Yes, bur oak can take neutral to somewhat alkaline soil, as can swamp white oak, another great tree. In conifers, arbor vitae has decent tolerance to alkalinity. It is actually a calciphile-a lover of calcium-laden soils, which is not necessarily the case where you are.

Can you describe other environmental factors that could be at play here? Drought? Excessive heat? Extremely compacted soil?

I'm sure others will chime in with more ideas.

+oM

Pinus heldreichii (syn. P. leucodermis) is also well worth a try.

Resin

I bought a house that had couple of pin oaks in the backyard. They struggle here because of alkaline soils binding up some of the trace minerals they need, especially iron. So, they get chlorotic.

I found that adding a bag of greensand at the drip line once a year made the difference. One died before I tried this approach. But the other one has simply taken off growing and is now thriving.

That might not be your problem, but, if you don't mind spending a little extra, you might give it a try.

My neighbors have a red maple growing in caliche soil and looked terrible for 2 years until I suggested they try greensand and mulching. What do I know.... the red maple tree took off and thrived, growing 3-4 feet last year. Time will tell if it can survive for a long time...

Get a soil test to find out just what you have. You may have a salinity problem, or you may have a high sodium soil producing alkali. The white powder on the surface suggests one or both of these are the problem, in which salts from the soil come to the surface with moisture, which evaporates leaving the salt behind as a white powder, and eventually accumulating to the point you have this problem. Whether you can restore the soil to health depends on how the problem got there.

Talk to your local ag extension agent about your soil test results for recommendations on clearing up the problem with the soil and for suggestions on trees which will grow well in your area on these types of soils. If you can remove the salt, the trees you have should do fine.

If you have a highly alkaline/sodic soil, the use of gypsum can help while you clean the salts out of the soil. In addition, ferrous sulphate can help offset the iron chlorosis these trees may have, which is caused by the high pH tying up the iron in the soil, then the trees will become much healthier. But, you will need to treat the soil problem or you will never be able to do much with trees.

If you can treat the problem, you will have an excellent chance of growing many different kinds of trees. Where I live had a similar problem--50 years ago when my dad bought the place the soil surface was pure white, nothing grew but one small, sickly box elder. After getting help from the extension agent and soil conservationists, he cured the problem leading to the salt accumulation, and within a couple years had trees growing which are now over 100 feet high in some cases.

Good advice from beeone, but curing salt accumulation problems is often neither easy nor inexpensive. It often requires putting in subsurface tile, drainage or diversion systems to keep the water that is too high in salt from getting to the area to be protected.

But, if that is where you live and you want to grow much, if salt is the problem, you won't have many other choices. You can't amend your way out of a salt problem. You have to control it then let the salt flush out of the soil over time.

I would have a soil test done. I live where the soil is alkaline: ph 8.5. But, I'm in Texas and it's alkaline due the soft limestone base combined with shallow soil and lack of rainfall. I'm orginally from WI and the only commonality is the limestone base, which gave soils in WI a neutral ph.

Discuss the soil test results and your problem with your county agent(as we call them in the states) or if the don't have county agents in Canada, it would be a forestry agent(?)

Nurseries often sell trees from good quality local seed. A good nursery will cater to local soil conditions. However, if you have an unusual environmental condition that is causing what sounds like a possible salt issue, it is best to determine it first.

Kerry,
There are alot of people from Manitoba and in and around Winnipeg on the far north forum, that may be "intimately" familiar with your soil and what you may be able to grow successfully there. You might want to post your question there also.
Koren

Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) and Boxelder (Acer negundo) are quite tolerant of alkaline and even compacted soils. I would only plant the boxelder as a last resort, and if you do plant a boxelder, make sure you plant a male tree.
tl³