Question
I was just wondering about the damage the roots of a mulberry tree can cause. I have a friend who's neighbor has one of these trees about ten feet away from his Mobile home. It's about 24 inches around the base. His driveway has a couple of cracks in it, and some of his loose brick landscaping, about 20 feet away are falling over. My question is, can the roots from this tree be causing this to happen?

Answer
They have a spread of about 2-30 feet when mature and the roots will be about 1 1/2 times the spread of the branches. They should not be planted to close to homes, sidewalks or driveways as the roots can lift and crack the concrete causing terrible damage to property. If the root spread is within the damage I would lean toward the tree roots causing the problem. You can trench along the driveway and stop the roots from going under it. Trench down about 18 inches and install a root barrier along the drive and this will prevent the damage. Here is a web link to root barriers. http://www.4specs.com/s/32/32-9452.html