What trees would you plant?

[Abishai]

If you could plant 5 trees for browse and food on your property what trees would you plant?

I have oaks already, so I'm looking for non-oak variety trees. Thanks for your input.

[Edcyclopedia]

Apple, beech, crab apple, sugar maple

[-db-]

Pears, crabs, mulberry, hawthorn, beech

[Ryan549]

Apple (including crabapples), Box Elder, Red Maple, White oak (if I lived long enough to see acorns), Pear

[NorthStar]

I will apologize for being annoying up front but your best choice will be what your area supports the best. Not just your growing zone, but the soil type, elevation, shade tolerance, etc. I think fruit trees are a great recommendation, but I would suggest a tree that will give you the best crop as opposed to trying to pick a fruit tree that the deer like most.

I have planted many fruit trees on my property and have had mixed results. My pear trees give me about 6 pears per tree where the apple trees give me more apples than I care to count. So in hindsight, I wish I would've planted almost all apple trees of varying varieties instead of many different fruit trees. Hope this helps!

[justdirtyfun]

Persimmon is a good choice.
Native to a large part of the country.

Are you saying browse and food only for deer or you and deer?

[NorthStar]

Apple (including crabapples), Box Elder, Red Maple, White oak (if I lived long enough to see acorns), Pear

Talk to me about Box Elder...is it the leaves or the seeds?

[Abishai]

Persimmon is a good choice.
Native to a large part of the country.

Are you saying browse and food only for deer or you and deer?

For deer. Buy if I can make a can of jelly off of it that's a bonus.

[Ryan549]

Apple (including crabapples), Box Elder, Red Maple, White oak (if I lived long enough to see acorns), Pear

Talk to me about Box Elder...is it the leaves or the seeds?

Box elder is a very vigorous grower and responds very well to browsing with quick regrowth. The leaves, as with most maples, are favored by the deer. If you are into habitat management, a box elder handles being hinge cut very well and will regenerate new growth almost immediately. It is a junky tree as far as the landscape is concerned, almost invasive. It is propagated from seed very easily. Collect the helicopter seed pods and you are well on your way to adding a bunch to your land. Not taking anything away from the oak group, but with box elder, you don’t have to wait very long to have something that the deer love.

[Hawthorne]

Speckled alder. The more they browse it the bushier it gets. Grows fast. I walked a habitat consultants property that planted a 40 acre field in a variety of trees. Was 20 years after he started and was really impressive. Add food plots and it’s golden. He was really big into Norway spruce and speckled alder. He was starting to shoot big bucks off it. Took years and hard work

[UntouchableNess]

I've got some chestnut seedlings started in the nursery and will be planting them out. I've got lots of oaks, apples, pears planted already.

[Jmitch]

I've tried planting all kinds of trees and honestly unless I want something specific or a fruit tree I'm just letting nature do its thing. Open up sunlight and see what grows. And a lot of the "junk" trees are some of the best wildlife trees.

Box elder is a good one. They hinge great and get the crap browsed out of them by me. They are honestly super hard to kill

We also have a ton of wild mulberry in a few spots. They are also hard to kill. Hinge well and get browsed fairly heavy.

Soft maples and basswoods are good deer trees too. Browsed heavy and easy to regenerate. This took me a while to figure out but a lot of you junk trees are great wildlife trees and your "good" timber trees are pretty limited in actual value. Especially as they age

[justdirtyfun]

Persimmon is a good choice.
Native to a large part of the country.

Are you saying browse and food only for deer or you and deer?

For deer. Buy if I can make a can of jelly off of it that's a bonus.

Well, persimmon would match up with that. I collect some every year for making cookies. Old fashioned white flour rolled spice cookies.
Right now a few medium sized trees are trying to snap branches off from the weight of the fruit. Deer only have 3-4 steps out into the open to munch on them.

[Twenty Up]

If you could plant 5 trees for browse and food on your property what trees would you plant?

I have oaks already, so I'm looking for non-oak variety trees. Thanks for your input.

Looks like you’re in Texas?

My list of all time favorites for GA Zone 8 growing region are...
- Sawtooth Oak
-Chinese Chestnut
-Persimmon
-Keiffer Pear
-American Plum

Your region with dictate what you’re able to plant. Most apple, pear etc trees require minimum frost hours of 200 up to 800 for some varieties.

Some plants require annual pruning, applications of insecticide (especially apples & pears) and full sunlight is a crucial requirement across the board for faster growth. Water is necessary as well the first 1-2 years during establishment.

Some things to consider before investing in trees. Some species are a “set and forget” then others require monthly maintenance in order to reliably produce.

I hope this helps

[Sailfish_WC]

Pear and persimmon