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Old 22-10-2004, 04:39 PM
Ted Shoemaker
 
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Default What is a trash tree?

Hello,

I have heard and read the expression "trash tree", but I don't know
what it means. If some trees are going to be offensive to my
neighbors, I want to know before I plant it! (And it's not as simple
as just asking my neighbors before buying. Lots of people don't know,
for example, what a blackgum, buckeye, or Euonymus is.)

So,
(1) What does the expression "trash tree" mean?
(2) How/where do I find out, before buying and planting, whether
species XYZ is a trash tree?

Thank you very much!

Ted Shoemaker
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Old 22-10-2004, 06:13 PM
Marley1372
 
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"trash trees" are trees that have short life spans, grow very fast, and have
weak wood. You could also use the trem to decribe trees that drop a large
amount of nasty fruit, large leaves, branches and the like. I dont know what
area you are in, but here in the midwest, trees like poplar, willow, silver
maple, sycamore, and paulownia fit this description.

Toad
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Old 22-10-2004, 07:48 PM
Doug Kanter
 
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"Marley1372" wrote in message
...
"trash trees" are trees that have short life spans, grow very fast, and

have
weak wood. You could also use the trem to decribe trees that drop a large
amount of nasty fruit, large leaves, branches and the like. I dont know

what
area you are in, but here in the midwest, trees like poplar, willow,

silver
maple, sycamore, and paulownia fit this description.

Toad


Sycamores don't drop stuff. They throw it, and sometimes with alarming
accuracy. :-)


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Old 23-10-2004, 08:21 AM
gregpresley
 
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Usually your county extension office can send you a list of trees NOT
recommended for your area (particularly for street trees). That list will
include most trees that are "trashy" in your area. In the northeast, Norway
maples are trashy - where I live they are behave relatively decently. Silver
maples are on nearly everyone's list, because of their propensity to drop
enormous limbs without warning - hence sometimes called widow-maker trees.
Cottonwoods and other poplars have similar behavior. Other trash trees are
in the eye of the beholder. No one who has ever stepped on a horse chestnut
(buckeye), a sweetgum ball, or a sycamore ball with a barefoot would ever
deliberately plant one in his yard. However, the fruit is not quite reason
enough to cut down what might otherwise be a gorgeous healthy tree. I
imagine that some people in the midwest have similar sentiments about osage
orange. And catalpas, while gorgeous in flower, can also drop limbs
occasionally, and for sure lots of big pods which don't go away by
themselves...
"Ted Shoemaker" wrote in message
om...
Hello,

I have heard and read the expression "trash tree", but I don't know
what it means. If some trees are going to be offensive to my
neighbors, I want to know before I plant it! (And it's not as simple
as just asking my neighbors before buying. Lots of people don't know,
for example, what a blackgum, buckeye, or Euonymus is.)

So,
(1) What does the expression "trash tree" mean?
(2) How/where do I find out, before buying and planting, whether
species XYZ is a trash tree?

Thank you very much!

Ted Shoemaker



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Old 24-10-2004, 05:35 PM
simy1
 
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(Ted Shoemaker) wrote in message . com...
Hello,

I have heard and read the expression "trash tree", but I don't know
what it means. If some trees are going to be offensive to my
neighbors, I want to know before I plant it! (And it's not as simple
as just asking my neighbors before buying. Lots of people don't know,
for example, what a blackgum, buckeye, or Euonymus is.)

So,
(1) What does the expression "trash tree" mean?


a tree with undesirable qualities, of course.

(2) How/where do I find out, before buying and planting, whether
species XYZ is a trash tree?


Here is alist of undesirable qualities:

1) a poor shape when full grown
2) a tendency to have diseased limbs (partially covered by others, but
those limbs make widows also when people go up and try to cut them)
3) prolific reseeding, in particular the capability to reseed through
thick groundcover
4) a combination of poor gardening qualities: tendency to disease or
tendency to attract pests (willow), poor fall color, no flowering, no
edible fruits or nuts, allelopathy

In my area, trash trees include hickory (which sprouts in all beds
within 50 yds, ground cover or not), elm (because of Dutch elm, the
elms here survive but are very poor-looking), poplar (ugly rotten
limbs, poor shape), various conifers (rot gutters, kills grass), some
maples (extreme seeding wherever ground is uncovered). Non trash trees
include oak, chestnut, ash (now extinct), most flowering trees, and
other maples.



Thank you very much!

Ted Shoemaker

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Old 06-11-2004, 07:35 AM
Registered User
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Nov 2004
Location: Maryland zone 7
Posts: 239
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by simy1
(Ted Shoemaker) wrote in message om...
Hello,

I have heard and read the expression "trash tree", but I don't know
what it means. If some trees are going to be offensive to my
neighbors, I want to know before I plant it! (And it's not as simple
as just asking my neighbors before buying. Lots of people don't know,
for example, what a blackgum, buckeye, or Euonymus is.)

So,
(1) What does the expression "trash tree" mean?


a tree with undesirable qualities, of course.

(2) How/where do I find out, before buying and planting, whether
species XYZ is a trash tree?


Here is alist of undesirable qualities:

1) a poor shape when full grown
2) a tendency to have diseased limbs (partially covered by others, but
those limbs make widows also when people go up and try to cut them)
3) prolific reseeding, in particular the capability to reseed through
thick groundcover
4) a combination of poor gardening qualities: tendency to disease or
tendency to attract pests (willow), poor fall color, no flowering, no
edible fruits or nuts, allelopathy

In my area, trash trees include hickory (which sprouts in all beds
within 50 yds, ground cover or not), elm (because of Dutch elm, the
elms here survive but are very poor-looking), poplar (ugly rotten
limbs, poor shape), various conifers (rot gutters, kills grass), some
maples (extreme seeding wherever ground is uncovered). Non trash trees
include oak, chestnut, ash (now extinct), most flowering trees, and
other maples.



Thank you very much!

Ted Shoemaker


Here is a good site for checking out particulars on trees.

http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/trees/index.htm

Newt
__________________
When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.
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Old 07-11-2004, 10:51 PM
Ted Shoemaker
 
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Newt wrote in message ...

Here is a good site for checking out particulars on trees.

http://tinyurl.com/4s4f7


That is a very useful site. Thank you.

Ted Shoemaker
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Old 08-11-2004, 01:00 AM
Registered User
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Nov 2004
Location: Maryland zone 7
Posts: 239
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ted Shoemaker


You're very welcome. I use it all the time.
Newt
__________________
When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.
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