Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction Most undesirable trees

I have been cutting and piling brush from choke cherry and slippery elm. I think they are two of the most undesirable trees to have around. They, along with mimosa, privet, and thorny locust, are my most disliked trees. The tops are so gnarly and grow so many directions that the brush is even hard to stack. Good riddance.

Would most agree? Any other trash trees for the list?

Willows and cottonwoods around the pond require constant management for me. Honey or black locust whichever has the thorns are also native here and are tough on the tires. Great firewood but I don't want to have to mess with the thorns.

John, maybe you could use some of these trees/shrubs to built habitat in your BOW. I know that I could use a lot more...

Chokecherrys are used as landscaping trees pretty popular in Lincoln - have an edible berry and get nice red foliage in Autumn. I'm not sure I've encountered them in the wild. I think a 3' tree/bush goes for about $100 in nursery - John maybe you have a cash crop!

Mulberry, buckthorn and honey suckle(not really a tree) are my biggest problems. Honey suckle is the toughest for me to get rid of as the rhizomes spread everywhere!

Not to mention you can make "cherry bounce" from the cherries!!!

Black willow, multiflora rose, Russian olive, and amur honeysuckle.

Chokecherries are a common wild shrubby tree in much of the West. Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado have them in abundance. The fruits provide food for many species.
When I lived in Logan, Utah back in the '70s, we could walk around town in late fall catching drunken robins, cedar waxwings, evening grosbeaks, and others that were over the line from too many fermented chokecherries.
The Moose Wilson road in Grand Teton National Park is lined with chokes on the northern end, and as such, is a great place to view both black and grizzly bears in the fall.
I've got an opened jar of chokecherry syrup in the fridge right now.
The trees are festooned with fragrant blossoms in late spring, but often there are no honeybees working them, something I find odd.

Almost all the plants on my place have thorns and I have to say that the Honey Locust or thorny locust is my arch enemy. They can really teach you patience while clearing. Instead of bulldogging an arm full and dragging to the brush pile, you have to carry one branch at a time and the branch will need to be cut short so it's easy to handle. My old ford tractor had to be fitted with solid filled tires to avoid making the tire repair shop owner retire early.

The Osage Orange can be a real buggar to deal with and keep pleasant looking, but I really like the fact that they supply plenty of late winter forage for the squirrels. Once the walnuts and acorns are ate up, they come out to get the hedge apples in January which yields some nice winter hunting.

Besides the pesky thorn trees, poison ivy, cats brier, grape vines, multiflora rose, and stick tights can all get small tree size at my place. I just cleared an old fence line and found a poison ivy vine 2 inches in diameter and with the support of a dead tree it grew 8 feet tall. I can usually avoid the ivy rash, but not this time! I am waiting on spring now to continue that fight with herbicide once it tries to come back from the roots.

QA -

I have the same issues as you with everything having thorns or being poisonous! Between the poison ivy (up to 2" thick vines also) and chiggers, it can be miserable. I have everything you mention minus the locusts (that I know of) plus lots of Huisache and some Hackberry.

No shortage of work with all of the undesirables!

We used to have a LOT of chiggers. Then we got 5 years of drought and no more chiggers. Also, very few scorpions seem to have made it.

Of course, I was dead wrong when I thought the fire ants were history.

Honey Locust and Mesquite