Do NOT plant a Sissoo tree whatever you do!!! (popular in Phoenix area) (moving, bill)

[pbenjamin]

My impression is that if you deep water a sissoo once a week in the summer, a little less so when it is cooler, you won't have these issues. We planted one about 4 years ago and have yet to see any problems. It is sitting in the middle of a lawn. We use the novel approach of putting a hose on it when we water it.

Our neighbors have a mulberry tree (apparently female) right next to our fence and a few feet from our pool. We get stains from the fruit in the spring. The leaves, when they drop, are huge. I have to pay somebody to trim it at the fence line a couple of times a year.

[20yrsinBranson]

Originally Posted by LBTRS

Based off of advice from a landscape company, we planted a sissoo tree in our backyard five years ago when we moved to Phoenix. It has been a messy tree with lots of leaves and pods dropping which make a mess of the pool but I stay on top of it and it's manageable.

Well, now we have a bigger problem. We have hundreds of new sissoo trees growing up all over the yard, some as much as 40 feet away from the tree. I've been trying to kill them and I can't pull them as fast as they pop up. My yard is being overrun with the things.

After doing some reading on the internet this appears to be a common problem after the trees get past a certain age. I am now calling companies to see about removing the tree which is going to be a pain since all the roots have to be found and dug up in the yard or they will keep coming back even after the tree is gone.

What a mess, you've been warned...

If you're going to plant a tree, why not one that bears fruit? If I lived in Phoenix, you can bet I'd be planting avocado, lemon, orange and date palms.

20yrsinBranson

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by pbenjamin

My impression is that if you deep water a sissoo once a week in the summer, a little less so when it is cooler, you won't have these issues. We planted one about 4 years ago and have yet to see any problems. It is sitting in the middle of a lawn. We use the novel approach of putting a hose on it when we water it.

Our neighbors have a mulberry tree (apparently female) right next to our fence and a few feet from our pool. We get stains from the fruit in the spring. The leaves, when they drop, are huge. I have to pay somebody to trim it at the fence line a couple of times a year.

That's what I do too. Maybe that is why I am not seeing much in the way of invasive roots (mine is right in the middle of a paver area and there is no sign of roots lifting them at all) or shoots. I water about 6 hours at a trickle once a week though on many occasions I forget its on and it runs for a lot longer. I can go on vacation for a couple weeks and it does fine without the watering.

[PoppySead]

Originally Posted by nitram

OP If you have established palm trees you can go on the same schedule. I have four 10 year old queen palms that get watered deeply once every 7 days at this time of the year. And I have three 40 year old tall Mexican palms that rarely ever get watered (rain only) and they look beautiful way up there in the sky.

This is so true. Watering makes all the difference with certain trees. We water our Sissoo's once a week with about 15 to 30 gals of water. We also built a water ring to hold the water close to the tree to encourage a deep path downward.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by 20yrsinBranson

If you're going to plant a tree, why not one that bears fruit? If I lived in Phoenix, you can bet I'd be planting avocado, lemon, orange and date palms.

20yrsinBranson

I don't think avocados do well here. They need California weather.

[artangel]

OP,
I'm so sorry for you! What a horrendous situation! Thank you for posting this. I moved to Az about 3 yrs ago and did a lot of research online before I had 2 trees planted, as I knew nothing about desert hardy plants. This initial post verifies my extreme caution.....I'd read about the invasive root systems of the sisso and decided not to chance it. But over the years I've wondered about my decision because they are often planted around here and are very pretty. Thank you for letting us know about your "tree from - - --". *big sigh of relief* I'm so grateful I passed on that variety! I planted a Chinese Pistachio tree because the leaves supposedly change color in the fall and there are no seed pods or mess. Well, that is doing okay but not growing fast and the change of color not that noticable. Struck out on that one......also made a poor choice on the 2nd tree.....an olive. Still shrub size, many root suckers at base, but it is evergreen, which I like. I didn't want a palo verde tree because of the mess, but wondering if I should have just gone with that standard desert tree. It's not easy moving to an unfamiliar area, is it? Good luck on your situation!

[HX_Guy]

I'm surprised to hear that the Chinese Pistache color is not that noticeable, it's supposed to be known for that and the pictures online make it look quite good.

[artangel]

HX,
Maybe the color change is affected by our heat here in the desert??? IDK...I was hoping for what the photos look like, but get closer to brown. Thanks for the photos. I miss the autumn colors....spent most of my life in the midwest.

[HX_Guy]

Those pictures are from Phoenix, that first one actually looks like it's 67th Ave between 101 and Union Hills looking at the street.

Another tree that gets really nice autumn colors is the Fan-Tex Ash (the one I really want in my yard). Had it at the old house and it had fantastic golden color in the fall.

[TiredOfyycCold]

LBTRS - we have a Brazillian Pepper tree in our yard that was planted when the house was built in 1998.

We love it, but it does drop leaves... lots of leaves. It doesn't appear to ever go dormant and lose all of it's leaves, just a constant throughout the year so it always looks lovely and green. The leaves are really easy to rake up on the grass and to pick up off gravel with the blower on vacuum mode - so it doesn't bother us at all.... our neighbour, who removed ALL of his landscaping and has only rock in his backyard, hates it. LOL