How long to grow a Chilean Mesquite Tree? (landscaping, maintenance)

[JoeJude]

Hi forum,

Several questions on chilean mesquite, mine is just planted its about 5 feet tall and skinny as a bean pole with a support pole there.

What is general maintenance and best watering to grow it quick?

How long will it take for it to be fully grown or even just about 10 feet to create some shade?

Any tips for better growth?

Thanks as always to anyone who replies.

[FloppyRunner]

Can't be of too much help here, but I do know that they are one of the faster growing trees, faster than, say, Ironwood.

My established tree gets drip (but really I'm thinking about plugging the drip) and a deep hose soak once a month or so at this time of the year. As I understand, the key is infrequent but deep watering. Also, once established, water VERY sparingly during the winter. It'll probably live, but the leaves turn yellow and the tree creates a whole lot more mess with winter over-watering.

As yours is young and not established yet, it may be a whole different story.

[jksn75]

They grow VERY fast. I started with a small one like yours and a couple years later it grew quite a bit and created some decent shade. I had mine on a drip system and never did deep watering, which I hear is best for growth and to push the roots further down into the soil. They are a hardy tree and will not require fertilizer for more growth. The more water you give, the faster it grows. After 3 years, I had to cap off the drip to the tree as it was getting water from nearby plants that were also on a drip.

[locolobo13]

Just googled it. You see them around the valley. They are nice shade trees. But after windstorms it seems like there are quite a few that have lost big limbs. Even some that were blown over.

[jksn75]

When pruning, don't cut it into an umbrella shape (very common). Keep it a more natural shape to prevent them from blowing over during storms.

[FloppyRunner]

Originally Posted by locolobo13

Just googled it. You see them around the valley. They are nice shade trees. But after windstorms it seems like there are quite a few that have lost big limbs. Even some that were blown over.

That's true, but I'd wager that they're usually poorly taken care of trees. The following can help prevent disaster from the monsoon storms.

1) Infrequent and deep waterings, as mentioned earlier. Draws the roots down and spreads them out so the tree won't be root-balled. Think about it; it's a lot easier to take down a tree if it's roots stick right around its base, as opposed to one with a healthy root system that reaches a broad area.

2) Keep it thinned out. They grow quickly, so they need to be kept thinned out, meaning don't JUST trim its outsides, go on the inside and thin it out appropriately. This way, its canopy isn't quite as much of a sail in the wind. This is especially important before the monsoons. Look at nature: the trees out in the desert don't have this problem because they don't get as tall as they do in landscaping, because they don't get watered. So we make them tall and then they blow over if they're not properly thinned out.

[stevek64]

I agree on the uprooted tree cause in the vast majority of cases. Deep watering is key.

Mesquite's are very tough native trees on all levels and does provide great shade for our house. We have a Mesquite at least 35' tall. Since we owned this house, I haven't watered it and it has been years now. And short of trimming off some branches that start reaching low, I haven't thinned it out either. We also never had any big branches fall in major rain/wind storms, short of just a few small very thin end leaf branches. There's also no irrigation system hooked up anywhere near it as everything around it is native/xeriscape plants that get an infrequent watering by me. The only thing about a Mesquite tree is wouldn't want it close to a pool as it drops a decent amount of tiny leaves once a year for a few weeks. The same with some flower dust for another few weeks.

[skugelstadt]

Originally Posted by JoeJude

Hi forum,

Several questions on chilean mesquite, mine is just planted its about 5 feet tall and skinny as a bean pole with a support pole there.

What is general maintenance and best watering to grow it quick?

How long will it take for it to be fully grown or even just about 10 feet to create some shade?

Any tips for better growth?

Thanks as always to anyone who replies.

We had two Chilean Mesquites, one blew over in high winds. The roots will not grow deep if you plant them by grass as the roots will stay where the water is. As other posters indicated, you want deep watering. These trees grow like crazy and I'm constantly pruning the one I have left to keep it from getting top heavy.