Need Some Shade!

[mtate]

I recently had to remove a Tulip tree and a Silver Maple from my property and had a stump grinder in. These two trees were huge and provided a substantial amount of shade. Looking to fill in the void with something that will provide some shade quickly without being a threat to my home again. Can you make some suggestions? We are located about 50 miles north of New York City. Also, can we plant directly in the same spot? The Maple had a carpenter ant infestation, was overhanging my home and the Tulip was rotting from top and bottom.
Thanks!

 

[treeman82]

Hi Marie, I am guessing that we are from around the same general area. I would suggest that you check with somebody like Rosedale Nursery or Hardscrabble Farms. Rosedale is down county somewhere. Hardscrabble is in North Salem. Both will have good size trees to buy, if that is what you wish to do. However be forewarned that you will most certainly not get all that shade back that you lost as you simply cannot get trees the same size that you lost.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Unless all the debris is removed from the sitre and backfilled then you will need to wait a few years to plant directly in that spot. The brakdown of the woody fibers takes up all the nitrogen in the soil. One thing to do to excelerate the prosess is to maintain the area very moist and fertilize periodicaly. Let everything soak in deep so the fungi and bacteria can work all the way through.

One thing I read a while back is to take a garbage can and age grass clipping is water. the bacteria that will culture in there will help reduce the woody material better. So you get the water nice and stinky then dump it on the stump-chip pile.

then keep the area wet so teh bacteria can thrive.

without seeing the tree i cannot comment directly, but most large old trees will have carpenter ants in them. The ants eat decay wood, all old trees will have some amount of decay in them.

The there are 2 other issues with your request,
Fast growing trees are more prone to decay problems and to storm failure.

The larger a tree is on instalation the more time it needs to recover from the harvesting prosess. It has been shown that a tree harvested within the nursery standards looses around 90% of it's root system. Also a 1 inch tree will eventulay overtake a 4 inch tree in size, because it does not neet to repalce as much root mass and has a larger ratio of productive surface area then the larger tree (when looking at photo synthesis).

The best thing to do is to find a tree whose form you will like and then plant several small individuals with the intent of culling the ones that do not perform well.

 

[Jay Banks]

Marie,
Don't plan on planting in the same spot, try to be 15 feet or so from the stump. The stump will break down over the years before your new tree will be established in those areas.

Select a comfortable size tree to replace your trees about a 2 inch caliper should look good. Now your new tree will not grow much for the first 2-3 years, until the roots get well established. And keep the area mulched too.

Young trees tend to grow "fast" just like kids, until they hit an age of moderate grow so really most any tree you select, (oak, maple, hackberry, bald cypress) will grow well.

 

[mtate]

Thanks for all of your replies.
I've been considering a Crimson King Maple for the front of the house and possibly a Red Maple or Pear for the south side of the house. Do these trees have any fall color? How large will the Crimson king get? Also, I'm not sure what zone I'm in and want to make sure I would be planting appropriately.
Marie

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Crimson King Norway maple can get large, but is very slow growing for a Norway. We have one that is 45 years old that is only around 30ft tall.

Red maple grows fast, but does poor in high pH. There are a number of varieties that get good fall color. Seems like yo might know, but just in case, red maple has green leaves.

There is a natural hybrid with silver maple called Freeman that has some good cultivars too.

For the pear, if you don't want the big fruit, look at some of the newer CVS of the Callery's. Bradford and a few others are poor performers.

Maybe look at an oak, Quercus x schuettei a cross between bur and swamp white is suposed to do up to 18-24 inch per year.