Silver Maple Spacing from Driveway
Daniel Central IN, Zone 6a
7 years ago
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cecily
7 years agoToronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Large Silver Maple Dilemma
Comments (6)Did you try the tree forum? It is frequented by folks who know something about tree removal as well as tree types and they may have some alternatives or ideas. That said, I also have a silver maple, though not removing mine at present. I would think, you can do whatever you want, but you have to decide what you want to end up with. A major difficulty in growing stuff under a silver maple is the competition from the LIVING tree, which sucks up water and sends more roots/rootlets wherever you water or fertilize. Second, the act of digging, planting, adding soil etc over the living tree roots can hurt the tree so is always a balance when gardening under a tree. Third the live tree makes lots of baby trees. I suspect all of that would be less of a problem with a dead tree! But, you would still have big humpy roots. So of course you can cut down the tree and leave stuff behind in the ground. You just have to decide how you think you will like it--and of course you could do something later. Since you can often get groundcovers to grow under a maple, you could probably get good coverage over the area once the tree is dead. However, you would have different sun/shade issues so would have to take that into account. You could also grind out holes/areas for shrubs amongst the groundcover, but would have to consider what it all would look like with stump, roots. Someone else may have tried this and had good or bad results...See Moredo ground silver maple stumps sprout?
Comments (4)Thanks for the responses. Well, I ended up deciding to get the stumps and main roots pulled up - a man came with a "skidster" - okay - I did not realize how much this would compact the ground around the work area. Lots of lawn also torn up - those roots were massive. I am glad the trees were cut as out driveway and sidewalks would have been affected in a few years. So, with ripping all those roots out I was able to plant replacement trees right away - we needed to put something in these areas. So then I had the pleasure of learning how to plant grass seed in the damaged areas. Thankfully we are now blessed with cool rainy weather for several days. Okay, now ready to stop landscaping for a while!...See MoreSilver Maple 2 diam limb removed: what to do now?
Comments (19)that's just it, these persons above said nothing about less desirable characteristics (even that varies i.e. some may like the seeds as toys for their kids to play with). They only rail about the Silver Maple, and say cut it down etc with no explanation or reasons stated. Besides with a trunk of 4 feet, I'm confident the original poster is quiet familiar with all the "features" of a silver maple as it has been there for a good while. The original poster also said nothing of where it was planted etc., only asked for advice as to how to best try to SAVE the tree. And in this case, it sounds like most of the damage was at least a few feet away from the main trunk, and for all we know, it could have easily been lighting that caused the original split (seen that more than a few times as I live in a fairly active t-storm area). I agree don't plant them 3 feet away from your house/driveway etc., but what large tree would you suggest be planted close to these structures. I would have no reservations about planting them away from or perhaps on the east side (our storms come from the west) these structures if I wanted to. I personally prefer large trees with better fall color, but I do see the positives of them....See MoreShould I take a chance on Silver Maple?
Comments (20)If you are very careful and attentive, you can have a nice Silver Maple...they need to be trained to keep them away from the limb-splitting form that wants to develop. Most people aren't that attentive though. I've seen plenty of ugly ones and a handful of pretty nice ones which central trunks and no or very few narrow crotches. I had two of these trees in my parents' yard growing up; a male and a female. Obviously, this was a bad combination; seeds were everywhere in late spring, followed by seedlings of course. It was neat to see them bloom as they were usually first, even earlier than Red Maple, but the flowers aren't very attractive; more of a novelty. The form of the trees was untidy (previous property owners were NOT attentive at all), and of course, storms made it worse as limbs would break off and my parents had no money to hire tree trimmers every time there was a break, so they just got uglier with age. Finally my parents' got some inheritance when my grandparents died and among other things, took them both down. I miss the shade, but not the trees themselves....See Morewisconsitom
7 years agoDaniel Central IN, Zone 6a
7 years agoToronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
7 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
7 years agoEmbothrium
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoCaldwell Home & Garden
7 years agowisconsitom
7 years agoCaldwell Home & Garden
7 years agoDaniel Central IN, Zone 6a
7 years agoCaldwell Home & Garden
7 years agoddifranco
7 years agowisconsitom
7 years agoDaniel Central IN, Zone 6a
7 years agoedlincoln
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agowisconsitom
7 years agoDaniel Central IN, Zone 6a
7 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
7 years agoDaniel Central IN, Zone 6a
7 years agoEmbothrium
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agowisconsitom
7 years agolongtee81 (Zone 5a)
7 years ago
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