Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Trees Selection- Need your Help

Please don't tell anyone anything different.
Yep "all desert with lots of bad guys".
I'd advise people to not move here!

Dave, i guess Pecan is very popular around here. I wonder why... I have to seek a little more about water need of that tree.


After writing that, started looking for some info. Here some terrible facts .

Pecan Water Use

• Need 60” of water per year
– In the SE, rainfall can account for 50‐67% of needs
• Pecan trees can use as much as 350 gal/day
• Greatest demand is during August/September
• At 12 trees per acre, Drip/Microjet system capacity
should be 3600‐4200 gallons/acre/day

I will get some seeds and give it a try though. As you said. How does the nut taste?

Too late man. Sorry. I have already told like 1091823 people how sweethearts you Texans were . Now, they all know what you actually are and can't wait to move over.

If it took 60" of rainfall per year, Texas wouldn't have any pecans. I planted 2 at a house that I own and now rent. They have a good crop this year and they have never been watered other than rain. In the big drought of 2010/2011, I lost the ones that I had planted on my land. But, I also lost some mature oaks, cedars and others.

Pecans have a very good taste.

Believe me I've noticed....

All I can say is stay away from any form of willow! I need my head examined for allowing my parents to plant a weeping willow and hybrid willows on the property. They loose leaves and branches year around and much of it ends up in my ponds.

Dave , i am definitely getting pecan seeds. Let's see how they do.

Zep, do you have a kind of disturbance about people moving there? Or maybe Turkish people?

Cecil, i need no water sucker. So i will stay away.


Guys, i am looking for a kind of Oak which looks like Southern Live Oak , but grows a little faster. What about Bur Oak?

Any ideas on Hackberry trees?

I just planted a couple of hackberry. They grow everywhere in cental Indiana. Decent growth rate.

Have you looked at Hybrid Poplars? They are arguably the fastest growing North American tree. There are lots of different ones so you would want to pick a shade variety.

Description:

Provides outstanding shade in a hurry! Grows 5-8 ft. every year until reaching mature 50 ft. height. Puts out plenty of side branches. Glossy foliage turns golden in fall. Resists cold, pests and disease. Thrives in most soils and climates.

Zones: 3 - 8 (-30° F.).
Height: 50 feet.
Shade Requirement: Full sun to partial shade.

I like for the Texas economy to be healthy and
often cheer corporate relocations coming to Texas,
but yes I feel in many ways we have enough people
moving here already..and I would be content to see Texas
not adding more & more people & congestion on the freeways, etc..
Maybe that's why I enjoy the pond in the county! (less people..ha ha)

As far as Turkish people, a very good friend
of mine...Ali Hasan...was at my house last week.
He is from Turkey...I have no problem with the Turks.

Faith

Bur oaks grow really really fast . I have three in my yard and I love the rugged look and the huge acorns ( golf ball size) the leaves are almost a foot long. Heck to rake in the fall.

Pat W

Bur oaks not but oaks , sorry

Hey Pat,

What kind of oaks do you have? I have 7 varieties and they all hold their dead leaves till spring. Sounds like you have a cool one and I am always looking for a new tree to add to the mix!

Bill at home I have shumard oak and bur oaks both loose their leaves in the fall, there are plenty of live oaks around that stay green all winter then drop in the spring. At my place in the country we have red oak, post oak, wateroak, and another that I don't know what the name is( I just call them scrub oaks) all lose their leaves in the fall except the red oak. Post oak is the favorite for BBQ with red oak comes in next. Oh I forgot BLACKJACK oak. Chain saw won't hardly cut it, and pu can hardly split it. Not very well liked.



Pat W

I have some blackjacks and the leaves drop in the Spring. Montague County lost all of it's live oaks in an extended drought many years ago. That's a shame because the only winter green around my place is cedar. Just about everything I burn is post oak.

Oh yeah, we also have a tree we call hog plum. It is the first blooms we see in early Spring. It makes a plum that is nasty tasting and inedible. A neighbor made some of the foulest tasting wine you've ever tried to drink from it.

Yes they grow fast but they are are messy, messy, messy! Also had the roots of one totally block up a 6 foot section of a 6 inch drainage pipe. The root forced it's way into a junction. It was a solid mass of roots!

Bill, poplars are great. I will definitely have some. We have plenty of White Poplar around here. They are very beautiful. I don't know if i should go with hybrids or white poplars. I want to have a kind of American Dream house. So i want the most things to be American .

Zep, i got you. I would be pissed with anyone to occupy my land disrespectfully. Sometimes we complain about Syrians. That's normal. Plus, not every Turkish guy is as nice as me . So i can't defend none of them .

Pat i definitely consider Bur Oaks. There are tonnnnnnns of Oaks. I don't know which one to go with though. I love the ones that spread especially horizontally.

Guys any thoughts about Cottonwoods? They are very pretty.

Cottonwood trees at least around here are associated with wetter areas. I know out West, they are found along streams and in river bottoms, not too many are found far away from water.

Faith

Cottonwoods have a bad habit of dropping limbs , some large so don't have one close to the house.


Pat W

If you like the horizontal limbs spreading out then live oak is the one to pick. Get a few tame rabbits and use the manure on the tree and it will grow really fast. I did that with my bur oak and the first year it grew over 8'

If you really want an all American tree, plant a catalpa (southern species for you) beautiful flowers in the spring, huge leaves and they grow fast and easy from seed. Just make sure you float the seeds in water first so you know which ones are viable and then still put 3 seeds per pot.

Fatih, I would not use cottonwoods. They, like willows, suck a lot of water from a pond. And, they reproduce like crazy. Every year, I walk around my pond pulling them up. And, there are none on my land. I think the tiny seeds spread by wind.

When driving around country dirt roads I often see big cottonwoods and/or willows. If I stop, I usually find a silted and dry pond.

Here are three trees I planted about 13 years ago and you can see the comparable sizes. The tree to the left is a River Birch, the one in the center is Seedless Cotton Wood and the one on the right is a Sycamore. The River Birch is water loving tree as is the Cotton Wood. The Sycamore seems to grow any place. These trees are not in a wet area and the Seedless Cotton Wood is much faster growing than three regular Cotton Wood trees that I have allowed to to grow in wet areas. After 13 years of growth it is a foot in diameter and about 40 feet high. I found the seedless Cotton Wood at Lowes one year and never seen it since. It is the fastest growing tree at the pond area. I like Yellow Popular trees (Tulip Trees) for their fast growth and neat appearance and have about 10 planted at the pond.

I live in a similar climate with soils that are similar to yours. I have a thin layer of sandy top soil and then i just have a type of red clay. My rainfall is similar to yours. I have planted live oaks and have not had a great deal of success I believe due to lack of water. I planted about twenty of the live oaks and about half of them died. I have planted red oaks and have had a higher success rate with them than the live oaks. I have also planted genetically enhanced pines that have been grown to increase drought tolerance and have had fairly good success with them. i buy the pines as seedlings from a tree farm in east texas and they ship them in the mail. this year I planted some giant sequoias but plan on watering them the first couple of years but even at that not sure of success rate. A tree that does not grow huge but is very pretty to me and is very drought tolerant is the crepe myrtle. Here it grows to about twenty feet but flowers all summer. I have not had a single crepe myrtle die that I have planted but would recommend watering all of your trees the first year to get the roots established.

Drake Elm for patio shade and near the house. Pecan for the rest of the landscape. Pecan will put down a taproot in an attempt to reach the water table but will not come true to seed and seedling trees can take ten to fifteen years to produce nuts. Whatever, whenever and if ever they produce, the tree alone is worth having.

Thirty five years ago an old timber buyer from another state stopped by to see if I wanted to sell any trees. I didn't. But I had some white oaks near the house and I said these are probably 200 years old and he said they are closer to 250. So those trees would be approaching 300 now. But here is a white oak that was always much bigger, and if he was right, then this tree must be in the 400 year range. The walking pole is just shy of 4 feet long I'm using to give a prospective. This woods is only 8 1/2 acres and is full of large trees. It has probably never been cut. You can imagine the Indians that walked by this tree when it was young.

Yep! The problem with a lot of the large Oaks is that they are hollow and rotten in the very center. Many of the large oaks that I cut down last winter were that way. Trees 36" across had 12" of good wood around the outside and nothing in the center.

Cottonwoods kicked out of the list, right away. They were beautiful. What a pity! A water sucker is the last thing i need around.

Bill, we have Catalpas around. Nice trees really. I didn't know their name was "Catalpa" before you told me though . No word from Chris Bill .

So John, you saying that i should go with it , if i can find seedless cottonwood. Added to list. Doesn't hurt to try.

James , thanks for your suggestions. I will have some red Oaks. I love their look. Crepe Myrtle is very beautiful as well. Added to list. Because my wife loves such trees. I gotta have some of these kind to make sure she is smiling when we move .

Dudley , i will have Pecans. Everybody praises them . How to resist to all the beautiful people of Pondboss?


John, do you know what? It breaks my heart when i think and face that i will never ever have an ancient tree in my backyard. Because i will grow them from the seedlings. I hope my grandchildren will enjoy my future ancient trees one day. You Americans are so lucky to have all the nature. Everything is polluted here, everything.

Scott, you know too much and that makes me feel like an idiot .