Should we chop down the chinaberry? (growing, palms, trees, insects)

[Chaka]

We have a few chinaberry trees. Just got rid of some, but still have a large one left. I love the tree,it looks great and is very healthy.

But all I read says it's an invasive outsider and must be eliminated. I don't think I can convince my husband we need to eliminate more trees, but am curious to hear others' opinions.

[si33]

..it all depends on what part of the country you are located in...

...some plants which will spread everywhere in warmer areas are better
behaved in cooler areas of their adaptability range...

...as for this plant,...id most likely go ahead and get rid of it because it is a
very prolific spreader and can easily spread into more 'natural' areas,especially in areas which rarely recieve much of a frost/freeze

[ellie]

I think they're neat trees, too. But they are invasive. If you have more than one in your yard, then they're probably a problem.

Why don't you compromise? Find some good native shade trees or ornamentals that are not invasive and plant a few to replace the trees you've removed.

Then in a year or two, take down the last Chinaberry?

[boonelsewhere]

here in Virginia they are spreading very fast, just don't want to see them take over our native plants. I am try to get rid of them but they keep caming back. they are very fast growing the native tree seedling just could not out shade them.

Originally Posted by ellie

I think they're neat trees, too. But they are invasive. If you have more than one in your yard, then they're probably a problem.

Why don't you compromise? Find some good native shade trees or ornamentals that are not invasive and plant a few to replace the trees you've removed.

Then in a year or two, take down the last Chinaberry?

[azoria]

We owned a property in Texas with a huge hackberry tree. Hackberries are total trash trees, soft wooded, lots of dead limbs, shallow rooted and usually short lived. But this was a huge beautiful old tree, one of the biggest trunked trees in the neighborhood. I loved it, I was proud of my hackberry.

As many arborists would have predicted, my hackberry met its day of reckoning. An ice storm. Half of this huge tree crashed down under the weight of ice into the street, blocking the road completely. The tree was split with less than half of it left standing, an ugly tear down its thick trunk. Doom for a tree. Gaping wound and barkless, the hackberry was now open to disease and insects and weather. It would die.

But there is no way on gods green earth I would have removed it beforehand to prevent all those things from happening even though such a calamity was inevitable.

If you love your chinaberry and it is healthy and beautiful--keep it. For now. Nature will take care of the rest.

[Chaka]

Thanks for the comments. It is a beautiful tree, but I do have little seedlings everywhere I am always fighting. WE have a ton of trees - our yard had been neglected many years when we bought this house, so it was a bit of a jungle.

I hate taking out perfectly good trees, and we did a major cleaning job recently - out with an old pecan that was fighting my fig (have 2 other large pecans), more than a few hackberries along the fence, the other chinaberries, trimmed back and ash. Kept our wonderful giant cedar elm and its offshoots but trimmed it back. This chinaberry got trimmed, but now I'm feeling guilty about keeping it, but worse about tearing it down.

We're in Texas, near the city center.

[southernnaturelover]

Here in south Alabama Chinaberries are invasive trash trees. I see them everywhere along ditches and underneath utility lines. They're not quite as bad as the Chinese Tallow (Popcorn tree), but they're next in line. I had some growing on some farm land I bought and I pushed them all over with a tractor and burned them.

[cdelena]

They are pretty for a while but mostly a messy problem. I always get rid of them.

[si33]

...everyone here has mentioned some great points about this,as well as
some other nasty weed trees...

a couple others id advise no one to plant:

.. slippery elm...a elm-look alike..except that its always full of some sort of bug,especially when stressed,..and is weak-wooded..i watched several fall on a couple neighboring houses during an ice storm when i lived in n.e. Kansas..

..box elder and silver maple...both are or were planted extensively in the past..
both come with their own array of trouble..are weak wooded...and seed
everywhere..even a mild storm can shred a silver maple..

..here in California,and im sure there are people in other locales who could
testify...Mexican fan palms..the staple "California" palm tree will seed anywhere
it can..and viable seed can remain dormant for some time in the soil
..i still battle seedlings from a group of trees which were taken down 6
years ago..ive seen it turn up in such numbers that the property owner
had to spend a hefty chunk of money to get rid of them and repair the
damage they'd caused(sprung up in cracks and all along the fence line)

i believe that the fore mentioned china berry has severe restrictions or is
prohibited in several states

[jimboburnsy]

http://www.biology-blog.com/images/b...tree-66410.jpg

My parents had one when I was growing up. I hated that tree. It always dropped little caltrops (the dessicated seed pods pictured above) that would stick in my heels while running around barefoot. They are handsome trees and produce some great color in the fall, but I have never been sorry to see one die.