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

Hey guys,

I want to get some tree seeds to plant in my future pond house.

I love fast growing, very big shade trees. I want to have a fully shaded forest environment. Not interested in small or decorative trees.

I live in 8B zone, which is the same as Central Texas. So, your suggestions are soooo important for me. Out altitude is 2500-3000 Ft.

Here, soil is ;

7,6 PH ( Slightly Alkaline)
Well-drained
High in clay
Fertile

Only 25 inches of rain annually. Droughty summers. Semi-desert.

In my city, best quality pistachios in the world are grown.

I don't want to be watering the trees. Maybe once a month and that's it.

Some of the species i consider:

American Elm
Chinese Hackberry
Southern Live Oak
American Sycamore
Bald Cypress

Are these suitable species for my situation? Any other species you want to add? I need the idea of every single individual on this forum. I care about every comment.

Thanks.

Guysss, my questions don't require any expertise on plants. I just want you to tell me some of your favorite plants that i can grow in my region .

Fatih I live in Indiana, USA and our average rain fall is 40 inches. I have Sycamore trees that do well and Elm that are dying off from a tree borer. I have seen a town in Utah, USA with both sides of the street all the way through town that was planted with Sycamore trees and nothing else. Not far outside of this town was salt desert and much of Utah's rainfall is in the 16 to 18 inch range. Whether the Sycamore's were watered in the town, I don't know. I would look for local trees in your area that are doing well and plant them.

I'm partial to pecan, Fatih.

Cypress and pecan need a little more water than you have available. They both originated in river bottoms. Cedar is a little more drought tolerant.

Guysss, now we are getting to a point. Please stay connected, pleaseeeee .

1- First of all guys. People here are fond of fruit trees. Most of them don't grow large, shade trees. And i hate the most of the fruit trees. People here never ever plant a tree for the pleasure of their eyes. So i can't find no trees here, as nice as yours. All beautiful trees are in rainy areas in my country. But when i watched American movies i saw that you had great trees even in deserts.

2- Sycamores are very beautiful and more tolerant to diseases than Elm trees. Elm trees are also more allergenic. Right? I am allergic to anything. I guess i should definitely get Sycamores.

3- Pecans are beautifuulll. But i have to find about water resistance as Cray says. I will have some Pecan and Cypress seeds and see how they do in drought.

4- Cedars are nice but i don't like pyramid shaped species of Cedars. I like larger species. What about Lebanon Cedar? Veryyy beautiful...

No thoughts about Southern Live Oak? Or any other Oak trees you wanna add to list?

Let's add couple more names on the list guys .

Do some research on the pin oak. I've planted thousands of these on my farm and they are turning out to be one my best growers and they hold leaves through winter. The first pin oaks were planted on our farm as seedlings in 2006 and today most of them are 8-12' tall and thick with limbs all the way to the groung. I'm not real sure how well they would do for you out there however.

Whatever you plant you will have to water the first season in order to get established unless you can get the rain at the right time. Get the trees in as early in the year before drought as possible. This is the key to success!

Jamie, Pin Oaks are awesome. However my researches say that they are not suitable for the kind of environment i have. Especially, they need some good watering.


Keep posting guys. I gotta have a solid list in this topic since i will order them soon.

Live oaks sometimes have roots above the surface of the ground and hitting those with your mower blades can cause serious mower damage.

A large, fast growing tree in a relatively arid climate and you do not want to water. My advice is ask an expert.

Chris Siems <chris@wilsonirr.com> Wilson Forestry Supply. Chris is well acquainted with all North American trees and has an advanced degree in forestry. He is a great guy and has helped me alot over the years. He will be able to give you the list you are looking to get if anybody can.

Tell him Bill his tree tube customer from Illinois referred you.

eucalyptus

Eucalyptus might be a cool choice. Native tree of Australia if I remember right so not really a North American native but grows big and fast. Trick there would be figuring out which species you want. I think there is like 500 species. I do not know which ones do best with low rainfall.

Faith,

I recommend you really do your homework before ordering. It would be a shame to find out 15 years from now you chose poorly.

Here in AZ I use a lot of Sissoo, which can grow very fast and hold their leaves during mild winters. The red push pistache, evergreen(Chinese)elm, green ash, fantex ash. THe southern live oak are very slow growing. If you like slow, the Brazilian pepper.

Has anyone ever transplanted adult trees with one of those big scoops?

I was considering doing this because I have a lot of extra cedar trees...and have a guy that has the big scoop machine but my landscape guy tells me that when you transplant an adult tree it will die about 50% of the time.

Zep
Google Howard Garrett ( the Dirt Doctor) in Dallas I think he can answer that question

Pretty sharp fellow when it comes to saving trees


Pat W

I can offer this.....My uncle had one of those scoops and did the tree moving thing as one of his "get rich quick" schemes. He offered a 1 year guarantee. After he went out of business he told me this. Never move a tree that the scoop can't get 80% of the root system (the root system extends out from the trunk pretty much as far as the farthest branches). Never move a kind of a tree with a deep tap root (like say a buckeye) bigger in diameter than 3 to 4 inches or you will break the tap root.

You can as long as you don't disturb the root ball. Remember, a tree is almost as big underground as it is above ground. If you try one to big, even if it survives it can be stunted for life. We have done citrus trees with good success but the were not full grown.

Thanks guys....

this guy says he will move pretty good size cedar trees for $475 per tree....with a minimum 6 trees to be moved. That's not a bad price to get 6 full size trees placed around the cabin instead of waiting years.

I like to cut the bottom 4-6 feet of limbs off cedar trees.
I think this is a really cool look that stays green year around.

Yep, I've been involved in spading a few trees, and the end of the month will be spading approximately 95 trees from 2 1/2" dbh to almost 7" dbh. Oaks and Maples, same as last time. Trying to get all 95 moved in 3 days, but I think it'll take 4. Luckily, the trees are all on the same property, so the growing habitat won't be that much different.

The most important thing about moving trees is to make sure the crown is pruned back a bit, and to keep 'em watered. Last time no watering other than filling up a 5 gal bucket around the tree 2x week was done and 10% of the trees were lost. Since the trees were moved in early Spring, and right in the middle of a 2 year drought, I don't know if the trees that died would have died anyway.

There's a better watering system set up now, and I think moving the trees in the Fall will help too.

I am a fan of Dutch Elm resistant trees, and Sycamores. Both extremely fast growers, and can get HUGE.

Just protect them from the damned deer.

The Sycamore is more of a lowland swampy dweller, it doesn't do well with dry feet. The elms can take a bit of dryness, but not sure if Texas dry.

Get a guarantee of 1 year!

Do they have deer in Turkey? I have no idea what critters they have that prey on unsuspecting trees!

1- Dudley roots aren't a problem for me. But i don't know if my life span will be long enough to see my Live Oak get real large. What i love about these trees is their spreading branches. Nothing like anything i have seen before. Very beautiful.

2- Bill, i will write him right away. Thanksss...

3- Scott, i brought 3 Eucalyptus trees from another city but 2 of them died. I was suspecting that my city's climate wasn't right. But today i went to a place for freshwater fishing , which is 30 miles far away from here. I was shocked. Eucalyptuses were everywhere. What a coincidence. I guess i will try to have a couple of them here.

4- captwho, honestly i don't like sissoos so much. I added Green Ash in my list. Lovely tree. Thanks for your suggestions .

5- liquid it is great to see you. We have orientalis sycamores all around my city as street trees. They don't need water at all. I think American Sycamores will do fine as well.

6- Bill, no wild life around here. Just some foxes and that's it. What a shame...

This tree subject is blowing my mind. There are like 25 species in my list now and keeps expanding . Keep adding guys. Appreciate it.

Fatih, pecans are pretty easy to grow from the nut. I've done a lot of them. Yeah, they like moderate amounts of water and I've lost a couple of them in serious droughts. But the big Texas drought of 2010 also killed mature oaks and cedars.

Soak a pecan for about 10 days or so. Then put it in a container with a hole in the bottom so excess water can drain. Plant the nut about an inch below the top of the soil with the pointed end up. Keep the soil moderately moist. I plant 3 or 4 nuts per container and eliminate all but the best one.

If it doesn't work your investment is only the cost of the nut and the container.

Dave we have about five squirrels that have been doing their best to plant a whole grove of pecans for us near our house. I don't know if they are as particular as you putting the pointed end up though.

Lucky for them I'm not crazy about dark meat! A young bunch and they are funny to watch.

That is how most of our native pecans get "planted".