Several years ago, I attended a presentation by John Ball, a professor in the Department of Agronomy at South Dakota State University. He was the forestry health specialist for South Dakota State Extension.
He was predicting the NEXT tree pandemic in our area. He said that all these tree diseases and insect problems come from China, work their way across Europe, hit eastern U.S. and eventually get to our area.
Right now we are dealing with emerald ash borer and various oak tree diseases and insects. Oaks that have been here since the county was settled are now dying in increasing numbers. (Nothing seems to bother that invasive buckthorn — a no-no for sure. Just ask anybody that has a grove with it as underbrush. Birds spread the seeds.)
Ball's theory was the next tree that will be affected by something deadly will be the maple. There are 128 species of maple and China has a lot of them.
The more species of a tree, the more pests it will attract. His recommendation was a community should plant no more than 10% of any one type of tree, so if and when a problem occurs in one of these, we will still have 90% of our trees remaining.
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Good trees to plant are ones that are alone in their species. These include Kentucky coffee tree, Myers spruce, shagbark hickory, ironwood and hackberry. He thought River birch would be OK too.
Another possibility is ginkgo. He suggested, if possible, only plant the male specimens as the fruit of the female tree is messy and has an odor associated with it. This one is both a shade tree and an ornamental.
It gets to a height of 25 to 50 feet and a spread of 25 to 35 feet at maturity. It has a growth rate of 12 to 24 inches a year. It has been said that the ginkgo can live as long as 3,000 years.
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I personally love the hackberry. It is a good replacement for ash. It has an oval shape and fall foliage color is brilliant. It has a slower growth rate than ash, but it is hardy and very adaptable to our region.
I have had experience with horse chestnut trees. There was one in front of our house for over 100 years. It was way higher than the two-story house.
Unfortunately, after all those years it became hollow and was a threat in a wind storm so had to take it down. It was a wonderful shade tree. Only fault it had were all those nuts that fell in the fall and had to be raked up.
The squirrels were a big help and thanks to them planting them in the yard and woods, I have many offspring from that tree. (However, didn’t appreciate all they planted in the flower beds.)
When these trees bloom in the spring, they are alive with bees and orioles — so fun for bird watchers. Ohio buckeye is very similar and they thrive in our area as well.
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Black walnut is another good replacement tree. The roots produce juglone, which has been said to inhibit the growth of garden produce. I’ve never experienced that problem but perhaps I was just lucky.
By Sue Morris
Master Gardener Sue Morris has been writing a column since 1991 for Kandiyohi County newspapers. Morris has been certified through the University of Minnesota as a gardening and horticulture expert since 1983. She lives in Kandiyohi County.
