Keep or remove an American Elm?

12 years ago

While cleaning out an overgrown bed at the back of my property, I discovered what I believe to be an American Elm growing in the shadow of a much larger tree. It's about 12 feet tall and 2 inches in diameter. Don't know how it got there because I don't see any sign of other elms anywhere around.

It looks healthy, and would actually make a nice tree in that location later, if it survived Dutch Elm disease.

My original intention was to clean out the whole bed and replace with ornamentals, but I could leave the tree there and work around it. Would prefer not to keep it just to have it die in 5-10 years and need to be removed.

Any thoughts? Are any homeowners successful fighting DED on their own? I don't mind some work, but if I'm ultimately likely to lose, I'd rather save the time and money.

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Comments (13)

Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
12 years ago
Neat. Sounds like a minimal investment to get what could be a great tree.

What part of the country are you in?

My neighbor has a siberian elm he is growing to see what it turns into....can you tell the difference?

If not use photobucket to post a couple pictures.
alexander3_gw
12 years ago
I know the appeal of letting a volunteer tree stand, but if you want an American elm, I wouldn't bother with it. You can get your tree injected with a preventative fungicide every couple years ($$) for the rest of your life, or you can get a 3 foot 'Princeton' American elm delivered for about $25. Mine has grown 4 to 5 feet a year for the first three years.

BTW, the 'Princeton" American elm has good resistance to Dutch elm disease. 'Valley Forge' does as well, but is much harder to manage...it is very floppy when young, it doesn't want to grow straight up whereas 'Princeton' has good form on it's own.

Alex
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rc, without seeing the thing, I'm guessing it's nothing to worry about. Am. Elms, for all their ultimate grandeur, are not especially strong and handsome in youth. Everything just kind of flops all over the place and then ten or twenty years later, there's a big, straight-trunked tree. I personally wouldn't bother slinging the thing up. If the branch pokes you in the eye, or just looks wrong to your eyes, shorten or remove it. You won't hurt the tree. I s'pose this is one case where, if you prune it at this time of year, when elm beetles may be present, you should seal the wound with tree paint. IIRC, Princeton is resistant to DED, not immune. +oM
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I have several wild American Elm growing on my property near Waco, Tx. I still have at least one of these potted (about 2' tall). IF someone wants it, I will send it to you bare-rooted free of charge up until end of April, except you must agree to post here annually its growth results and agree to at least weekly watering if no rainfall during spring -fall for first year. Our American Elm here appear to be DED- free, but the trees are much shorter than described back east. Our native Cedar Elm appear to be the better choice for here, but the few large American Elm growing only along river and creek beds do look nice. I am not an expert on American Elm, only an interested observer on the western fringes of their territory.
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Yeah, you'll be good either way. I don't believe in any ratio, ie 30%, etc. of live crown. Each tree is too much an individual thing, plus, so much of my background is in municipal forestry, where we have to accommodate competing interests, leading to my having seen literally thousands upon thousands of trees, perhaps pruned a bit too heavily, still bounce back as though nothing had happened. That said, you've got the right idea, and if you want to take it a little slower, all the better. As to straightening out, this gets a little nuanced for some folks. Basically, a new tree is going to grow over the outside (but within the bark, of course)of that old tree, this, and all growing seasons to come. So no tissue already in place is going to change its orientation, but new growth will nevertheless drastically change how that tree occupies its spot. Gravity and phototropism are the two big forces which cause trees to grow more or less at right angles to the earth's surface they happen to be located on. Obvious exceptions are where a tree is overhung by other trees or shade-producing objects, where you'll see them arching out away from whatever it is shading them. Trees along river banks are a classic example. But that too is phototropism. Anyway, I think that very generally, the tree will appear to "straighten up". I had a linden tree on the terrace one time, where the property owner didn't like that it had a little streetward sway in the trunk. The tree had already been there for maybe 8 or 10 years, and she couldn't believe I couldn't just push on it to get it "straight"! But the point is, nobody would ever look at that tree today and know this had ever been a (perceived) problem. It's crown-reaching for light-is perfectly aligned, the trunk has fattened considerably, and that little tiny sway is hidden deep inside. I think your tree will do roughly the same, with the one caveat being that we can't predict what other storm winds, etc. may still mess with it in the future.
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dsieber
12 years ago
Sounds like you have a mystery tree. If you have the space I would let it play out. A gamble but for all you know it could be something special.
dave11
Original Author
12 years ago
Actually, this evening I walked back into the woods behind my property and found a similar elm, about 50 feet away, but not in sight of this sapling. So I'd guess that was the source.

I know it would make sense to replace it with a better elm, but in fact, I wasn't planning to plant an elm there at all. I already have enough big trees around, so if I removed it, I'd plant other things there. Guess I'm just looking for a rationale not to kill it.
Iris GW
12 years ago
Yours might be the next discovery for resistance!

Besides, did you definitely confirm that it is a American elm and not a chinese/siberian volunteer?
civ_IV_fan
12 years ago
if i let all the volunteers grow, i would live in the middle of a mulberry and sumac forest. i second the recommendation that if you want an elm, get the princeton or one of the disease-resistant hybrids. OTOH, if you have a bunch of land, maybe it isn't such a big deal.
dave11
Original Author
12 years ago
Not sure how to be sure it's American Elm. Here are a couple pics.

http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq8/steelm2007/elm1.jpg

http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq8/steelm2007/elm2.jpg
lkz5ia
12 years ago
I'd say get rid of it, looks too close to the spruce.
dave11
Original Author
12 years ago
There's some room between the elm and the spruce, though 20 years from now they would be crowded. But my plan would be to take down the spruce first. The biggest reason being it takes up a lot of space at the back of my property that I might need to reclaim, especially if I ever put up a fence.
j0nd03
12 years ago
If it were me, I would take it out. And if I really wanted a tree there, I would plant something with a MUCH smaller mature presence and keep the spruce. Though I may be biased as we don't have any spruce like that around here to appreciate.
gurule_y_yahoo_com
12 years ago
Would like to knw hw to get rid of these elm trees taking over!
gurule_y_yahoo_com
12 years ago
Would like to knw hw to get rid of these elm trees taking over!
scotjute Z8
12 years ago
We have American Elm growing wild down here, few and scattered but doing well. DED has not yet made it down here. Ours aren't nearly so majestic as the ones back east, but they are nice trees. I'd probably leave it.

Keep or remove an American Elm?

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Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis

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Keep or remove an American Elm?

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