Need help selecting non-poisonous trees!

[Autotech]

Well, we've finally reached the point where we're ready to start putting some trees back on the property. After looking at a variety of different local properties and various catalogs we put together what we thought was a good plan. We want to line our 300' lane with trees on both sides, and plant a single row windbreak/screen on two sides of the property. So this weekend I measured the various locations we wanted to plant, and did some quick drawings to confirm locations and mature sizes. Everything looked great and I was going to order trees this morning.

Then my neighbor stopped by. The one with horses who also knows we hope to have a Belgian or two of our own in the future. Long story short, he pointed out to me that the Red Maples which I planned to use for most of the plantings, and to a lesser degree the Oaks I wanted to put in here and there, are poisionous to horses.

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So I checked in a few books and found that he's correct. So now our wonderful tree plan has hit a major roadblock - namely the trees we love seem to be incompatible with our long term animal plans.

We selected the Red Maples for color, relatively quick growth, and compatibilty with our fairly wet heavy soil.
At this point I'm considering a hybrid poplar, but compared to the maples the poplars are pretty dull....
Another option might be Sugar Maples, but I'm concerned about their toxicity too since they're also a red leafed variety.

Anyone with experience/familiarity with this issue...

HELP!!!!! [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

Gregg

[mfaley]

Hello Gregg.
We ran into the same situation as you did. In fact, there are a number of trees out there that can be rough on horses. If you have a couple of fairly recent books use those as a guide. You might also check into your local universities AG extension service if they have one. The tend to be a great source for current information....especially if they have a good equine dept.

In general, the good news is that most of the trees that are not optimal for horses are not super deadly and horses that are well fed and have room to roam, usually wont worry at them enough to make a difference. Having said that, we only planted a few of the maples in the front just to have a bit of color.

We opted for shade so we went with a London Plain tree which I think is a sycamore type tree. Grows quickly in our red clay, lots of big leaves and the horses arent hurt by it. If you want something that is not so big there is a type of pear tree out there....maybe a Japanese pear?

I have heard that for oaks its the acorns that pose a problem so you might want to be aware of that.

We just went the really safe way and gave up on most of our color.

It's good to see that you are looking out for your future horses needs and I will check with the boss tonight when I get home. She will remember where we put our book.
Mark