Any Tree Experts Out There?

[NismoZ]

As a kid I watched our entire city denuded of THOUSANDS of beautiful Elms due to the Dutch Elm Disease. Amazingly the relatively young one in our front yard survived and lasted many more years. The city spent a lot of time, effort and $$ replacing those old Elms with...Ash trees.:shakehead Guess what? Deja vu all over again. The Emerald Ash Bore Beetle this time. (Came to our area by a guy bringing fire wood from his parents place in Michigan. Thanks, pal.:irked:) In our '60s sub-division alone I'd say about 40% of those "replacements" are already gone, most in the last year. Much of our back yard shade has disappeared and the city will soon be removing the diseased Ash on our treebank as well.:( Question: What are the best, fast(er) growing shade trees to consider for re-replacements? Pretty sure I won't be around to see the next tree killing epidemic. (PS-looks like many are going to Maple varities, but the big ones here ALREADY clog the house gutters, street gutters and storm sewers leading to flooded intersections when they drop those helicopter seeds. I don't want to add to that.)

[Tifosi24]

As a kid I watched our entire city denuded of THOUSANDS of beautiful Elms due to the Dutch Elm Disease. Amazingly the relatively young one in our front yard survived and lasted many more years. The city spent a lot of time, effort and $$ replacing those old Elms with...Ash trees.:shakehead Guess what? Deja vu all over again. The Emerald Ash Bore Beetle this time. (Came to our area by a guy bringing fire wood from his parents place in Michigan. Thanks, pal.:irked:) In our '60s sub-division alone I'd say about 40% of those "replacements" are already gone, most in the last year. Much of our back yard shade has disappeared and the city will soon be removing the diseased Ash on our treebank as well.:( Question: What are the best, fast(er) growing shade trees to consider for re-replacements? Pretty sure I won't be around to see the next tree killing epidemic. (PS-looks like many are going to Maple varities, but the big ones here ALREADY clog the house gutters, street gutters and storm sewers leading to flooded intersections when they drop those helicopter seeds. I don't want to add to that.)

I am certainly not an arborist, but I did put a couple trees in last fall after much research. I sympathize with the Ash Borer concerns, my entire neighborhood is about 20 years old, and the developer was in love with Ash trees. Unfortunately, it is only a matter of time before the bugs make their way down here from the City.

The ultimate answer to your question is where you live. I am up here in Minnesota, and the options for "fastish" growing trees are limited to Maples and Birch. I ended up going with a Birch since I have powerline and building considerations on my property. The downside to the birch though is that they are relatively short lived trees. I grew up with maples as a kid, but their downside is how dirty they are and some storm damage concerns. I know Lindens are relatively fast growing, but they are not strong trees.

I would recommend talking to someone at a local nursery or looking up some information on your state's extension website. I can't remember if you are in the Midwest or not, but if you are, your state should have a really well maintained and informative extension website, or various experts to contact via phone.

[Elmo T]

American Sweetgum trees were planted here as street trees. They grow reasonably quick and are beautiful in the fall. Drawback are the "monkey balls" that litter my yard. :saywhat:

[TravelGal]

Good answer from Tifo. I tried looking around TreePeople.org but it's really only for SoCal.

[nrc]

We're in the same boat. We probably have eight or so mature Ash trees on our property and they're all infested. I've been treating five that we really wanted to save for three years now. Three of them are holding their own but we'll probably let two of them go this year.

Of course the best choices for replacement trees depends a lot on your climate and soil conditions. Your state probably has a page somewhere that can tell you what is suited to the region and the pros and cons of the different species. Example:

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1082.html

I'm keying on variety. I want to plant several different types over the next few years so that we're not wiped out by the next bug to hitch a ride from China. The first spot that I have in mind is not far off from some electric lines so it will have to be a smaller tree or a mid-sized tree with a narrow spread.

[Napoleon]

American Sweetgum

So that is what that is in my backyard (monkey balls where the giveaway).

[dando]

Pretty sure I won't be around to see the next tree killing epidemic. (PS-looks like many are going to Maple varities, but the big ones here ALREADY clog the house gutters, street gutters and storm sewers leading to flooded intersections when they drop those helicopter seeds. I don't want to add to that.)

Guess what's next?

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/01/30/at-war-over-trees.html

:saywhat:

As far as fast growing shade trees, Silver Maples top the list, but they are weak (like pear trees) and are susceptible to wind damage. Keep them well away from your house. The oaks that line one of the streets along our house (we live on a corner) have done well since they planted them 6-7 years ago. Not sure on the variety...we planted a Red Oak in our yard when we moved in ~10 years ago, but it has been a bit stunted due to the 17-year cicada back in '05:

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/steincarter/cicadas.htm

The scars those suckers left on that tree are amazing. I'm shocked the tree didn't die quite frankly. Of course with oaks you have acorns and with maples you have the dreaded propeller seeds to deal with. :irked: Beech, Sycamore, Elm are good choices, as is my personal favorite the Buckeye tree. :D ;)

-Kevin

[dando]

American Sweetgum trees were planted here as street trees. They grow reasonably quick and are beautiful in the fall. Drawback are the "monkey balls" that litter my yard. :saywhat:

I thought about that one as well, but I wasn't sure if the shape was considered a shade tree. Some around here are almost pear-tree shaped.

-Kevin

[datachicane]

Here in Oregon, all you have to do is skip a couple of mowings and you'll have majestic blackberries shading your house. Ask me how I know.

[cameraman]

The sycamores, London planes, honeylocusts & maples around here are being slowly killed off by anthracnose and several other fungal diseases. I wouldn't plant any of them unless you knew it was a fungus resistant cultivar. One tree that has held up very well around here is the Catalpa. There are quite a few healthy 90+ year old ones in my neighborhood. It does have the huge seed pods but they really are not that big a deal. Another large tree that seems to do well is the Japanese Zelkova.

I would avoid Lindens as they attract aphids which will cover anything under the tree with a layer of nearly impossible to remove sap.

[Methanolandbrats]

I've got red oaks, white oaks, cherry trees and some other stuff. Had to deal with oak wilt, iron deficiency and other problems. It is well worth the hundred bucks or so it will cost to have a professional arborist come and survey your lot. They will provide you with a treatment/removal/replacement plan.

[Rex Karz]

I hate those silver maples. Our neighbor has a really tall one on their property we always get about a zillion little silver maples springing up in the lawn, in the flower beds next to the house, the front yard, the back yard. All over the damn place.

Then last summer during a bad thunderstorm, part of the thing toppled over and landed both on their yard and on ours. They complained that they had to pay the guys with the chainsaws to not only come out and cut up the thing, but also haul it off of our yard. I guess they thought it's finders keepers and if it lands on our yard, it becomes our problem, not theirs. :shakehead

[Gnam]

How about an evergreen tree like a California redwood, or a Eucalyptus, or a Palm tree? ;)

http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/7140/cellphonepalmtree.jpg

[Andrew Longman]

Flowering Pear (they don't really bear pear) are really popular in my parts for fast growing, tall and not getting wide/sprawling. Looks pretty in Spring too.

Downside of anything fast growing is it doesn't hold up well to wind and other stress like snow.

[nissan gtp]

Question: What are the best, fast(er) growing shade trees to consider for re-replacements?

Metasequoia (http://www.arborday.org/treeguide/TreeDetail.cfm?id=16)

Very fast growing, and unusual. We planted one at our house in '96 (it was 4-5 feet tall), now it's 35-40 feet. Feathery foliage, beautiful rust/red in the fall. It grew a good bit faster than our Sweet Gum (also a nice tree).
We also have a Zelkova -- beautiful tree, pretty fast grower, nice shape.

[TrueBrit]

I don't know too much about trees, but I do know that number 3 is a Larch.

[NismoZ]

Thanks Tree People. (you too, TB) I learned a bunch of new words. Now I can hit the tree places pretty soon and sound like I actually KNOW something.:)

[Rex Karz]

You need more lupins.

Monty Python: Dennis Moore, Part I (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbtVaTWs6II)

Monty Python: Dennis Moore, Part II (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH5OnkzI6fo&feature=related)

[RaceGrrl]

Number 1 is also the larch...

[nrc]

Sad day. Made the call to take down two of the five Ash trees I was trying to save. They didn't leaf out at all this spring. Two others are struggling but holding their own so far. One is doing pretty well.

I won't even get any fire wood out of the deal since it's possibly still infested.

:(

On the bright side I planted a dogwood which seems to be doing pretty well. We'll see if it has enough shade in the summer. Our buckeye is also doing well.

[dando]

Sad day. Made the call to take down two of the five Ash trees I was trying to save. They didn't leaf out at all this spring. Two others are struggling but holding their own so far. One is doing pretty well.

I won't even get any fire wood out of the deal since it's possibly still infested.

:(

On the bright side I planted a dogwood which seems to be doing pretty well. We'll see if it has enough shade in the summer. Our buckeye is also doing well.

:( They've been taking them down around here fast and furious. I drove along Avery-Muirfield and they had cut down a bunch that were likely planted back in the 70s/80s when Muirfield was still being developed. Driving along Dublin Rd north of 161 has looked like a war zone the past couple of seasons with trees being cut down left and right. :irked: We had to take out a Red Bud last year that had some sort of fungal crap infesting it. :( I loved the color of that tree in the yard. :cry:

-Kevin

[Andrew Longman]

Kevin, (or anybody) what's your opinion of Red Buds?

We need to plant a memorial tree for our recently departed dog and the wife and I are thinking of a Red Bud but we've never had one.

[dando]

Kevin, (or anybody) what's your opinion of Red Buds?

We need to plant a memorial tree for our recently departed dog and the wife and I are thinking of a Red Bud but we've never had one.

As I stated, I loved the one we had for 5-6 years. Beautiful in the spring and the red foliage was a great contrast after it stopped blooming. Not sure what attacked ours, but we had some fungal stuff hit it and our blue spruces a few years back. The spruces survived, with only the one closest to the area where the redbud was located looking worse for the wear. Thinking I might replace the redbud with a Buckeye tree. :gomer: ;)

-Kevin

[cameraman]

I have a Red Bud, it is a pretty tree but, out here at least, it can only be planted in an area that gets regular watering. They do not handle hot & dry well.

[Don Quixote]

We have a Kentucky Coffeetree, 2 European Lindens, a Hackberry, a Buckeye, a Blue Spruce, a Western Larch (insert Monty Python joke), 2 Austrian Pines, an English Oak and a Canadian Chokecherry. All are great for our climate. My mom had a great Redbud tree in Columbus. It grew in a very soggy area, and was in the undercanopy so it didn't get much sun. I bet that tree is 50 years old now and is still going strong. I tried to grow one here in CO, but no dice. Too sunny and dry I think.

[nissan gtp]

Kevin, (or anybody) what's your opinion of Red Buds?

We need to plant a memorial tree for our recently departed dog and the wife and I are thinking of a Red Bud but we've never had one.

they are nice, but don't live very long (for a tree).

[nrc]

We're writing the closing chapters in our failed battle against the Emerald Ash Borer. All our Ash trees are dead or dying. Fortunately, AEP has a program to cut down infested Ash trees along their lines at no charge to owners. They'll be coming in a couple of months to take down six of our remaining seven Ash trees. That will leave just one Ash that is too far from their lines for them to justify cutting it down. We'll probably have to cut that one down in a couple of years. I've spent enough on chemicals trying to save these trees. It's time to give up and spend that money on trees that can survive.

Most of the Ash trees are in areas where other trees are already filling in. We have a grove of pawpaws next door that is taking advantage of the thinning canopy and moving in. In front we plan to have a new shade tree planted next spring. We just have to figure out what.

[SteveH]

So sad to see the ash disappear. Many around here never made it through the winter, also. Saw so many in the late spring without a leaf on them. Now they are gone.

[cameraman]

Ugh pawpaws are clonal which is a nice way of saying invasive as hell. A tree becomes a patch which will take over your lawn in short order. Much like aspens do out here.

I will never again plant a tree that spreads via its root system.


The Burr Oak is my new favorite tree as long as there are no wires anywhere near it. Not a quick grower but a really nice tough tree.

[Gnam]

No buckeye? ;)


seriously though, Go big or Go home. Sequoia Gigantea. :p

http://s28.postimg.org/dlku8tjl9/01_sequoia_climbing_team_670.jpg

[cameraman]

Hey if a sequoia can survive for decades on the corner of a grocery store parking lot in Salt Lake City...

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii35/Cynops/sequoia.jpg

[G.]

The Burr Oak is my new favorite tree as long as there are no wires anywhere near it. Not a quick grower but a really nice tough tree.

Not a quick grower?!? How about, really, really slow? Expect about 20 feet tall in 20 years.


My pin oak is finally getting established. Training the 'new" main stem to sit up straight and be a trunk. I hate rabbits. :flaming:

My white ash tree is now my "learn to tree-trim" tree. Only problem is I won't know if my trimming is what eventually kills it. :D

All of the green ash have been hit already in the 'hood. Just waiting for my white to get it ("to show signs of it" would be more precise). I have been using a soil solution that is supposed to stop the EAB, but it's inevitable.

Maybe a black gum/tupelo/nyssa for a replacement?? Thoughts on those?

[cameraman]

Not a quick grower?!? How about, really, really slow? Expect about 20 feet tall in 20 years.

Mine was a 3" caliper 15 footer that has grown about a foot a year for the last 5 years. Not an instant tree but is doing pretty well.

The Burr Oak is especially suited to the location since the water table is only about 10' down so once it's taproot got there is wasn't short of water.

[RaceGrrl]

So far we haven't had an issue with the PawPaw spreading, and since I like the fruit I'm not too worried about it. We do already have a buckeye three that was just about a foot tall when we planted it in 2005 and now it's taller than we are. :)

[Gnam]

Can I interest yew in a hedge?


http://s4.postimg.org/mt7odwqql/hedge_789537i.jpg

[nrc]

Ugh pawpaws are clonal which is a nice way of saying invasive as hell. A tree becomes a patch which will take over your lawn in short order. Much like aspens do out here.

Yeah, they're definitely filling in aggressively. Everything that comes up where it's not wanted gets mowed off. The only place it's a problem is along the fence line. I'll be cleaning that out as part of the my never-ending fence replacement next spring. I may relocate some of those to get a more planned distribution.




All of the green ash have been hit already in the 'hood. Just waiting for my white to get it ("to show signs of it" would be more precise). I have been using a soil solution that is supposed to stop the EAB, but it's inevitable.

Maybe a black gum/tupelo/nyssa for a replacement?? Thoughts on those?

I've been doing the soil drench for four or five years. The treated trees declined more slowly but they've still reached the point of no return.

The Tupelo looks nice. Our tree guy tells us he can plant a 20' tree to replace the main tree in front of the house. Missy would like a Tulip Poplar but we'll see what options he offers.

[cameraman]

A word of warning about the little leaf linden. It seems to be a very popular tree as they have been planted all over the valley by numerous cities. They have one major drawback. They attract aphids, huge numbers of aphids. What the aphids do is eat far more sap than they can efficiently digest so it exits the other end of the aphid as a fine sticky mist. Any car, sidewalk or other object underneath the tree is going to get coated with a sticky layer of partially digested tree sap. The stuff does not easily wash off of anything. It is evil. So the little leaf linden is a great fast growing tree that needs to be planted in the middle of a lawn with nothing manmade underneath it.

[G.]

A word of warning about the little leaf linden. It seems to be a very popular tree as they have been planted all over the valley by numerous cities. They have one major drawback. They attract aphids, huge numbers of aphids. What the aphids do is eat far more sap than they can efficiently digest so it exits the other end of the aphid as a fine sticky mist. Any car, sidewalk or other object underneath the tree is going to get coated with a sticky layer of partially digested tree sap. The stuff does not easily wash off of anything. It is evil. So the little leaf linden is a great fast growing tree that needs to be planted in the middle of a lawn with nothing manmade underneath it.

Or right on the property line bordering "that one" neighbor.
:D

[TravelGal]

A word of warning about the little leaf linden. It seems to be a very popular tree as they have been planted all over the valley by numerous cities. They have one major drawback. They attract aphids, huge numbers of aphids. What the aphids do is eat far more sap than they can efficiently digest so it exits the other end of the aphid as a fine sticky mist. Any car, sidewalk or other object underneath the tree is going to get coated with a sticky layer of partially digested tree sap. The stuff does not easily wash off of anything. It is evil. So the little leaf linden is a great fast growing tree that needs to be planted in the middle of a lawn with nothing manmade underneath it.

Doesn't sound like it would do much for lawn mowers either. Nor can I imagine enjoying my lawn with aphid poop all around underneath me. :gomer:

[nrc]

A word of warning about the little leaf linden. It seems to be a very popular tree as they have been planted all over the valley by numerous cities. They have one major drawback. They attract aphids, huge numbers of aphids. What the aphids do is eat far more sap than they can efficiently digest so it exits the other end of the aphid as a fine sticky mist. Any car, sidewalk or other object underneath the tree is going to get coated with a sticky layer of partially digested tree sap. The stuff does not easily wash off of anything. It is evil. So the little leaf linden is a great fast growing tree that needs to be planted in the middle of a lawn with nothing manmade underneath it.

I've seen similar criticism of the Tulip Poplar. I wasn't too concerned since we don't often leave our cars in the driveway, but there is the walkway to consider as well.

[cameraman]

It stains the concrete or at least the mildew feeding on the sap stains the concrete black...