The Arbor Day Foundation is offering 10 free trees for new members - and it's only $10 to sign up. I did that last year. You'll get an email/snail mail now and then, and they'll ask you to renew your membership next year. But you won't find them any cheaper than $1/tree. They come bare root, but all of mine took just fine, and started growing almost right away. Actually I had a couple walnut that I thought didn't make it, but about a month later each had a little walnut tree sprouting up nearby. The (red) maples grew the fastest - about a foot this year. Silver will grow faster, but they're weak and they'll drop huge branches, so you don't want them too close to the house. Same for poplar. Now, if that's the north side of your property, you might not want to rule out softwoods like spruce. There aren't many trees that will grow faster, and having a wintertime wind break can be a real energy savings for your home.
Any tree planted in a wide open space is going to crown out faster than it will grow vertically. May want to look at something that gives color in both spring & fall. Dogwood cultivars grow fairly quick but stay short and would give you spring blooms and fall color, if they are suitable for your zone.
I did that in 1993, similar offer. 3 of the 10 seedlings survived til 2013, about 3.5' tall when we sold They were blue spruce. I still had a lot of fun, good suggestion!
I bought a Pin Oak about 10 years ago on an end of season sale. Nicest looking tree in my yard and fast grower too... my .02
I had been wondering about Sycamore myself. By damp I mean that along side this area is a 5 acre pasture that is nearly as flat as a pancake and is tiled. When we get a heavy rain the pasture will get covered at times in a "sheet" of water which will drain down quickly after the rain subsides. The area where the trees are to be planted is perhaps 12-18" higher than the pasture so it has never been covered with water but it is directly adjacent to the heavily water logged area. Does that make sense?
Check with your states dnr. They may sell native seedlings or balled trees dirt cheap. Here in indiana I can get 100 seedlings bare root for around 30$. That's shipping included and they show up at the house when it's time to plant in your zone. Also Plant a few in a different spot as backups to your main tree line in case of death or damage. Transplant from your back up and no more big azz hole in your perfectly spaced tree lined driveway.
Lots of good advice here. I've planted many trees since moving to my current house, and I've had the most success with the small trees from Lowes. They've grown fast, taken well, and been healthy. I'm planted a few of the larger caliper trees from the local nursery. Those were nice because they were a "real" tree right away, but they haven't grown much in 5 years due to transplant shock. That little 5 footer from Lowes has caught up and even overtook the big trees. I like any of the red maples (October Glory, Autumn Flame, Traditional Red), Autumn Blazes (silver maple cross), Red and Pin oaks depending on soil pH, and Tulip poplars. Sweet gum trees are nice too. Birch trees handle wet areas very well too. Good luck.
This is where I get trees every year. http://forestry.ky.gov/statenurseriesandtreeseedlings/Pages/default.aspx I plant them in pots and put the pots in the ground in a small nursery area, close to the house. I keep them there for a year then permanently plant them the next spring. Black Locust is another tree you might want to consider. They are supposed to be one of the fastest growing hardwoods. I planted BL the past few years and they seem do be doing pretty good. One thing to keep in mind when planting trees is that Deer love to eat the buds off of young trees in the winter, stunting their growth. Sycamore is the fastest growing tree that I know of, but might not be very attractive planted in a row.
I transplant the maples from the woods into the yard, just don't hit them with the zero turn when you mow around them. I cut one off at the base last year. oops. wife was not happy.
Not my dawn redwood. They can reach 160' with a trunk of 7' diameter , but a spread of only 40'. I planted one 25 years ago that is on its way towards being the tallest tree in Ohio some day, its over 50' now! One is recorded to have grown over 120' in 30 years in Virginia. Maybe not good for you though, recommended only zones 5-8. Dawns during summer, fall, and "winter".
Very cool tree! Does potting them first reduce the transplant shock or is that just the method you like the best? I forgot about black locust. I had those down on the farm before we moved and they did grow fast! My only concern is that the ones we had weren't that good looking of a tree and a handful of them snapped off about halfway up in a wind storm once.
Sounds like you would have prime firewood then!!! No seriously, I am finding this thread really interesting as we don't have the natural selection of hardwood trees here to consider. Quite often people around here just go out and dig up cedar, fir or balsam seedlings out of the woods and make a hedge or fence line. The problem happens when the hedge or fence line gets neglected and everything gets out of control. 100' trees aren't an attractive hedge. Sounds like you are planning the space properly. I liked the idea of planting extras elsewhere in the yard for spares in the beginning but I would also make sure it would be somewhere that could be permanent if they weren't needed. Edit: By the way, I am really leaning towards those Autumn Blaze maples you mentioned.
This is great advice, thanks! At my old farm I planted around 25,000 trees that I purchased from the DNR to use in the federal CRP program to take marginal land out of production. They were all oak (burr, red, and white), green ash, and black walnut. The first year I planted 13,000 of them and it also happened to be the first year of new enrollment in the program so the DNR had a backlog of seedlings to sell. All of them were well over 18" tall not including the roots and the black walnuts were at least 2' tall. I had researched where to plant each variety and put the walnuts in the dampest areas. Wow did they take off! In 10 years they were well over 25' tall and had killed or stunted everything under their crowns. The ash didn't do as well but the oaks that I planted up the on the hill tops took off like crazy as well and were pushing 20' in the same time frame. Unfortunately walnuts are not favorable to my current location and I don't want to wait another 15-20 years for it to fill in. Pics or it didn't happen! This is from 2010. First planting was in 1997 then we skipped a year and planted the last batch in 1999. Red are first year black walnuts. Yellow is first year oaks. Blue is first year green ash mixed with a few black walnuts. The purple is second planting, almost all oaks and green ash. It's hard to get an idea of how tall they are from this perspective but the patch between the driveway and the oaks in yellow is original to the place and probably between 75-100 year old oaks, ash, a couple spruce and a mess of bleeping box elder. 40 acres overall.
I'm late to the party and didn't read every post, but black locust fits the description. They are very fast growing deciduous trees.
Lot's of good advice there I'm a horticulturist and work ed in the landscape industry for almost 40 years stay away from silver maple they have a root system that is close to the surface that will bust concrete side walks and drive ways Sycamore and Sweet gum No both very dirty trees ,between shedding leaves ,bark, twigs and fruit you are constantly cleaning up something all season long . A 1 to 1.5 caliper tree is plenty to start with ,it will be the same size as the 3" in a few years easier to handle and cost less . If it were me I'd be planting the red maples just me 2 cents
True words will711, mowing around a mature silver maple is a PITHebuttoXIUS. here's the company I've used here in PA...... http://musserforests.com/prod.asp?p=REM They also have a "plant by use" link, and that'll give a list of uses, one of which is "fast growing" tab to click on, they give nice descriptions of the different trees
If you are lookin for quick growth a good candidate is quaking aspen. Planted a 1" diameter 5' tall one 5 years ago. It must be pushing 20' tall today. In the slightest breeze its leaves flutter and in fall has golden foliage and don't forget the year around interest of white bark. I planted an autumn blaze maple the same size same year and it is about half the size of the aspen now but beautiful red fall color. I am in central ND and much colder so they will easily make it there.
