Trees Trees And More Trees

Tall Oak

If you was to plant trees in your back yard for birds along with bushes what would be your most likely trees that you would plant along with bushes ?

I am trying to make my back yard into a bird heaven year around.

I live in Northwest Ohio.

JohN Dee

I'd say from an educated guess, an edible fruit variety would be the go. If you wanted particular birds in your yard, look up that bird and what they eat and go from there.

In this part of the world, if you want screaming lorikeets waking you up every morning, plant bloody bottle brushes all over your yards..

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Tilia

Hey bro, i don't know your area, but i'm from oz and the number one in my area is a native - grevillea sp. the 'nectar' birds love them over here, but we have noisy miners which are a bit of a territorial pest in these parts. either way, a good ambition mate. good luck

blair duncanson

Yep, native trees, specially fruiting ones should be a winner. Might consider pruning shrubs to create more density for nesting birds. Good luck.

TreeSpecialist

Plant the slow growing, long-lived, native trees that grow well in your immediate neighborhood. Plant them extremely well - put a $50 tree in a $100 hole - make the hole 3 to 5 times the size of the root ball but no deeper. Amend the soil well before backfilling (mix compost or peat moss 50/50 with the native soil.) Mulch, water, and fertilize lightly with an organic fertilizer once a month.

All of this will get your tree up and growing quickly.

Too often, people plant a) the wrong tree, b) in the wrong place, c) don't water it properly, d) never fertilize it and then they are disappointed when it doesn't grow as expected.

Placement in your environment should be taken into account as well - screening summer sun, blocking winter winds, screening unwanted views, etc.

For the birds, simply put out about a dozen bird feeders. Black oil sunflower seeds will attract the most desirable birds to your yard without adding weed seed to the lawn. Contract the local chapter of the Audubon Society for additional information on attracting birds.

treeseer

Audubon is good; national wildlife federation also has good info on this.

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Guy Meilleur | Forensic Arborist | Better Tree Care

TreeSpecialist

You're right. Forgot about them.

Check out:

It's So Easy to Garden for Wildlife - National Wildlife Federation

treevet

Don't know what part of state of Ohio you're in but if you are in my general area drought tolerance should be a consideration. As should disease tolerance. There are some great new tolerant cultivars on the market now I have had success with. Although there is no such thing as a drought tolerant tree in the first three years while establishing a fibrous root system. Water bags (Gator, etc) work real well. Religiously follow planting and maintenance procedures as described above. I would add make sure mowers and weedwackers stay well away from base (mulch or protection stakes) and in early fall put 3 five foot high stakes outside root ball then put some temporary fencing attached to them to keep the long legged rats (deer) from rutting on them and destroying them. It WILL happen.

If you want to attract hummingbirds, pink or reddish flowers of the crabapple or Buckeye etc. or shrubs as you mentioned seem to work as well as some pink colored sugar water in a clear hanging container.

bigshea13

heres some rat damage courtesy of mr. secord. it seems he's experiencing some technical difficulties at this time. hope you get that fixed soon Brent.

Attached Images

BRENT TREES.JPG (61.9 KB, 19 views)

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treevet

I think it was that fall out of the crib.

TreeDimensional

Pretty funny treevet, BUT it beats falling off the wagon!

The trees in the pictures are basically done, they have not only been crown raised, but the trunk has been debarked.

Wonderful work from that herd of mule deer. At last count there was about 40 of them rumming around the area. There are at least 8 decent bucks that insist on releasing scent on the trunk.

Not a lot of respect from Mother nature's creatures to the only two pines for 10 miles.

samy

I have a japanes bluebarry tree, it looks sick. It has lost alot of leaves, and they are not returning. Half of the tree is looks like it is dying. Any Suggestions? thans

TreeSpecialist

Japanese blueberry trees (Elaeocarpus decipiens)- new on the market here in Central Texas - been out about 8 or 10 years.

The most frequent problem I see with them is poor drainage and phytophthora type root rots.

With half the leaves already shed, you may be too late. (Pictures of the problem always help.)

Too often when a tree looks sick, the first thing someone does is water more. While not a true fungus, phytophthora (an oomycete now classified as a water borne mold) has a zoospore which grows a little tail to swim through water.)

So water is how it spreads.

Too much mulch, planted too deep, poor drainage, heavy clay soils, too much shade, poor air circulation - all lead to conditions favorable for a phytophthora type organism to get a foot hold.

Organic methods are slow to work. Chemicals may work faster but then they destroy the beneficials. And nothing will work (or work well) if the environmental/ cultural around the plant conditions aren't first corrected.

Depending upon the age of the plant, you may want to just start over with either a healthy plant and or a different species altogether.