tree spacing

[Schlepie]

I'm doing quite a bit of thinning of brush and trees. Trees in question are 10-16' oaks that I believe at this point are dormant. There are so many on this property, they are spaced anywhere from 1' to as little as 6' apart. When trying to clear out and make room, approx. how far apart should they be at this point? Not sure what kind of oak it is yet. And the answer doesn't have to be exact. Thanks

Schlep

 

[Schlepie]

want to build a house on it. about 2 acres total. Want to find the best spot, by the best trees.

 

[Jay Banks]

A natural forest progression starts with an over abunance of new trees and through natural or un-natural selection trees will attain their own spacing. What is typical for texas is not typical for new england.

Drought issues in texas may place trees further apart from competition for moisture. Spacing in an oak forest in Virginia could be 15 feet apart, but we tend to get 40 inches of moisture each year.

Check with your local forester for their re-stocking level on open sites and see what their recommendations might be.

But since your puting a house and septic system in there you will have to ajust your conditions to your needs.

 

[Newfie]

I'd find out where the house is (or possibly has to go) going and then work from there. Issues with placement of driveways,utilities, septic and presence or absence of ledge rock may all play roles in where the cellar hole is situated and then the trees come down or stay.

 

[cam76034]

I'm going to guess that schlepie isn't too worried about a cellar hole. Nobody in Texas has a cellar, and especially the area around New Braunfels, rock base.

 

[Newfie]

well then I guess I'm gonna guess ya'll put a slab under the house and ledge won't matter much for that, but the other variables may still dictate placement of the house, more so than location of trees.

 

[Jay Banks]

New,
It's not just the house too. It's every thing else. I bought three acres for a new house (a clear open field) and the ???? dozer operator still went over onto my neighbors property. He didn't have to but he wasn't trying to be careful.

So the same thing here, you cna pick out all of the trees to save that you want but when you start putting in a foundation, driveway,septic,etc more trees will go.

Unless you tie the contractor to a damage clause were they don't get paid if the damage your trees.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

If there are any big trees near where you want to build, remove them and train the small ones.

If at all possible, build away from the nice big trees so that you can protect them from the construction people.

Get it in the contract that no heavy equipment or storage will be done under the trees to be saved.

Maybe find a consulting arborist to assist you and the architect with the siting

 

[Jay Banks]

It sounds like you'll have some time to research and think this over. I suggest a book from ISA called "Trees And Development" would be a good resource for you.

I can't get to the site now just call 1-800-ISA-TREE

 

[Chainsaw_Maniac]

Managing a forest for logs is a lot differnat than managing 3 arcres around your house. When I manage forests, I try and leave the best and straigtest trees standinf, while removing trees that have major defects and will never be logs. I cut these trees up for firewood (if it's hardwood). Major defects include:

• Being hollow.
• Being dead or dying
• Being of an undesirable species (ie, basswood in a hard maple forest, poplar in a swamp where significant silver maple or ash is present).
• Being very crooked or having excessive knots.
• havinf metal or fencing in them.

If you're just going to manage it as a nice setting for your house, I would suggest removing as few trees as possible until the house is bult, then taking out the trees you and your family think detract from your enjoymesnt of the setting.