Hackberry
- Thread starter bwoods11
- Start date
j-bird
Moderator
How many you want? I got tons of them on my place. I see them as a low value wildlife tree. Yes the birds will eat the berries, but the timber value is pretty low. They hinge great but tend to have weak canopies and I don't see them as a major browse source on my place. I find they like similar conditions as that of black walnut. I have ZERO need or desire to plant hackberry - but all our properties are different so knock yourself out. I tend to cut mine down entirely or hinge them to try to get any sort of cover value out of them. FYI it make crap firewood if you split by hand because the wood is very stringy and doesn't split clean......for what that is worth. The wood is really white sapwood with a really dark purple to black but much smaller heartwood as well - mostly used or sold as pallet material from a timber perspective so is pretty low in value.
I have a few nice hackberry, but I've never seen anything using them. I think the mature trees have a nice form and look cool, so I left a couple but I wouldn't hesitate to cut one that is growing near a better tree. I don't think I would plant them, but that's just my opinion.
rocksnstumps
5 year old buck +
I tried some years ago I got from local NWTF chapters. Found out hackberry can't hack zone 4. At least they all croaked within a short time and the crabapples and oaks planted did fine. I believe that they do alright in southern WI.
bwoods11
5 year old buck +
There's a lot of hackberry around here (Mn zone 4)
I also saw hackberry in the river bottom near Hallock, MN (zone 3)
rocksnstumps
5 year old buck +
Hmmm maybe they like a richer soil or something. Never have noticed hackberry in my neighborhood or on land open to the public around me. Trees of WI book mentions they are found in southern half of the state which is typically Southern Broadleaf forest type vs. the Northern hardwoods.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
I planted one just for the berries to feed birds. Maybe it'll help keep some insect eaters around for our orchard purposes. 8th leaf.
tynimiller
5 year old buck +
Our family spot naturally had/has 100's of them on the 9 acres and on past our borders! Some of the biggest are probably 2 or 3 feet across but most are of the thigh/bicep/wrist variety.
WE LOVE THE THINGS for sculpting out property habitat via hinge cutting! They thrive when hinge cut, deer love the browse from them but they can out grow the pressure for great horizontal cover in most places. Also if hinging is not the right thing for the spot, we've had awesome luck with top cutting at about 2 feet high and them bushing out with suckers and shoots....different way to provide lower cover while still opening canopy.
Would I plant them...yeah, but wouldn't be a focus as I do feel they don't serve much good upright and fully vertical...best when on their sides, but man are they valuable when on their sides!
WE LOVE THE THINGS for sculpting out property habitat via hinge cutting! They thrive when hinge cut, deer love the browse from them but they can out grow the pressure for great horizontal cover in most places. Also if hinging is not the right thing for the spot, we've had awesome luck with top cutting at about 2 feet high and them bushing out with suckers and shoots....different way to provide lower cover while still opening canopy.
Would I plant them...yeah, but wouldn't be a focus as I do feel they don't serve much good upright and fully vertical...best when on their sides, but man are they valuable when on their sides!
chickenlittle
5 year old buck +
I planted 10 hackberry two springs ago from the MDC around the house for future shade trees. I am not familiar with the tree otherwise and did not have a big reason for planting them other than seeing them suggested as a disease resistant shade tree and the maples there now are not in good shape. I did see a large tree at a local park this summer that I think was hackberry.
Always interesting to see peoples diverse opinions on different tree species (and everything else). While I see state nurseries offering black gum, I'd never plant one. I have a ton of young to maturing blackgum in our oak woods understory that I'd like to be gone...If I only had a few spare weeks for the chainsaw. The trees are quite striking in form and red fall foliage and the berries are highly rated for birds due to their high fat content. It is not good for lumber that I know of although few of ours are more than 6" DBH. And the larger ones are a bear to split for firewood because it is so stringy.
Always interesting to see peoples diverse opinions on different tree species (and everything else). While I see state nurseries offering black gum, I'd never plant one. I have a ton of young to maturing blackgum in our oak woods understory that I'd like to be gone...If I only had a few spare weeks for the chainsaw. The trees are quite striking in form and red fall foliage and the berries are highly rated for birds due to their high fat content. It is not good for lumber that I know of although few of ours are more than 6" DBH. And the larger ones are a bear to split for firewood because it is so stringy.
rocksnstumps
5 year old buck +
Did some digging and seems range is maybe more related to Tension Zone - plant communities grouping than USDA temp zones. As noted seems to do ok up to 4a and even some pockets up in way northern MN. Still on the wrong side of the map for me although my sample size for trees was pretty small, like maybe 1/2 dozen
This is from USDA Silvics Manual - Hardwoods and compare to Tension Zone map
