Trees in my yard look ugly

[monk3y]

So the young trees in my front yard look completely out of control and quite ugly.

Am I supposed to trim these guys into shape? I have no experience with this and have just let them grow for the past 3 years.

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/monk3y/IMG_3168.JPG
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/monk3y/IMG_3169.JPG

 

[WaTaGuMp]

 

[waggy]

those look like something out of a peanuts cartoon.

 

[SirStev0]

someone still using bbzzdd?

 

[0roo0roo]

get a book on pruning
the illustrations kinda tell it best

stuff growing in the wrong direction needs to go, stuff that is shaded by other branches and thus inefficient needs to go, weak/redundant/overlaping...and of course doing it right makes it look good.

trees in a forest compete for light, the lower branches die off by themselves, without that you get a retarded bush thing like you have there

 

[LookBehindYou]

Those are two of the most retarded trees I think I have ever seen. Well done Sir. Well done.

 

[rpanic]

In the first pic why is the tree planted so close to the sidewalk and not centered?

 

[WaTaGuMp]

In the first pic why is the tree planted so close to the sidewalk and not centered?

Where I live the city planted trees in those areas close to the street, maybe its the same for him and they just fucked it up. Or even did it on purpose, trees down the street look the same.

 

[mcurphy]

lol, damn dude, those are some ugly trees! :biggrin:

Wasn't sure what to expect when I clicked your links, but ended up satisfied with a good chuckle. :thumbsup:

 

[iRONic]

So the young trees in my front yard look completely out of control and quite ugly.

Am I supposed to trim these guys into shape? I have no experience with this and have just let them grow for the past 3 years.

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/monk3y/IMG_3168.JPG
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/monk3y/IMG_3169.JPG

Quite the understatement.

Dig those fuckers out and replace them with some Japanese Maples. At the very least, put a JM in the yard and take the one next to the street out and plant grass. Your sidewalk will eventually heave if the roots go shallow.

 

[Kelvrick]

Where I live the city planted trees in those areas close to the street, maybe its the same for him and they just fucked it up. Or even did it on purpose, trees down the street look the same.

Sooner the trees start fucking up the sidewalk, the sooner they can charge him to fix it? Unless they fix it themselves, then they're just retarded.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Sooner the trees start fucking up the sidewalk, the sooner they can charge him to fix it? Unless they fix it themselves, then they're just retarded.

The city takes care of the sidewalk here, it is raised a bit from the roots.

 

[3chordcharlie]

The one in your yard is crooked. Not sure from the scale if that can still be corrected, but if it can't, I would say rip it out now before it becomes more work.

The boulevard tree could be pruned into reasonable condition. It does seem an odd choice for a city tree though (very low branches blocking sidewalk, need for pruning).

 

[Mixolydian]

Trees in my yard look ugly

You're gonna have to move.

 

[Squisher]

From the smallness of the leaves I'm going to say they're a locust, but there's no way to tell without a good shot of the leaves. I say trim away and make them look anyway you like. Straightening that one would be a pain. If you decide to go for it, cut through the roots close in to the root ball with a spade 1/3 of the way around the tree, then wait 3-6 months and cut all of the way around before you try to right it.

You do this because only the finest root hairs far out on the roots feed the plant. By cutting close in 1/3 of the way around, it will force fine root hair growth close in to the root ball. When you cut all the way around that 1/3 will be the only thing feeding the tree.

Thornless honey locust is one of my favorites.

 

[dud]

Sooner the trees start fucking up the sidewalk, the sooner they can charge him to fix it? Unless they fix it themselves, then they're just retarded.

Your trees are young but this poster is right ... that tree is posted WAY too close to the SW and someone will have to PAY (and I do mean PAY) to cut up and replace it when it is damaged by YOUR tree.

 

[drebo]

Why are cities so stupid with the trees they plant?

The city planted trees in my neighborhood about 6 years ago when the houses were built...and then last year went by and ripped every single one out.

A week later, they replanted them all.

Does the city like stupid little useless trees? Cause I sure don't. Give me big elms with fat leaves and 30' trunks.

 

[edro]

I recognize that house.
So you're the one with the stupid looking trees in the front yard...

 

[Lemon law]

Our Bible has the right answer for ye, if your eyeball offend ye, pluck your eyes out. If you want a less draconian answer chop the trees down. After the lack of a good humor man answer, I still leave you no where.

But still without an exact answer to what kind of tree you have, its hard for me or this forum to say much in terms of what trees will fit your situation and have a longer potential. Its why you should consult someone locally expert in forestry. Usually cities and Universities have such and they charge zero for their services.

The other comment is trees are an investment in time. Sure you can buy an easily transplanted desirable tree for cheap when its only 1.5 feet high, but it will cost 20X that cost if you buy that same tree at 4.5 feet tall, and then it may take 5 years for its root system to re-establish itself and start growing vertically again.

My mistake in buying property 15 years ago was in not chopping my existing silver maples down when they were small. And those small quality trees I got and planted 15 years ago have finally grown to respectable height. While those silver maples have grown
and grown into 70 foot tall monsters always dropping huge limbs. In another 20 years they will be at the end of there lives and we be always a mess. In short avoid fast growing trees like the plague. Its never ends well.

So in closing to the OP, you got six years invested in your trees, find out if they have long potential for saving or just bite the bullet and start over. Because when it come time to sell your property, trees add many thousands of dollars to your resale value.

 

[3chordcharlie]

From the smallness of the leaves I'm going to say they're a locust, but there's no way to tell without a good shot of the leaves. I say trim away and make them look anyway you like. Straightening that one would be a pain. If you decide to go for it, cut through the roots close in to the root ball with a spade 1/3 of the way around the tree, then wait 3-6 months and cut all of the way around before you try to right it.

You do this because only the finest root hairs far out on the roots feed the plant. By cutting close in 1/3 of the way around, it will force fine root hair growth close in to the root ball. When you cut all the way around that 1/3 will be the only thing feeding the tree.

Thornless honey locust is one of my favorites.

I don't think the tree is as unmanageable as that. You could dig around it about 2 feet from the trunk, right it and stake it all at once. I've straightened larger trees than that one in that way.

The important thing is that you are effectively 'transplanting' the tree, which means there will be significant root damage. A shot of root stimulant and some extra water and it should be fine.

 

[3chordcharlie]

Our Bible has the right answer for ye, if your eyeball offend ye, pluck your eyes out. If you want a less draconian answer chop the trees down. After the lack of a good humor man answer, I still leave you no where.

But still without an exact answer to what kind of tree you have, its hard for me or this forum to say much in terms of what trees will fit your situation and have a longer potential. Its why you should consult someone locally expert in forestry. Usually cities and Universities have such and they charge zero for their services.

The other comment is trees are an investment in time. Sure you can buy an easily transplanted desirable tree for cheap when its only 1.5 feet high, but it will cost 20X that cost if you buy that same tree at 4.5 feet tall, and then it may take 5 years for its root system to re-establish itself and start growing vertically again.

My mistake in buying property 15 years ago was in not chopping my existing silver maples down when they were small. And those small quality trees I got and planted 15 years ago have finally grown to respectable height. While those silver maples have grown
and grown into 70 foot tall monsters always dropping huge limbs. In another 20 years they will be at the end of there lives and we be always a mess. In short avoid fast growing trees like the plague. Its never ends well.

So in closing to the OP, you got six years invested in your trees, find out if they have long potential for saving or just bite the bullet and start over. Because when it come time to sell your property, trees add many thousands of dollars to your resale value.

Agreed.

If you intend to be where you are a long time, you can plant a fast-grower for shade and the forever-tree, with the intention of removing the fast, weak tree sooner rather than later, and before it affects the growth of your preferred tree. This can mean planting the temporary tree in a sub-optimal location, and depends on how badly you want shade before your newborn starts college

 

[Ichinisan]

lol, damn dude, those are some ugly trees! :biggrin:

Wasn't sure what to expect when I clicked your links, but ended up satisfied with a good chuckle. :thumbsup:

This.

Also, PNG compression isn't appropriate for that kind of picture unless you need a loss-less format. Might even have a larger filesize than the source JPG if it's the same dimensions.

PNG works better for highly-compressible images. Screenshots, lots of solid-color areas, etc. Great loss-less format.

 

[Anubis]

Your trees are young but this poster is right ... that tree is posted WAY too close to the SW and someone will have to PAY (and I do mean PAY) to cut up and replace it when it is damaged by YOUR tree.

if you look down the street it looks like the 2 other trees are the same distance from the sidewalk, developer/town porb planted them all that way

 

[Squisher]

I don't think the tree is as unmanageable as that. You could dig around it about 2 feet from the trunk, right it and stake it all at once. I've straightened larger trees than that one in that way.

The important thing is that you are effectively 'transplanting' the tree, which means there will be significant root damage. A shot of root stimulant and some extra water and it should be fine.

If you are effectively transplanting a tree then you should follow the method I described. It is easy, it just takes patience. Anything less and you end up chasing your tail trying to get the tree to take up water and nutrients. I'm the lazy gardener. I like sitting back and watching stuff grow.

 

[Red Squirrel]

There must be some underground hydro cables and they are actually being electrocuted. Do they look normal when the power is out?

But yeah, definitely need to trim that thing LOL. I think I see why they planted them that way, it's to align it with the fire hydrant, and the reason that is off center is probably to give plenty of clearance for large vehicles that may be slightly leaning such as a big transport that happens to pass by and hits a bump. Probably to compensate for growth and thickening of the tree as well. I always found it odd how some neighborhoods will have the sidewalk like that though, some places here are like that too. You'd think they'd just put it at the very end of the yard.