|
| My future home is 40 acres in middle Tennessee, my land is mostly covered with shallow rooted trees on sandy churty soil, so they fall over occasionally which can be dangerous! I worry about my future home and its survival! I would like to start planting a deeper rooted variety that would give the tree more strength and a better chance to last longer and be safer. Does anyone have any ideas of trees that would work better in this type of soil and area? |
Follow-Up Postings:
|
| Chert is described as decayed flinty limestone. I am in middle TN and have some chert but it is mixed in brown and red clay. In fact when it is dry it is about as hard as concrete. I've never seen sandy cherty soil here. Where in mid TN will you be locating? The most common native trees in the Central (Nashville) Basin are hackberry, various elms, black walnut, ash, sugar maple, shumard and yellow chestnut oak and redcedar. I don't think I've ever seen them fall over without the help of straight line winds or a tornado. |
|
- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Fri, Nov 30, 12 at 7:26
| hi congrats on your new future ... a common misconception.. is that tree root grow down.. into the earth ... thats not really what happens ... regardless of the soil ... below are two pix of what a large maple did.. in sand.. which is just about the opposite of hard rocky soil ... it just didnt put its roots down very far ... you solve your issue.. by proper siting of your future trees ... i would suggest.. for something like an oak with a vast lifespan.. and vast potential.. that they be no closer than 30 feet from the house ... which means .. basically.. that in your lifetime.. they are not going to shade your house ... so i would suggest.. you get that out of your head now ... one usually buys a house with the mature trees already there ... at least that is what i learned AFTER the fact ... and even then.. there are all kinds of problems ... one other variable.. would be the prevalent wind direction in storm season [if any] .... and your local county extension office might have that info ... so that extreme weather .. has the potential to blow your trees away from the house ... when you get to the point of choosing trees ... stay away from anything that is MARKETED as fast growing ... there are many very good trees that grow fast enough ... but the ones with the hype.. are usually the one that end up be problematic ... there really is no FAST ... when it comes to a tree that could live 50 to 100 years.. and beyond ... again.. your county extension or soil conservation offices.. should be able to provide information .. on good trees for your area ... and i am sure ... those here will also have ideas ... good luck ken, the other one.. lol. .. ps: if there is a prevalent summer wind direction [as compared to storm season prevalence].. what i have found.. is that your primary protection from the sun is your roof ... attic ventilation.. and insulation ... and if you shade THE LAWN ... you will be surprised how much cooler the air will feel.. with the wind coming across shade .. toward the house ... pps: are there any trees currently on the site ... that is another issue .... advise if so .... and perhaps start a new post in that regard ....
|
|
| ken adrian-you were here first. I am the "other one" lol. |
|
- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Fri, Nov 30, 12 at 12:57
| no.. you won the post-a-thon ... only answers in this post matter.. in the race.. lol ... ken |
|
| I would like to dig a bit deeper re this unusual question. Hopefully the questioner will return with more information. Is the mentioned 40 acres heavily wooded or have sections with trees close together and...are you seeing trees fall randomly in this type of situation? Or, is it isolated, individual mature trees standing alone which suddenly keel over? Generally the root systems of trees growing close to each other tend to intertwine which helps to anchor the neighboring trees. Answers to these questions may help with decisions to be made. Sounds as though house design and orientation should be carefully considered in this situation. You are wise to study all the site/future landscape problems before signing off on a building plan. |
|
- Posted by fineartmarcella (My Page) on Fri, Nov 30, 12 at 14:30
| I thought about it and most of the trees are elm, they are about 30-40 feet tall (guessing) and they do occasionly topal over and the root system seems very small. It usually does happen during storms but they are in a wooded area for sure. I guess kenptn z6b, it isn't sand then and thank you for the proper spelling of 'chert', my land is all hills and all chert, I had one of the little hills dug out to use the chert on my driveways, it is a pretty red clay color and does last. The trees that are growing there grow fast and easy all over my land, I have to bushhog the open areas a couple times a year or I will have tall baby trees growing all over it. Of course there is a constant supply of soft pine tree seeds from the paper company's land they sold to the Elephant Sanctuary. I want to plant some trees with substance as the others end, I remember seeing a chart in a nursery once that showed the top and bottom growth of many types of trees but can't find that chart. Some trees had very deep root systems, some shallow. I guess what I am going for is the deeper rooted ones but just need to know which ones are that... |
|
- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Fri, Nov 30, 12 at 15:57
| I remember seeing a chart in a nursery once that showed the top and bottom growth of many types of trees but can't find that chart. ==>> i would like to see that chart also ... any chance at some pix of your nirvana??? ken |
|
- Posted by wisconsitom 4/5 WI (My Page) on Fri, Nov 30, 12 at 17:03
| Plus now, if I'm reading you right, you need species that will hold up to elephants! +oM |
|
| Okay, you are in Lewis County, the county seat of which is Hohenwald. You are also in the Central Basin as I thought. The eastern side of the basin, near where I am, has lousy, shallow soil underlain with limestone bedrock. The western side has much better and deeper soils. I am on the Eastern Highland Rim which is different still. The pines are loblolly, Pinus taeda, and are considered 'hard pines', their needles are what is baled and sold as pine straw. I suspect I know what chart you are referring to. It is pretty much been disproved (see Ken's picture). It shows the below ground parts of a tree as a mirror image of the above ground parts, which is thoroughly bogus. I have three suggestions. Contact your county extension agent. His office is in the county courthouse in Hohenwald. He will come out and look at your land with you and can answer your questions about your soil, trees etc. Contact your area state forester. Christy Gearhiser 931.729.3535. The state will soon have a list of seedlings that I think will be available at very reasonable cost starting in Jan. Talk to your neighbors. If there are any farmers or old timers they will likely know much about the soils, water table, depth to water, sweet or sulfur etc. They can be a wealth of information. |
|
- Posted by fineartmarcella (My Page) on Fri, Nov 30, 12 at 22:23
| Thank you kenptn, that sounds about right, I am heading down in January and will do what you said to do. wisconsitom, hehe, the cutie elephants don't come to my place (big double fence in the way), but they sure do love to eat those pine tree saplings! haha I will be interested in seeing what the extension agent has to say! Thank you everyone for your help! |
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Trees Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.