out-competing it / shading it out. It runs the length of the fence with a big ole stand of it at the edge of the farmer's field which is creeping into my yard. I figure I'll just chop it down and throw it on a compost heap if I start one (as long as it's not in seed, I'm guessing). And the entire time I was taking pictures a bird was chattering raucously above me. Figured I pissed it off somehow, then I caught of a bit of movement: 99% sure it's a fledgling oriole; he was hopping from branch to branch. Only caught glimpses of the dad as he flitted about; hard to take pics of him with the light behind him.

im with tom on that.. lol ... but its not really helpful to you ... you might want to try the fruit forum ... just maybe.. you find someone who knows ... i usually would refer questions of this type to a local orchard ... but i am not sure they are commercially grown ... as a newb.. understand there are very specific tree planting times .. for easy success .. with the heat of summer coming along very fast ... it is very hard to plant a fully leafed out tree ... it can be done.. it just might not be bulletproof ... trees are best planted.. dormant.. leafless .. and that would be fall after leaf drop.. or in early spring.. 6 to 8 weeks before the heat of summer ... when i learned all that.. i increased my success rate.. 50% ... see link and to be very clear.. i said.. to make it easy or bulletproof.. not that it is a hard and fast rule ... also ... a corollary ... just because you buy it at the wrong time of year.. doesnt mean it has to be immediately planted.. HOLD IT OVER... until the proper planting time ... ken https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub

Yes to what parker said too… But remember the names black, white, and red have little to do with berry color, and probably came from the color of the wood actually. Mulberries of any species are essentially black (sometimes with a reddish or purple tinge) or white (often with some pink mixed in). Black mulberry varieties are really not suited to the humid Eastern states, especially the colder ones, although they have proven very hardy for me here in z6 New Mexico. Despite all the diversity, Illinois Everbearing is the champ in my book, since it has the most widely appealing taste (blacks are mostly for tart lovers, others are just too sweet), good size, long season, and cold hardiness.