What is your most DISLIKED tree and why?

[wjmc]

I'm in agreement with jdeerfoot on the alders. And I'll add willows to the list.

 

[Woodpuppy]

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.

Our first home had a tin roof and between acorns and crab apples it could get pretty exciting. Ever had one of those acorns land on your HEAD? It hurts as much as you think it would!

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!

I’m not particularly a fan of the Bradford Pear, they do seem to need a lot of maintenance work and they’re everywhere. All of my dogwoods have died including those I planted.

 

[clemency]

Our first home had a tin roof and between acorns and crab apples it could get pretty exciting. Even had one of those acorns land on your HEAD? It hurts as much as you think it would!

Nope, but I bet it would. Following up on my post, when it got really loud I would often go out with a slingshot/wrist rocket and shoot back. Don't think I ever hit one, but not for lack of trying

 

[mwaalen]

I second the Jackpine for two reasons having lived with a yard full of overly mature ones. One reason being mowing under them is like mowing a field of golf balls with their hard cones. Shoot one into a tree trunk and it is bound to ricochet into the side of your head...in the same place it hit you the week prior. The other is when the big ones finally give up and fall over dead they explode into a mess of brittle sticks. Now the mowing task takes the entire weekend.

 

[Marten]

My tires and I hate the Honey Locust. Best use is gathering the longest thorn clusters for an Easter prop.

BobB, I find that the biggest Whitetail bucks like the Prickly Ash for bedrooms, the thicker the better.

 

[Bob B.]

Well Marten, if anyone knows about huge Bullwinkle bucks it would be you!

 

[sweeper]

I've been battling the Knotweed for 5 years and I think I've turned the corner after nuking it with Roundup last fall.
I can't bad-mouth Box Adler, I'll be burning it for at least the next two years in my wood stove

Actually, my favorite tree and the tree I dislike the most are the same tree, Butternut. There's about a month a year you take your life in your hands walking under that tree with the butternut falling out of it. It's a hardhat zone and those don't work on a windy day.

Love/hate

 

[yknpdlr]

If we extend to semi-woody shrubs, then, especially in the Catskill Mountains of NY, it is the multiflora rose that takes the top pick. Whenever I am called out for as SAR incident, if it is anywhere south of the NY Thruway (US90), I have to think twice about what to wear and if I want to go at all. All too often we have to press our way through masses of the sharp thorny branches on a search line. Every clump needs to be inspected as a potential hiding shelter. God awful stuff to walk through.

a silent but aggressive invader, multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora). This thorny perennial shrub is an Asian import with arching green stems called canes that can reach 10-15 feet long. It advances across open ground at an alarming rate.

 

[Woodpuppy]

Down in S FL they have something called “cats claw”. A nasty piece of work, large durable shrubs with 3/4”-1” long recurved spines. You can’t push through it, and tugging just buries the spines deeper. It’s a hack and burn situation.

 

[Gamma1214]

The USDA once encouraged planting multiflora rose as living fences. I would imagine it was very effective until it took over the entire pasture.

 

[sweeper]

I have a few multiflora roses that also get pruned when I pull the Knotweed
One of the benefits of pulling all this knotweed is there's and host of plants that have lived there that now have popped up. I have about 30 Helleborine Orchids growing on the bank of the Brook.

Epipactis helleborine (broad-leaved helleborine): Go Botany

gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org

 

[clemency]

dang. We have multiflora rose in the yard. One of my favorites. But, it will have to go on the hit list I guess. Bummer.

 

[zamirmewelldy]

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 use roofing company was miles and miles of open river plains and swamp, so there was no danger to anyone beyond. Now that was fun.

In our own backyard, the answer is clear: our forsythia shrub, always aspiring to become a tree, demands annual pruning. Like an unruly child in the barber's chair, this gangly grower resists every attempt at taming. Perhaps I should concede and let it grow freely, but my wife insists otherwise. So, every year, I sharpen my tools and wrestle with its wild growth, reassuring it with a gentle, "This is for your own good."