Landscaping Help, Aspen Trees Specifically

[T-Giv]

I did a search and located nothing regarding landscaping help. I think we should have a thread with some basics in to help out those who are new the whole owning a house game. I can use some help from the experienced dudes!

My house has a few awesome clumps of Aspen in the front yard. I love Aspen trees. However, during the summer time the little babies pop up EVERYWHERE in my front yard. It's insane. I think I'm going to let a few more clumps grow but the yard gets overrun with them. I just mow them down for now but does anyone have a way to control them better? Also, the extreme heat we had this last summer dried mine out hardcore. They look horrible. They barely had any color change. I watered them adequately and they just fried. What's the best way to help them thrive? I know we are on the lower elevation level for them but I have seen them thrive here in the Metro.

I'm also looking to start a new group in the backyard. Should I just let the little babies grow about a foot tall and then chop them up and replant?

[gos]

CSU has a ton of great information:

http://csfs.colostate.edu/index.shtml

http://csfs.colostate.edu/pages/insect-diseases-aspen.html

[sako55]

The fried look on the aspens is actually a leaf spot disease that is PIA to control. If you wanted to try, spray them 3-4 times in the spring while they are leafing out starting at bud break and once again every 7 days.

Pretty much screwed with the suckers. They may have come up from seed as well. Need to check if they are attached to larger roots.

Fertilize them Properly and keep them watered all year long. Yes this includes the winter time.

They have tons of issues. Most get aphids, mites, oyster shell scale, and are typically finished off by a fungal vasculare disease call cytospora. No cure for the fungus but you can treat the insects.

The trees are pretty short lived as well. They only average 10-15 years. A lot of times less.

DO NOT PLANT ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I work for a tree sevice, and am a certified arborist blah blah blah

[JohnTRourke]

That's how aspen trees reproduce (thru suckers) and as the previous guy mentioned they are shitty trees.

A really long lived one lives about 20 years and then it's dead. It finally gets to be a useful and interesting size and then it dies.

Plant something else.

[HoneyBadger]

Hey guys, I just bought a lot to build on and would also appreciate some good tree advice. We have a pretty big budget for trees ($5000) because we value our privacy and we value wind protection, noise protection, and nice trees. What sort of trees do the best in Colorado and provide good protection from wind, noise, and the ugly house next door?

[UncleDave]

Aspens are susceptible to something like 200 sicknesses all of which are in Denver and Colorado Springs. They only do well in the high country.

[JohnTRourke]

Hey guys, I just bought a lot to build on and would also appreciate some good tree advice. We have a pretty big budget for trees ($5000) because we value our privacy and we value wind protection, noise protection, and nice trees. What sort of trees do the best in Colorado and provide good protection from wind, noise, and the ugly house next door?

it's too broad of question.
Where do you want trees?
how big is the lot?
where is the house on the lot?
what's the soil like?
how does the land lay?
how much room between them?
how much room between them and the house?/barns/septic/powerlines
where are you physically located (trees that do well at 5000 feet may not do so well at 7000 feet)
what's your time frame?
deciduous or evergreeen?
how are you going to get water to them? (now and in the future)

$5,000 is about 10 reasonable sized trees (2" or so)
shrubs are $50 each (more or less)
mulch is ??????
water is ?????????

[CO Hugh]

For suckers you can buy sucker spray at the nursery it helps a bit.

[T-Giv]

^ I'll look into this thanks.

And HoneyBadger I know you are going to probably respond with "HoneyBadger don't care" or something along those lines but thanks for the Thread Jack. [ROFL2]

[HoneyBadger]

it's too broad of question.
Where do you want trees?
how big is the lot?
where is the house on the lot?
what's the soil like?
how does the land lay?
how much room between them?
how much room between them and the house?/barns/septic/powerlines
where are you physically located (trees that do well at 5000 feet may not do so well at 7000 feet)
what's your time frame?
deciduous or evergreeen?
how are you going to get water to them? (now and in the future)

$5,000 is about 10 reasonable sized trees (2" or so)
shrubs are $50 each (more or less)
mulch is ??????
water is ?????????

Thanks for the response. I didn't know there was so much to consider! it's a 9000 sq ft lot and we aren't allowed to have a privacy fence, so the trees will be a "fence" providing us with noise and wind protection, along with providing us some privacy from the neighbors.

I guess most of your questions above don't really need to be answered right now, but I was more looking for which trees to consider to meet those needs.

[rondog]

I had a tree guy come to the house once, and he essentially told me the same stuff....that aspens are basically weeds like sumacs, not really "trees", and they pretty much suck. They're high country thrivers, but down here they do horrible. He advised me to not spend a dime on them, and to get rid of them as soon as possible.

If you look around, you'll see lots of dead and fucked up aspens, that's not a good sign. Much better trees available.

[JohnTRourke]

Thanks for the response. I didn't know there was so much to consider! it's a 9000 sq ft lot and we aren't allowed to have a privacy fence, so the trees will be a "fence" providing us with noise and wind protection, along with providing us some privacy from the neighbors.

I guess most of your questions above don't really need to be answered right now, but I was more looking for which trees to consider to meet those needs.

so, you want more of a hedge?????
what about a juniper?, green all year, fill in nicely, create nice rows between houses, etc, require pretty much zero care, once you water them.

skyrocket juniper is one that comes to mind, narrow and tall, grows quickly.

[brutal]

Largest living organism on the planet. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pando_%28tree%29 No way to really prevent the suckers I know. Like any tree root, they'll f*ck up flatwork too.

Mine are all starting to die off. I didn't help the dumbshit PO planted them too close to the house and they required aggressive pruning throughout the years. I will not be planting any more.

[Irving]

I have Juniper bushes, and while they are great for privacy, I really hate them.

[raz-n-co]

we had them and hated them. Kill them all when you can.

[JDF]

Hey guys, I just bought a lot to build on and would also appreciate some good tree advice. We have a pretty big budget for trees ($5000) because we value our privacy and we value wind protection, noise protection, and nice trees. What sort of trees do the best in Colorado and provide good protection from wind, noise, and the ugly house next door?

Autumn blaze maples, Autumn purple ash, Blue Spruce, and Austrian Pines are all great looking and pretty easy to grow trees. PM if you ever want some trees, I am a Landscaper with a LOT of contacts. Also if you want big trees my buddy has a tree spade.

[rondog]

Autumn blaze maples, Autumn purple ash, Blue Spruce, and Austrian Pines are all great looking and pretty easy to grow trees. PM if you ever want some trees, I am a Landscaper with a LOT of contacts. Also if you want big trees my buddy has a tree spade.

This is good to know! Nice to find a landscaper and tree guy here on the forums.

[JohnTRourke]

I have Juniper bushes, and while they are great for privacy, I really hate them.

You're probably thinking of a pfitzer not an upright juniper.

[Irving]

You're probably thinking of a pfitzer not an upright juniper.

I may be, because I like upright pine trees a lot more than the bush variety.

[T-Giv]

Any landscape company owners have some Aspen that they want to get rid of? I have the spot ready for planting and I need a half dozen or more. Despite all of the negative talk about them I am still going to give them a shot.

[funkfool]

Kill them now...
When they die - the yard will be overrun with suckers...
Mine started to uproot due to high winds and I had 5000 of the bas*&rds suckers coming up all over the place.
So I killed it.

http://www.savannaoak.org/aspencontrol.html

But - hey, if you like 'em - it's your yard... pretty trees in fall.

[T-Giv]

Mine are alive and I get suckers all over my yard in the summer. Not a big deal to stay on top of them.