need to plant replacement trees

Black Locust, Osage Orange

If you want something nice then is has to be oak and hickory.

I would base my choice on what grows native in your area.

Nice to see you're going to replant.
My property is replanting itself with the same stuff that's already here.
I wish it would have chosen Locust, but I'll never get to use any of it anyway.

For firewood only? Black locust. For wood AND wildlife, there are some faster growing oak cultivars out there

Butcher said:

I would base my choice on what grows native in your area.

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this. Do not introduce non native species.

You may think all you want is firewood now, but it will take a long time for these to grow and who knows how you'll be heating by them. I would plant a mix usable for both firewood and timber value. My native woods here in Portage Cty were a mix of red/white/pin oak, hard/soft maple, smooth/shag hickory, beech, ironwood, cherry, and ash. I contacted the state forestry dept who came out and advised on a management plan based on timber production, with the firewood as a secondary consideration, for free. They also provided detailed soil type maps of my 25 aces. Based on my situation, I conducted a limited timber sale of about 120 trees this spring, and now have 120 tops on the ground for firewood use/sales. The remainder of the trees need a management thining for various reasons that essentiall means taking out every 3-4th tree as firewood. Based on my desires, and what will be left growing, I'm planting native red/white oaks as locally gathered acorns (planted several thousand the past two years), black walnuts (about 1,000 locally gathered nuts), hard maples (seedlings from the county in the spring), and a variety of different evergreens (mostly seedlings from the County in the spring). I've got tons of young beech, smooth/shag hickory, and ironwood trying to dominate the place, no problem with them!

I'd do it like Butcher said.......but I'd do a mix. Maybe some conifers for privacy too. Hickory, some maples, some oaks. I'd stay away from poplars, they grow up fast and like to snap in the wind and ice storms. Whatever you do, don't 'overplant'. leave the trees a little room to grow outward.

We're looking at some replanting too. For sure some will be apple trees and maybe a couple peach. A few pines; probably reds or whites. Perhaps some white cedar. Already have some cherry, oak, popple and a few pines coming up on their own. We may try to introduce some locust but are not sure on this one yet.

Once I removed the multiflora rose and bush honeysuckle from my wooded area it's amazing to see the seedlings that have sprung up throughout. Oak, Walnut, Cherry, Cedar, Hickory, all the native stuff is there, growing in the understory. No need to plant here, just remove the invasives and voila!

Where I have ash there are always locust right there too. That's naturally grown.

Walnut for retirement.

In general, planting non-native is not the best idea but then you have to figure out where the "native" line is drawn.

I would not plant black locust in a non native area. The stuff will take over, spreads like crazy from the roots to where once it's established you'll never get rid of it, and to me at least is not a very visually appealing tree.

A few years back we bought some locust from our Soil and Water Conservation District sale (county) because we wanted something pretty quick growing to hide a neighbor's house at our Old House. It grew up quick, but MAN does it try to spread like mad! It's in an area where the suckers get mowed, but I don't know about the seeds. I can't believe they sold them through that sale. It was funny though, because they have THORNS, like big long stabby ones and our neighbors that we don't like got nailed more than once by them. Then they tried cutting down some of the ones we planted in a hedgerow...and of course they came right back WITH reinforcements. That's one type of tree (I don't know if ours are black or honey) that I would really think before planting, because they will get into everything-especially watch out if you plant near your property border and you LIKE your neighbors :D

Oh, and one more thing-they bloom in the spring, and the flowers do have a strong, distinct smell to them. Oh, and they drop seed pods, kind of like big bean pods. The leaves are small though, so they aren't too messy that way.

eclecticcottage said:

A few years back we bought some locust from our Soil and Water Conservation District sale (county) because we wanted something pretty quick growing to hide a neighbor's house at our Old House. It grew up quick, but MAN does it try to spread like mad! It's in an area where the suckers get mowed, but I don't know about the seeds. I can't believe they sold them through that sale. It was funny though, because they have THORNS, like big long stabby ones and our neighbors that we don't like got nailed more than once by them. Then they tried cutting down some of the ones we planted in a hedgerow...and of course they came right back WITH reinforcements. That's one type of tree (I don't know if ours are black or honey) that I would really think before planting, because they will get into everything-especially watch out if you plant near your property border and you LIKE your neighbors :D

Oh, and one more thing-they bloom in the spring, and the flowers do have a strong, distinct smell to them. Oh, and they drop seed pods, kind of like big bean pods. The leaves are small though, so they aren't too messy that way.

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Most likely purple robe locust. They are a form of black locust. And yes, they sucker up from the roots like crazy.

ashburn said:

well guys, I only have 6 acres of land, all wood except for building. Three of these are river bottom flood plane. I do have alot of poplar trees that are taking over. these will be cut soon. My once woods has now become clear enought for the green stuff (need to mow) to grow. What to get some trees started. We got pretty much all the species suggested. Got maple, black walnut, oak, a few shag bark, few cherry (but being dwafed by oak), some elm...guess I need to decide what to plant. I'm thinking do some Oak, shag bark, black locus...even if I will never be able to see it to firewood or lumber!

thanks all for taking the time to post suggestions!

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You have a lot of poplar trees taking over so these will be cut soon. Be aware they will grow back super thick! They grow out from the roots which can reach quite some distance. A neighbor of ours cut down about 20 poplar trees and in return has about 300 of them now. I cut a bunch of them last winter and am hoping for the same which will be good for the deer.

I listen to a radio interview with an old guy in his 70s who had a chunk of land since he was a young man, they were talking about the value of the oak trees on this old guy's property. I can't remember exactly how much land he had, but I remember is wasn't a huge property. Thing was, not only did he plant just about every tree, but he also regularly pruned the trees through out his life. By pruning the lower branches off as the trees grew the trunks grew very straight, and this increased the commercial value of the trees exponentially, so much so that instead of the trees being worth a few thousands dollars they were appraised, and he already had offers, of over a million dollars.
Anyway, in his interview he stressed that the planting of the trees and pruning really didn't amount to much work over the years (just a few hours a year), it just required some long term foresight. He also talked about all the jobs he had done over the years and how much he made and was able to save, he said this was by far his best investment he ever made. The key was how he pruned the trees to turn them into premium quality logs for milling.

Sounds like a wise old man.

I would first wait and see what comes back naturally. Even within the same farm you'll find different soils that allow different trees to grow best. At one end of my two acres we have acid soils where the native trees are mostly oaks, while at the other end you find Ash, Elm, and Black Cherry growing on limey soil. its not like the trees wouldn't grow on the 'other' soil if I planted them, but they grow best on their favorite soil, and the whole idea is to have healthy, fast-growing trees, so let the trees decide.

That said there is nothing wrong with spreading some seeds. Oak and hickory are great for firewood, lumber, and wildlife. I think Northern Red oak and White Oak are likely to grow well almost everywhere.

Most of Ohio is actually within the original native range of Black Locust. I have read that originally Balck Locust has a rather small distribution mostly on the west side of the appalachians. i wouldn't hesitate to plant Black Locust. In your yard it can be a pain, in the woods the shade will keep it pretty well checked.

if I had too many poplars I'd consider girdling them instead of cutting. Girdling (cutting a strip of bark the whole way around the trunk) tends to kill the tree slowly and the tree doesn't tend to send up suckers (shoots) from the roots. Cutting poplars can lead to a thicket of poplars rather than just the few you started with. If you want the wood then cut the poplars. if you just want them to go away I'd girdle. Dead standing poplars make interesting wildlife trees.