Name this tree
- Thread starter MC Rider
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EastWest Gal
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
It looks like it is Tree of Heaven. It is an invasive species. Here in the mid-Atlantic, we're dealing with rapidly spreading Tree of Heaven and also an invasive insect that loves Tree of Heaven (and other trees and crops), the spotted lantern fly. It has ruined outdoor life around here in the late summer the past couple of years because they are big and very numerous. They don't sting or bite, but they are big and annoying and damaging. Last summer it was people's pastime to go outside and kill 20-30 of these pests in the space of a couple of minutes. The insect is thought to have arrived in an egg mass on a shipment of stone from South Korea to Philadelphia in 2012. It is doing a lot of damage to crops around here.
Oh, and a chain saw will not control Tree of Heaven. PennState Extension has information about it here:
https://extension.psu.edu/tree-of-heaven
Oh, and a chain saw will not control Tree of Heaven. PennState Extension has information about it here:
https://extension.psu.edu/tree-of-heaven
jazz4cash
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Tree of Heaven/ Alianthus/ Stinkwood Tree. We had dozens with trunks up to 15 inches. I paid to have the big ones cut. Roundup works for the smaller ones. The roots spread underground and new trees grow a few feet away. I was told they are not technically trees. Having been declared invasive it’s okay to kill them even in a conservation area. We have them under control now.
Koolau
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Ralph.
JoeWras
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I always assumed the nickname came about as a sarcastic joke.
Andre1969
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Yep, tree of heaven. Oddly, I just noticed about 4-5 of them popping up in a somewhat bare patch of the yard. I have no idea where they came from, as there are no others on my property, or as far as I can see, near it. I guess maybe a bird dropped some seeds or something?
I pulled them out immediately, and they actually came up with roots, so it's not like they were sprouts that were attached to a bit root underneath. Still, I'm going to have to watch that patch of ground; I'm sure this isn't the last of them.
One of them came up on its own at my old place, and stupid me, I just let it grow. In early 2019, a tree crew for the utility company cut it down, as it was too close to the lines. Naturally, that made it spread out. I was fighting those things on a regular basis, pulling them up a good 20-30 feet from the original tree, until the time I finally sold the place in October 2022.
I pulled them out immediately, and they actually came up with roots, so it's not like they were sprouts that were attached to a bit root underneath. Still, I'm going to have to watch that patch of ground; I'm sure this isn't the last of them.
One of them came up on its own at my old place, and stupid me, I just let it grow. In early 2019, a tree crew for the utility company cut it down, as it was too close to the lines. Naturally, that made it spread out. I was fighting those things on a regular basis, pulling them up a good 20-30 feet from the original tree, until the time I finally sold the place in October 2022.
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JoeWras
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Birds usually distribute with their poo. I don't exactly know if TOH survives bird digestion, but I'm going guess it does, or at least a portion do.
Many berry trees (Dogwood, Poison Ivy) rely on the bird digestion to partially remove the hard seed cover. Other seeds just go along for the ride. And then they get deposited with their own fertilizer packet. Isn't nature great?
Flyfish1
Recycles dryer sheets
They are super annoying. I had them by my pool a few years ago.I cut every stem close to ground level and carefully applied a nasty herbicide directly to the open stem. Took a few rounds but I won.
Flyfish1
Recycles dryer sheets
BTW the App " Picture This" is awesome for plant identification and some data. Very fun little app.
DayDreaming
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It's hard to say for sure from your photos. One trick in identifying tree of heaven is to crush a leaf - it has a distinct smell that's been described as rancid peanut butter. Also, the base of each leaflet on tree of heaven has a little 'thumb' - I don't see that in your photos but you don't have a good closeup, so it could be there. On a larger tree trunk, the bark sort of resembles the skin of a cantaloupe - you don't have a good photo of the trunk. The link Eastwest Gal posted has some good photos of the leaflet and bark. And as that link says, herbicides are the best way to kill it. If you just cut the tree down, a grove of tree of heaven will sprout from the roots.
Ronstar
Moderator Emeritus
I popped your photo into my Picture This app and it cam back Tree of Heaven, like others have said.
Andre1969
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Yeah, it definitely has a strong smell to it. I couldn't describe it, but it's one of those things that, you know it when you smell it! Even the little sprouts I pulled up yesterday, which probably weren't more than 6-8" tall, has a strong scent.
Reminds me of Buckthorn that we deal with around here, a PIA.
Think the best one can do is just keep ontop of it as best your can after you take it all out. We take a trip around the yard a few times a year and pull up Buckthorn. Buckthorn likes to grow in the underbrush and kills off the native underbrush, have it confined to about a n acre and see less and less every year, guess it will be part of our retirement plan to keep ontop of
Sounds like your Tree of Heaven is a similar pest, good luck.
Think the best one can do is just keep ontop of it as best your can after you take it all out. We take a trip around the yard a few times a year and pull up Buckthorn. Buckthorn likes to grow in the underbrush and kills off the native underbrush, have it confined to about a n acre and see less and less every year, guess it will be part of our retirement plan to keep ontop of
Sounds like your Tree of Heaven is a similar pest, good luck.
jazz4cash
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I used up all the free trials I was entitled to so I switched to “Leafsnap”. Yes, these apps are awesome.
target2019
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As soon as you mentioned "tuber" I figured it was invasive.
I use an app called LeafSnap to help identify plants and trees growing in our wild yard. You can save the result when you're sure you've got a match.
I use an app called LeafSnap to help identify plants and trees growing in our wild yard. You can save the result when you're sure you've got a match.
Andre1969
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
My old family homestead is in Glenn Dale, MD, which is also home to an old US Plant Introduction Station. Basically, a government farm where they did experiments on plants. And, home of the Bradford Pear. As a result, the surrounding countryside is full of mutations that Mother Nature never intended.
For instance, the Bradford Pear is not supposed to bear fruit, nor be able to reproduce. And it won't, with other Bradford Pears. However, it will cross pollinate with other types pears, and their offspring are these nasty, mutated looking things with thorns long enough to pierce the sole of a Chuck Taylor, and no doubt many other shoes as well. The damn things really take over, too. They do bear fruit, these small things a bit bigger than a grape, that actually do taste like a pear. I don't know if they're considered invasive, to the point that they crowd everything else out, but they certainly give the other greenery a run for its money! On the plus side, they are really pretty in March/early April, when they bloom.
Other things that seemed really invasive in Glenn Dale were honeysuckle bushes, which seemed to spread by both seeds AND runners. Oh, and Japanese knotweed. I also learned, about 22 years ago, how a Locust tree will also send out runners. There were three in my grandmother's yard, that they had taken down. Suddenly, they started sprouting up all over. Where they were actually IN the yard, they just got run over with the mower, but along the property line where there's a ditch, we let them grow up. And damn those things grew up fast!
I had one taken down at my new place in 2021, in preparation for a new garage construction. I wanted to clear back any trees that were overhanging, or would have the potential to as they grew. Plus, Locusts tend to break easily in wind/ice storms. Ever since I had that sucker taken down, I've been fighting with its offshoots, some of them a good 50 feet from the original trunk!
I've seen Japanese knotweed along the road, within a few miles of my current house in Crownsville, MD. But thankfully, haven't found any on my property. That stuff looks kind of cool, at first. Sort of an exotic, almost pre-historic look about it. But man does it take over! Also, thankfully, no wild honeysuckle bushes (just the vines, which don't mind. And none of those damn thorny mutant pears!
Oh, bittersweet vines. I had those at the old place, and the new place as well. Constant battle, and those suckers eventually will get big enough to choke off some good-sized trees.
For instance, the Bradford Pear is not supposed to bear fruit, nor be able to reproduce. And it won't, with other Bradford Pears. However, it will cross pollinate with other types pears, and their offspring are these nasty, mutated looking things with thorns long enough to pierce the sole of a Chuck Taylor, and no doubt many other shoes as well. The damn things really take over, too. They do bear fruit, these small things a bit bigger than a grape, that actually do taste like a pear. I don't know if they're considered invasive, to the point that they crowd everything else out, but they certainly give the other greenery a run for its money! On the plus side, they are really pretty in March/early April, when they bloom.
Other things that seemed really invasive in Glenn Dale were honeysuckle bushes, which seemed to spread by both seeds AND runners. Oh, and Japanese knotweed. I also learned, about 22 years ago, how a Locust tree will also send out runners. There were three in my grandmother's yard, that they had taken down. Suddenly, they started sprouting up all over. Where they were actually IN the yard, they just got run over with the mower, but along the property line where there's a ditch, we let them grow up. And damn those things grew up fast!
I had one taken down at my new place in 2021, in preparation for a new garage construction. I wanted to clear back any trees that were overhanging, or would have the potential to as they grew. Plus, Locusts tend to break easily in wind/ice storms. Ever since I had that sucker taken down, I've been fighting with its offshoots, some of them a good 50 feet from the original trunk!
I've seen Japanese knotweed along the road, within a few miles of my current house in Crownsville, MD. But thankfully, haven't found any on my property. That stuff looks kind of cool, at first. Sort of an exotic, almost pre-historic look about it. But man does it take over! Also, thankfully, no wild honeysuckle bushes (just the vines, which don't mind. And none of those damn thorny mutant pears!
Oh, bittersweet vines. I had those at the old place, and the new place as well. Constant battle, and those suckers eventually will get big enough to choke off some good-sized trees.
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Try cottonwoods when you have a pool. Ugh.
JoeWras
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My friends and I almost burned down the Baha'i' House of Worship (Wilmette, IL) because of this stuff. BTW, it is worth the trip if you are ever on the North Side of Chicago. Doesn't matter what your faith is.
I think we trumped up the event in retrospect. We rode our bikes up there to check out the gardens, and one of my idiot friends decided to put a match to all the cottonwood seed that gathered on the ground. It got out of hand, and the next thing you know we were running for our life!
It probably just burned out. Never found out. Hope the statute of limitations is over.
MC Rider
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Leafsnap says Tree of Heaven aka Tree from Hell that will not be killed.
Oh joy.
Oh joy.
GalaxyBoy
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When I saw the title of this thread, before I opened the first post, I thought "Tree of Heaven." I just had a very large one fall into my backyard and had to pay to have it cut up and hauled away.
MC Rider
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Good guess. Looks like if you just cut it down it will not die. It will come back like The Terminator. I need to wait until late summer, then hack and squirt. Hack notches in the trunk and apply herbicide which can then travel to the root system and kill it. The after the leaves are gone you cut it down. Next year you fight it some more.
One is maybe 25 feet tall, I guess I will have to hire someone. The others I can cut myself with my chain saw on a pole. But I already cut 3 the other day. Got rid of what I could of the roots and covered them since the re sprouts are supposed to die in shade. Also hit them with Remuda.
One is maybe 25 feet tall, I guess I will have to hire someone. The others I can cut myself with my chain saw on a pole. But I already cut 3 the other day. Got rid of what I could of the roots and covered them since the re sprouts are supposed to die in shade. Also hit them with Remuda.
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MC Rider
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Today I learned there are a lot of these along the north fork of the Kern River. I suppose the USFS knows. Read there is a fungus that science says is not ready for prime time, but if the tree is inoculated, it kills them and goes through the root system to other trees and kills them too. In about 5 years.
ocean view
Full time employment: Posting here.
If you are using an iPhone, there’s a built in plant identifier in the Photos app. Just snap your photo, then hit the “i” icon for info and tap plant lookup. I just learned of this feature a few weeks ago.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213088
