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Keep or remove an American Elm?
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Posted by
dave11 6A (
My Page) on
Thu, Jul 14, 11 at 19:34
| 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. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Keep or remove an American Elm?
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| 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. |
RE: Keep or remove an American Elm?
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| 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 |
RE: Keep or remove an American Elm?
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- Posted by dsieber z5 Lakewood CO (My Page) on
Thu, Jul 14, 11 at 21:28
| 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. |
RE: Keep or remove an American Elm?
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| 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. |
RE: Keep or remove an American Elm?
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| 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? |
RE: Keep or remove an American Elm?
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| 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. |
RE: Keep or remove an American Elm?
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| 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 |
RE: Keep or remove an American Elm?
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- Posted by lkz5ia z5 west iowa (My Page) on
Fri, Jul 15, 11 at 12:10
| I'd say get rid of it, looks too close to the spruce. |
RE: Keep or remove an American Elm?
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| 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. |
RE: Keep or remove an American Elm?
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- Posted by j0nd03 7 west/central AR (My Page) on
Fri, Jul 15, 11 at 12:52
| 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. |
RE: Keep or remove an American Elm?
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| Would like to knw hw to get rid of these elm trees taking over! |
RE: Keep or remove an American Elm?
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| Would like to knw hw to get rid of these elm trees taking over! |
RE: Keep or remove an American Elm?
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| 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. |
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