Oaks do equal acorns and there’s no rhyme or reason for when they produce a bumper crop of the damn things! My paddocks are fine gravel/sand and I spend a lot of time raking and dumping acorns most falls due to the big one I have in there. Keeping horses off the root structure of trees is also important, so I have piled dirt around the base a few times to cover up a couple of exposed roots, and we changed a gate location to help the tree out, as well.
Tulip poplar and sycamore are both trees that are fast growing, broad shade trees that withstand moderate root compaction. I also like tupelo (black or sour gum) but it is a slower grower. With any tree, I would fence them off of it. Even if your horses don’t today eat bark, I’ve had them decide overnight that they will. And in one night they can kill the tree if sufficiently motivated. Also trees are always favored scratching posts, which is not good especially for a transplanted tree trying to establish itself.
On locusts, they do have thorns, but I have some fenced off black locust that makes very nice shade too. Tough as nails and great for the bees as well.
I would not plant ash, it is almost certain to be dead within the decade at this rate.
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This is a good point and unfortunately true. Pretty much every ash tree in america will die due to the emerald ash borer. They can’t stop it. (and the wood has little to no commercial value, so most of it will go to municipal landfills, who don’t have room. A lot of towns and cities are already struggling with this). Municipal planners have a bad habit of monoculture planting-- they’ll pick a species that grows well in urban environments and line the streets with that tree-- and that creates ideal conditions for pests.
If you have one single tree with nothing around it, maybe the isolation will save it. If you have ash trees on your property that provide valuable shade, best start planting new trees now to replace them.
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Thanks for all your great input. I’m in NJ. HH, I’ve planted bamboo in FL, and loved it! It shot up so fast. The giganteus won’t grow well, here, however. We have ash borers (everyone will, eventually), so I wouldn’t plant them. I’m not doing oaks–slow and acorns. Leaning heavily toward poplars.
