Tree recommendation (Maryland)

11 years ago

I need to cut down 5-6 large tulip popular trees on the woods line in the back yard due to storm damage. All of the trees in the woods are roughly 30-35 years old and are mostly tulip populars. The are 120' tall +/-. There is 1 hickory and a few small oaks near these trees are are doing well and will remain.

Once the trees are gone, I will be left with a fairly large, open area in the woods. I'd like to replace them with something, but hopefully not a popular.

What would grow well in my area (Maryland, Zone 7A) and native as I'd like to increase the biodiversity in the area. The woods were open farm fields 60-70 years ago and all of the current trees are first generation. Most (90%) are Tulip Populars. Where is the best place to get a few trees for this type of planting?

Thanks for the recommendations..

Scott

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Comments (8)

Iris GW
11 years ago
You might consider this chart when choosing a native tree and you want to increase biodiversity. Maple would be good if you don't have many of those (I have a lot so would not choose it); one black cherry would certainly provide a lot of native biomass.

And you may already know, but I see that Maryland Native Plant Society has a list of sources: http://mdflora.org/publications/nurseries.html

Here is a link that might be useful: top twenty native host trees
sam_md
11 years ago
Where is the best place to get a few trees for this type of planting? That's easy, the Irvine Native Plant Sale on August 25. The sale is free and open to the public and they will have everything your heart could desire.

Here is a link that might be useful: Irvine Science Center Plant Sale
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Herbal and Eric, Here's my two cents. I must say that I've found the comments by Scott, Harvestman and Jellyman the most useful for my purposes, living here in Maryland, and would take what they say very seriously. I agree with the suggestion to try persimmons for Herbal. I have found them to be trouble free (so far), though the branches may need support when they set fruit. They are also very pretty trees. I agree with Scott about quince. I have a variety supposedly more resistant to disease than others. Well, yes, it is, meaning that while it gets diseased it keeps on going. Unfortunately I lost all fruit on it last year to disease and it may serve as a disease reservoir for my other trees. Don't confuse regular quince with flowering quince, however, as they are different species. Flowering quince (chaenomeneles) have set plenty of fruit for me, and have beautiful flowers in the spring (but are ugly bushes the rest of the year). You can do many of the same things with their fruit as with regular quince (Cydonia). I'd also recommend figs, particularly Celeste, if you have a sheltered spot facing the south -- perhaps a south-facing wall. I am not sure how worried I would be about disease in Eric's case, with just a few trees on an acre. Scott has a lot of trees in a small space, which no doubt increases disease pressure. I have had relatively little problem with disease here in MD with fewer trees and good sun and air drainage and a late winter/early spring spray of lime-sulphur + oil. Some of the new disease-resistant apples really do avoid the big three diseases (Fire blight, cedar apple rust, and scab) and taste pretty good. You will still need to do something about insect pests. I've found the big three here in MD in my small orchard are: plum curculio, oriental fruit moth, and codling moth. Fruit moth is particularly hard to deal with without spraying and is my number one problem. I use a combination of Surround and bagging (search for posts on this), which works well on pears and apples for curculio and codling moth, but I have ended up spraying insecticide on stone fruit, since Surround simply has not stopped oriental fruit moth. The organically approved Spinosad has worked, but is not registered for the large number of sprays needed to stop this pest, so I ended up spraying permethrin last year. Regarding varieties, I agree with Scott about Montmorency sour cherry and with the need for netting. You might also put in a smaller North Star sour cherry, which I have found to do well. With apples the most disease resistant include Williams Pride (summer), Enterprise and Liberty; Goldrush has some disease resistance and certainly tastes better, but I believe it is susceptible to cedar apple rust, a common disease around here. With elderberries you will find that planting the selected varieties found in nurseries on line will give you a lot of fruit. Finally, Backyard fruit growers in Lancaster will be having their winter meeting on Saturday Jan 15 up near Lancaster, and this meeting will have a talk by Ike Kerschner of North Star Orchards near Philadelphia on fruit growing in this part of the world. He probably knows more about growing plums around here than anyone. If you have a day to spare, you might find this an interesting event. If you send me a personal message I'll send you notes I took from a talk Ike gave on plums last year. Here is a link that might be useful: Backyard Fruit Growers
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wisconsitom
11 years ago
Scott, inasmuch as this is woods, would there not be plenty of already-existing natural recruitment going on? Though I suppose much of that would be more Liriodendron, which apparently you don't favor (I love those things).

Any old go-to-hell patch of woods around here will regenerate very well on its own once an opening has been created, the only caveat being that depending on location, some of what regenerates could be invasive junk like buckthorn.

+oM
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
11 years ago
lets think outside your box for a moment ...

have you considered.. simply letting it be.. and watching mother nature renew the area.. subject to learning about the carp trees.. and simply discouraging weed plants ... [it doesnt sound like this is a sight block area]

you have offered nothing more.. in regard to facts.. other than there is a hole.. and i must fill it ...

i encourage you to enjoy this major change to your landscape.. and not hurry to 'fix' it ... tree planting time is either fall or spring ... not july/august.. so dont run out there now to plant trees ...

your county extension office.. probably has a handy pamphlet about such ..

ken

ps: what would i discourage.. seedling tulip poplars.. lol ... cottonwood.. buckthorn ... etc ... and the list could go on for miles ... any chance at a picture??? sounds pretty cool.. just the way it is ...
hogmanay
11 years ago
I really liked the tulip poplars and large oaks when I lived up in MD -- a great state for tree people.

Since you're looking for something new, I would suggest planting some Bald cypress (depending on where you are in MD). One of the most northern Bald cypress stands is in Calvert County MD, and there are stands elsewhere too. If the area is prone to getting soggy, they can be a real plus and visual treat.
jimbobfeeny
11 years ago
I suggest Sugar maple (sorry, Ken!). There is little else that can compete with it for overall beauty - Fall color, form, speed of growth - Everything about this tree is excellent. Another thing you could plant since this is a "hole", is eastern White Pine. They actually do pretty well in forest openings, and add a nice accent in the winter.
Dzitmoidonc
11 years ago
Sugar Maples are nice trees, but they struggle here in the Mid-Atlantic. High night time temps, wild temperature swings in the winter and summer droughts make for a ragged looking tree. I grew a bunch from seed collected at my sister's place in ME. The last one got to about 8ft. when I yanked it. Fall coloring was uneven. Some years I thought I had planted Norway maples because the leaves mostly turned brown. I thought the color would improve as they aged, but between the rabbits, the weather and my needing the space, they are gone and mourned, but I don't think I'll plant any others.

If I were planting a hole in the woods, I think I would look for Hickory, Holly and something like a Southern Magnolia. White Oaks are native, grow relatively fast and last a long time. Nyssa sylvatica grow well too. Nice color, straight growth and they make a clump.
jimbobfeeny
11 years ago
You could look for a more Southern genotype - It gets hot and dry around here occasionally, we have wild temperature swings in the winter (60 one day, 20 and snowing the next), and high night temps (If you call 71 a high nighttime temp), yet sugar maple flourishes. Young trees seem susceptible to leaf scorch, but it is superficial - Once a tree has been in the ground for 5 years, it looks better and better.

Tree recommendation (Maryland)

Comments (8)

Iris GW

sam_md

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