I am throwing this on the blog because this is a durable place to store my current thoughts. This is what I think I would plant in Eaton County, Michigan if I had the opportunity.
Hard Mast
- Red Oak Clade (Northern Red Oak high ground, Nuttall Oak low ground)
- White Oak Clade (Burr Oak, White Oak)
- Pecan/Shagbark(Ford Rd)/Shellbark
- Chestnut (Szedgo seedlings, good crop 2023)
- Black Walnut (Sparks 147, Barry County timber-type, Hay)
- Hazelnut (understory)
Soft Mast/understory
- Persimmon (Lehman’s Delight seedlings) --- late-seasons soft mast ---
- Mulberry --- early soft mast ---
- Prunus hybrids (AU Rubrum x South Dakota or Niobrara select P. americana) ---mid soft mast---
Timber/wetlands/cover
- Bald Cypress
- Norway Spruce
- European Alder (Nitrogen fixing)
Miscellaneous/biomass/placeholders to help trees self-prune
- Linden aka American Basswood. Need to find mother trees with good form
- Black Locust (poles, firewood, nitrogen fixing)
- Hybrid Poplar or Willow every third row (placeholder/encourage self pruning)
- Maybe Catalpa
- Manchurian ash(?)
Not on the list:
- Silver or Sugar Maple (over-represented in most of Eaton County)
- Elm (short life)
- Birch (short life)
- Hackberry (will self-seed from outside)
- Black Cherry (will self-seed from outside)
- Red Cedar (alternate host for Cedar-apple rust)
I want to have a wide range tree genus represented. It is not enough to have different species because I could plant ten different oak species and they would all be susceptible to Oak Wilt and Gypsy Moths.
By my count, the list represents at least fifteen different genus: Quercus, Carya, Castanea, Juglans, Corylus, Diospyros, Morus, Prunus, Taxodium, Picea, Alnus, Tilia, Robinia, Populus, Salix, Catalpa, Fraxinus.
That means I have a lot of bets placed around the roulette wheel.
I love trees.
ReplyDeleteHow is your food hedge coming?
Planting good, useful trees is good, foreward thinking.
ReplyDeleteirontomflint
Ironwood is tough stuff (hophornbeam).
ReplyDeleteFolks talking about milkweed stands lately due to problems with the monarch population... are there any species specific trees that would also fit into your other nets? E.g. Woolly Barred Rock Owls only nest in _____ type Oak tree's? That sorts thing.
hophornbeam
DeleteI have loads of it in seed now. Decent tree with some wildlife value. Not a deer tree, maybe.
Dulls my chainsaw to cut it.... amazing stuff. Axe won't touch it.
DeleteBur Oak and Pecan / Hickory are great choices. Here in Kansas I would drop in a Osage orange or two, They are tougher than black locust but both are great. Maybe a paw paw patch as well. Persimmon will need male and female to produce fruit. Not a Catalpa fan, however.
ReplyDeleteOh, and Sassafras
DeleteNice selection and a great gift to the future. --ken
ReplyDeletePawpaw is deer tolerant and a host for swallowtail butterflies.
ReplyDeletePaw Paw is a good understory tree and the fruit is delicious.
DeleteI have loads of braked hazel. It doesn't produce many nuts especially if not in direct sun.
ReplyDeleteBlack Adler is considered invasive. Speckled Adler might do as a nitrogen source. I have wondered why west coast tree type red Adler isn't used.
ReplyDeleteRock elm is fairly long lived.
ReplyDeleteNo fruit tree?
ReplyDeleteI have a beautiful tall Linden in my front yard and half a billion seeds on the lawn.
ReplyDelete