Shade tree suggestions
Fernanda Mullaghy
8 years ago
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Shade tree suggestions for heavy clay soil?
Comments (16)Scarlet Oaks do nicely in slightly acidic clay soil. You found out when digging the hole, the fact that clay not only holds on to water very well, it also quickly releases the moisture it contains into voids in the soil. You dug a hole and not only the rain filled it with water, but all the water in the clay soil around the hole kept filling the hole until the water pressure in the hole became close to the same as the water pressure in the soil. Then as evaporation occurs the water which turns into vapor and rises away is replaced with more moisture from the soil, until there is not enough water in the clay soil to replace that which has evaporated. At that point the clay will begin to absorb enough of the water in the hole to once again bring the pressure of the water in the soil to be equal with the water pressure in the hole. Only once that process begins to happen will you be able to notice the water level in the hole beginning to lower. This is the very reason why it is a bad idea to dig a hole in clay, plant the tree, and backfill with a different kind of soil. In that case the backfill soil will remain full of water, not only from rain and your watering but also from being kept filled with water that the virgin clay soil is holding. The backfill soil needs to be the same as the virgin soil which came out of the hole. By doing so the pressures remain more even and the there is much less of a void in to soil situation presented. This is also why it is bad to plant a root ball that is full of potting soil directly into clay. Instead as much as possible of the potting soil need to be washed away from the rootball mass and refilled with the virgin clay soil as what is found around the planting hole. That is why it is best to plant trees when they are in their dormant stage. If for any reason you want to amend the clay soil where your tree is to be planted, there must be amendment fairly evenly mixed into the virgin soil for a very wide spreading area. The more clay ratio in the virgin soil the farther spreading you planting bed needs to be that you amend. The amended area needs to be at least 6 times, if not more the width of the tree's rootball. Also, plant the tree with the rootflare about 3 to 4 inches above the soil level. After the tree is securely planted, and staked if needed, only then back fill the exposed 3-4 inches of raised rootball with a good quality and fairly finely shredded cedar mulch. Just make certain you do not pile any mulch above the topmost part of the rootflare. The trunk should not appear to look more like a post sticking out of the ground. Instead you should be able to just see where the topmost part of the root flare is growing out of the trunk. Finally never pile any mulch all the way against the trunk, make certain to leave all mulch at least 4 or more inches away from the base of the tree's trunk....See MoreFast Growing Shade Tree Suggestion
Comments (6)Thank you for the suggestions. I'm looking for a fast growing tree that is going to be similar in size to the red maple if not a little bit bigger. I don't want something that is going to be giant, but also not something that is going to be too small. I also don't have a preference on evergreen or deciduous....See MoreDallas Front Yard Shade Tree Suggestions
Comments (28)corkball1, There are probably some Black Gums around Dallas, but only one I recall seeing was at the arboretum. Suspect it would have to be pampered some to do well in the alkaline leaning soils common here. Am going to have to go back and check out the arboretum tree this fall to see if it turns that wonderful red ... believe it's the champion tree for the DFW area. davidrt28, I actually believe Mexican Sugar Maple would probably grow pretty well in the soil here thanks to its alkaline tolerance. It's just that local reliability in zone 8a clay, form, and even actual parentage of SFAU's openly pollinated seedlings are still largely uncertain this early in the domestication process. Someone interested in this tree can read the fairly recent status provided on page 197 (PDF page 18) of this SNA conference Plant Breeding and Evaluation paper to decide if its attributes make it worth chasing one down at this stage. One of a few I would be willing to gamble with if we still had the space of a two acre suburban lot. With the work in progress and five more native distributions to consider, seems very likely that reliable selections/hybrids of good color and form will eventually be available through Dallas area nurseries....See MoreShade Tree Suggestions
Comments (3)Another I'm considering is Dawn Redwood. My only concern is cold tolerance. From what I can find, there seems to be a number of people having success with them in MN. Anyone have one and how has it fared?...See MoreFernanda Mullaghy
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoFernanda Mullaghy
8 years agoFernanda Mullaghy
8 years agoMike McGarvey
8 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years agoFernanda Mullaghy
8 years agoDan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
8 years agoFernanda Mullaghy
8 years ago
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