Did I tell you about the Big Poplar Tree at My Riverhouse....

[bjcsc]

Re: Did I tell you about the Big Poplar Tree at My Riverhouse....

What is it with all the paranoia about big trees. Some of them have been here for hundreds of years. My house is surrounded by trees that are 100 feet tall or better, they were here before I got here, and will be here when I am dead and gone. You cant replace a big old tree like that. I see it all the time around here. People buy a wooded lot. Clear all of the great old trees and plant some crap trees that are not even native to the area. Never could figure that out.

Well it really depends on the types of trees. Oaks, Hickory, real hardwoods are probably OK to leave. Poplar, Bradford Pear, PIne, Sweetgum, etc. don't have the longevity and can cause a lot of damage, esp. if they are somewhere they can get loaded with ice. When I cleared for my place, I left a lot of the the big trees in the pastures, both for shade and because I tried to keep as many around as I could. With the other trees gone, the ones left were tall and spindly. Over the last 3 years, don't know if it was the equipment or the horses, they have steadily died, crashing through my fences, bending my gates...the same thing happens in new developments. If they don't keep the heavy equipment 30' away from a tree it's a goner within 3 years. And that's hard to do when they're packing the houses in on 1/2 acre lots...

Here's a pic of the part of my place that I cleared. You can see my barn lower left and house upper left. 2/3 of the trees that you can see in the cleared areas (my pastures) are gone now...