What is your most DISLIKED tree and why?

Following on Glenn’s favorite trees post, I figured we need to balance the discussion. My most disliked, outright hated tree is the water oak. They get big, prolifically dropping leaves and debris all their existence, rot from the inside out, and invariably fall in your house or vehicle. Sweet gums are a close second. The tap root rots away and then large trees fall over in a Florida afternoon shower. Plus it really hurts to step on the gumballs.

Oh this one's easy....


Burnt.

Other than that - cottonwood. Those fuzzballs are the devil.

Second on the fuzz ball annoyance.

I have a deep distain for Prickly Ash. My timber is loaded with it … such a pain to walk through, log in, hunt around … ugh!

Sumac.

Tree of Heaven, more aptly named: stinking sumac, is a prolific invasive species that is hard to control.

Negundo (boxelder) maple. Home to the boxelder bugs that use my home as their winter get-away. And @Bob B. - we have that stuff around here, too. I go woodcock hunting and come back looking like I wrestled a bobcat.

When I was in grad school in Florida, my bedroom was under a large live oak. During the fall, squirrels would start eating acorns at the first hint of daylight, dropping many on the (uninsulated, tin) roof over my head, where they'd make a loud ping, then bounce and roll audibly down and off the roof, landing on my car, outside my open window, with another loud ping. THAT was my least favorite tree.

I'll second the nomination of Tree of Heaven. Around here, they're spreading almost as fast as Knotweed, it's not a very pretty wood (at least IMO) and it doesn't even split or burn well.

Tough one!

Ecologically, probably the Bradford Pear.

Jack pines, ugly, discourage broadleafs.

I’m astounded by the spread of the Bradford pear. I don’t remember seeing it much 30 years ago, and now the woods turn white in March. It used to be the dogwoods that lit up the woods in April, but they’ve been dramatically reduced by fungal infections and other stresses, while the Branfords have truly become invasive. They’re everywhere. Good thing I don’t hate them.

Bamboo is another thing I don’t remember seeing much of, and now I see thick patches of it along rivers, in wooded areas, and in yards. Is bamboo a tree? I would hate it if I had to try and control its spread.

Tamarisk. I think I might hate tamarisk, but we don’t have it in my neck of the woods.

I don’t hate locust trees, either, but I sure hate the thorns!

Tamarisk it is an invasive plant reportedly imported from Russia which has taken over many western riverbanks. It forms a nearly impenetrable jungle, crowds out native species and destroys potential camping spots. It also has scratchy “branches” and smells like cat pee at some times of the year! For me nothing even comes close.

European buckthorn is about the only one I can think of that I actively dislike. It's an invasive that's got a pretty good foothold in the understory around here.

Alan

Do Devil's club and alder count? They are the bane of PNW and SE Alaska land travel ("don't get off the boat!").

Tamarisk is from the Middle East. It is a phreatophyte using large amounts of water. It displaces native species and has taken over many western water ways like the Green River in Utah and the Grand Canyon. It is the enemy of paddlers. It was planted as an ornamental and escaped into wildlands.

The upland species I cannot stand is Russian olive. It has terrible form and large thorns. It provides some habitat for birds and is a tough plant that can live in Nevada. But it is horrible to work with and always needs pruning.

Alder fixes nitrogen. Now red alder is being used for cabinets and furniture. It used to be a firewood only species. Times change.

Closer to home the answer is easy. Our forsythia shrub that yearns to be a tree requires annual pruning, and like an unruly child fidgetting in the barbers chair this gangly growing specimen resists taming. Maybe I should just give in and let it grow long locks but the wife won't have it. So every year I sharpen up the tools and try to hold it down while I placate it "This'll hurt me more than it will you."
Far from home it's harder to dislike any trees, except of course the ones I just don't trust. Those would be the widow maker snags ocassionally found near campsite and trail. I keep my respectful distance just in case, and try to remember these trees were once entirely likeable, they just got caught up in unfortunate circumstances.

Alders, not really a tree but I sawed thousands down clearing portages in the Wabakimi area over 12 years with the Wabakimi Project.

It's knot a tree, but Japanese knotweed is my nemesis. Thankfully my eight-year-olds loath it nearly as much as I do and are always ready for battle.

Pseudonym said:

Thankfully my eight-year-olds loath it nearly as much as I do and are always ready for battle.

Click to expand...

I mentor a young boy and when he was 6 I sent him on a war party against thistles. I made him a wooden sword, wrote This Machine Kills Thistles on it, and told him I could hear the thistles laughing at him. That was all it took.

Alan

Poplar trees. They are a dirty tree, with weak branches that easily break and smaller twigs that constantly drop everywhere. Sucker shoots come up all over my lawn. The wood, having no density, weighing almost nothing when dry, is practically useless as a fuel in my wood stove, certainly not worth the effort to cut up and process. Carpenter ants love the stuff because it is soft and easy to chew I guess. Drying and stacking space is better utilized by a higher quality firewood.

Here's a memory.... As a kid we had several larger poplars and even a giant cottonwood or two in the front yard. During WWII, my dad was a rifle test shooter at Remington Arms as new military rifles came off the assembly line. He came home with many boxes of rifle ammunition that was powered by a very corrosive type of gunpowder, never for sale in the civilian market and not useful in modern hunting rifles unless immediately cleaned with running hot water. But very useful for shooting down in segments the tall skinny poplars that could not be cut down as a whole because of nearby power lines and fences. The backdrop behind the trees was miles and miles of open river plains and swamp, so there was no danger to anyone beyond. Now that was fun.