kill the only mesquites in town?

[priest]

Today I received a call from a woman that has a horse farm outside of town expressing her concerns about mesquite trees in her pasture. Honey Mesquites are abundant in certain areas in the south and west parts of the Oklahoma, but I have never seen one here (north-central Okla). The lady said she needed the pasture cleared of the trees and treated so they would not come back.
I had my doubts that they would actually be mesquite trees when I went to look at the job this afternoon, but they were. Relatively small ones. The largest were about 15 feet tall with 5 inch diameter stems. There are only about 20 trees in the whole pasture, some small enough to snip the stems with hand pruners. She said there was only one mesquite tree that she knew of when they moved in in 1991, and the population had been gradually increasing since. 75% of them are in one patch, and the others are widely scattered across the pasture.
She had been informed that they need to be eradicated because they will overtake the pasture (as they do in SW Oklahoma and Texas). But she thinks they are pretty and appreciates the fact that she might have the only ones around, so she wanted my opinion. I told her that I don't see them as a huge threat to the pasture. I suggested leaving the larger trees and cutting and treating (with Tordon) the smaller trees as they appear outside the main patch.
But I told her I hadn't dealt with mesquite much so I'd ask some of my arborist colleauges that might know more about this species.

 

[skwerl]

So she's had 19 volunteer trees in 15 years? And now she's concerned all of a sudden because 'somebody told her the trees would overtake the pasture'? In just what kind of time frame does this woman expect the 'overtaking' to occur? Another 20 years? 30? 50?

I hate stupid people. Even more than that, I hate stupid people who wish to kill trees for no good reason other than unrealistic fears. Stupid people suck.

 

[kf_tree]

hey skwerl

maybe if you started drinking again you would be a little more peacefull. think zen and the art of tree care.

 

[Redbull]

Is that a screw top lid on that Bud Light?

 

[jp hallman]

Mesquites can never be eradicated...they're just that tough.

 

[Stumper]

Mesquites ARE highly invasive.-Their range expanded north by hundreds of miles during the few years of cattle drives from south Texas to Kansas. If I had a patch of them on the northern limits of their range I would keep the patch but try to hold the line on expansion. -Actually where the final northern limit will be is still unknown.-I found a half dozen young Mesquites at 7,500 feet in Northern Az. while Elk hunting a few years ago-The grassy valley where they were growing was forested on both sides with Ponderosa Pines.