Wednesday, August 16, 2023

If I had to plant some acreage to trees...

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.

15 comments:

  1. I love trees.
    How is your food hedge coming?

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  2. Planting good, useful trees is good, foreward thinking.
    irontomflint

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  3. Ironwood is tough stuff (hophornbeam).
    Folks 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.

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    Replies
    1. hophornbeam

      I have loads of it in seed now. Decent tree with some wildlife value. Not a deer tree, maybe.

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    2. Dulls my chainsaw to cut it.... amazing stuff. Axe won't touch it.

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  4. Bur 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.

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  5. Nice selection and a great gift to the future. --ken

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  6. Pawpaw is deer tolerant and a host for swallowtail butterflies.

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    Replies
    1. Paw Paw is a good understory tree and the fruit is delicious.

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  7. I have loads of braked hazel. It doesn't produce many nuts especially if not in direct sun.

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  8. Black 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.

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  9. I have a beautiful tall Linden in my front yard and half a billion seeds on the lawn.

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