# Cut Down Trees or Leave Them There?



## ForeverMan (Dec 26, 2013)

I live on a quarter-acre lot in a small town. I have two large pine trees (about 50' - 60' tall) on the west side of my back yard. They provide a lot of shade and probably a lot of wind protection. But they create so much shade that I don't have much sunny area for planting a garden. Would I be better off getting rid of the two trees, or do the shade and wind blocking benefits make them more valuable to keep? Thanks for your input.


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## mosquitomountainman (Jan 25, 2010)

Trees also suck a ton of moisture out of the ground ... especially during the dry season. I'd worry more about that than the amount of shade they make. It will also depend on where you live. In some places the sun is so hot in the summer that shade might be a good thing for keeping the plants cooler and reducing sunburn. Ultimately you'll be the one who decides if they stay or go.


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## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

mosquitomountainman said:


> Trees also suck a ton of moisture out of the ground ... especially during the dry season. I'd worry more about that than the amount of shade they make. It will also depend on where you live. In some places the sun is so hot in the summer that shade might be a good thing for keeping the plants cooler and reducing sunburn. Ultimately you'll be the one who decides if they stay or go.


And with that I agree ... 

Best of luck!


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

How much do you need the shade?
Are they big enough to cut into lumber?
Are they a threat to your home, or someone else's, in a wind storm?
If they are a threat to the power lines then the power company will probably take them down for free.
Will the additional sun make that much difference for a garden?
Will the loss of shade cause the home to be too hot in the summer?

These are just a few questions to ask yourself before you decide.


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## BillM (Dec 29, 2010)

*A garden*



Caribou said:


> How much do you need the shade?
> Are they big enough to cut into lumber?
> Are they a threat to your home, or someone else's, in a wind storm?
> If they are a threat to the power lines then the power company will probably take them down for free.
> ...


A garden needs a minimum of six to eight hours of direct sunlight a day to grow properly .


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## Wellrounded (Sep 25, 2011)

Honestly if it was me and with 1/4 acre I'd get rid of them, plan to plant a new wind break straight away.

I live in a HOT summer area and I garden in full direct sun for 95 % of my needs.

The longer you leave it the harder it will be.

On my last farm we had 32 pines, over 100ft tall within 100ft of the house, they HAD to go, best thing I ever did. 5 years later I had 10 foot hedges, lawns, beautiful gardens and a SPRING... damn those things use some water.

Be prepared for a year or two (or more) of terrible growth though, most conifers are allelopathic ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allelopathy ), so it may take a while for this to disappear, if they stay it will never go.

1/4 is a small space and a big conifer can have roots over that entire area, possibly even effecting your house......

I love conifers and it was hard to get rid of them...... but..... all that beautiful timber , I've already made so much from it and have a lot left. I was lucky to get someone in to cut them and go halves in the usable timber.


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## Geek999 (Jul 9, 2013)

Are they close enough to the house that there is any danger of them hitting the house if they come down in a storm?


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## TheLazyL (Jun 5, 2012)

Well if it wasn't for trees we wouldn't have air to breath. I'd keep the trees and find somewhere else to plant a garden.


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

Another consideration is if you want to sell the property the trees would likely add to the price you could get.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

TheLazyL said:


> Well if it wasn't for trees we wouldn't have air to breath. I'd keep the trees and find somewhere else to plant a garden.


Not to start a fight, but about 88 percent of the Oxygen that we breathe in comes from the small ocean plants called phytoplankton that grow within 50 meters of the water surface. They are not much different form other plants, they use sunlight and carbon dioxide to make food. So as a result of photosynthesis, Oxygen is produced from these plants. Scientists can determine how much oxygen is produced by phytoplankton samplings, measure the carbon sequestration rates & weight changes, then extrapolate based on known surface coverage and seasonal sunlight exposure... OK, enough of that.

Trees over a certain size actually consume more oxygen during their respiration phase than they produce during their photosynthesis phase, dependent on species and sunlight exposure. Also, conifers produce much less than deciduous trees of the same mass.

You may want to look into the feasibility (structural integrity & economics for starters) of a 'green roof' in order to both cool the house and also provide more space for food plants - my suggestion would be lettuce (ideally hydroponics or airponics with a water reclamation system) as it is fast growing and has potentially large yields.


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## Woody (Nov 11, 2008)

You didn't give much information to go on. Here is central NC I have pines that shade my place from the late afternoon sun, that is a good thing! I get early morning, mid day and early afternoon direct sunlight, that is all the plants can take. The few places on my small lot that get afternoon sun, nothing can survive. It gets hot as a bast....well.. hot a heck. Even the tomato blossoms die.

It would all depend on your particular circumstances and how your garden grows. How is doing so far? Can you grow tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, cukes and all that? If your garden does alright I say leave it. If you are not getting enough sun to get stuff to grow well, cut em down and turn them into winter heating!


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## TheLazyL (Jun 5, 2012)

The_Blob said:


> Not to start a fight, but about 88 percent of the Oxygen that we breathe....


I stand corrected. Well if it wasn't for trees we wouldn't have as much air to breath.

"A single mature tree can absorb carbon dioxide at a rate of 48 lbs./year and release enough oxygen back into the atmosphere to support 2 human beings." - McAliney, Mike. Arguments for Land Conservation: Documentation and Information Sources for Land Resources Protection, Trust for Public Land, Sacramento, CA, December, 1993

"On average, one tree produces nearly 260 pounds of oxygen each year. Two mature trees can provide enough oxygen for a family of four." - Canada's environmental agency, Environment Canada


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## cqp33 (Apr 2, 2012)

what about taking one and leaving one? Would removing one give you a mix of sun & shade so that sun loving veggies/herbs could thrive and shad lovers too? However my concern would be the acidity that these throw into the soil, nothing grows under a pine tree because the needles make the soil so acidic! Now Blueberrys love acidic soil but won't grow in shade, sounds like you have a situation that needs a lot of thought!
Good luck though!


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## ContinualHarvest (Feb 19, 2012)

I would plant some new deciduous trees, local species. That way, you'd have some shade in the summer and sunlight in the cooler months.


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

Young trees as they grow are the ones that take in the most carbon dioxide, thing about pine trees is that their needles contain natural herbacides as well as being acidic. One of the reasons I've cut down most of the pine trees on our place is that the tremendous amount of needles that fall in a large area around the trunks is that it creates a path for fires unless you rake them up each year. I'd rather have fir and incense cedar around and both of them also burn well in my stove. ContinualHarvest mentioned deciduous trees, as well as local species plant fruit or nut trees. It's always good to plant trees that will add to the food supplies.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

I agree with others above, you could consider keeping one or both if they are not causing much trouble and you need the shade/shelter. With a property that size I would consider taking them out at some point and possibly replacing with something edible and of "appropriate" size. It might be possible to get the replacements started first, depending on conditions and layout, or it is always possible to add shelter in other ways. I couldn't live in an "open" yard where we are for many reasons, wind being a big one for me personally so I would make sure I had a plan for shelter before I started cutting.


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

Depending on where you live there is the prospect of pine bark beetles killing the tree. When we lived in Colorado I logged beetle killed pine and I ran across a lot of standing dead that were totally dry when I dropped them. Here is S.W. Oregon we are getting some beetle killed pine and it seems to be increasing to a certain extent. On the other hand pine trees generally run a deep tap root that makes them strong against high winds where Douglas fir trees tend to run shallow roots and no tap root I've seen some fall over from winds that were not that strong. The other thing about the pine growing in our area is it just doesn't have enough lumber value as other soft woods and it doesn't burn worth a darn in a wood stove unless it's mixed with hardwoods. To most of us around here this bull pine is like a weed, sugar pine is more valued being not so knotted it makes good furniture.


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## eddy_dvyvan (May 8, 2012)

The way i figure it. If you cant eat it then cut it down. Replant a usefull tree that produces something. Its fine to have a nice natural area when your on a few acres but when you have so little land it all needs to be productive as possible.

Just my opinion

Cheers


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## piglett (Dec 10, 2010)

hiwall said:


> Another consideration is if you want to sell the property the trees would likely add to the price you could get.


maybe not if they are near the house
pine needles are high acid & will do a number on your roofing shingles
we had a pine that was 42" through at the base
i hired a logger i know to drop it 
i worked it up & took it to the mill
the 23" wide boards from the limbs will make nice flooring 
the butt log is all 2" thick slabs which should make nice coffee tables


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