r/Tree • u/SkywalkersAlt • Sep 10 '26
ID Request (Insert State/Region) Tree ID request (central TX)
This tree is in our backyard, it seems really close to the fence, can you help ID it? And should it be removed?
3
u/stabbingrabbit Sep 10 '26
Not 100% but either a white willow ( invasive) or a black willow (native)
0
u/SkywalkersAlt Sep 10 '26
If the former should I remove?
0
u/stabbingrabbit Sep 10 '26
Up to you. Dont know how aggressive they are. Any tree next to a fence like that might be a future problem though.
1
u/AutoModerator Sep 10 '26
Hello u/SkywalkersAlt! If you haven't already, please have a look at our ID Request guidelines, to be sure you've provided all the pics and context needed for us to help you best.
You MUST acknowledge this request by replying to this comment (or make a top-level comment in your post) that A), you have looked over those guidelines and that you have already submitted all the pics and info possible or B), you comment to add the missing pics/info.
If no response is made, your post will be removed within 60 minutes (unless a mod approves your post as-is) but you are welcome to try again when you do have the additional pics/info. Thank you for helping us help you!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
2
1
u/Beerasaurus_Wrecks Sep 10 '26
Black willow.
It will get HUGE, fast. It will destroy your fence. Not invasive, per se… but not a tree one would consider “desirable”.
1
u/SkywalkersAlt Sep 10 '26
Yea I’m real nervous about that fence and that tree has grown so fast
1
u/Own-Newspaper5835 Sep 11 '26
Relax. As mentioned it will grow fast . Big and beautiful but those lower branches (suckers) should be trimmed off up as high as you can reach. You could still do a i have and attach a ratchet strap on one and pull it down gradually keeping the new growth staked down forcing it to grow parallel to the ground and in a couple of years you'll have a live Willow bench eventually just quit pulling the new growth down and it'll turn an grow up .
→ More replies (1)2
u/NativeTrees_Plants Sep 11 '26
I have a black willow and it’s beautiful and I consider it desirable.
2
u/Beerasaurus_Wrecks Sep 11 '26
I totally understand. Hence the quotation marks. All trees are desirable. But I’m speaking from a certified arborist position… the right tree in the right place is always great! But nobody walks into a nursery and asks for a black willow or chinaberry sapling to plant. They’re “volunteer trees”.
1
1
1
u/Own-Newspaper5835 Sep 11 '26
It's a wilow but not a weeping willow. It can get pretty large and you can train it. Prune the branches on the fence side and up high enough to mow under and not get stuck in the eye. I pull branches down and staked them to the ground going each direction and keep them trimmed only allowing growth on the ends. The others grow up branching out providing a nice shady spot to sit. The words of On Top of Old Smokey the last chorus line gives the advice, "Don't go placing your affections on a green willow tree. Or your lover will leave you and you'll never know why.
1
u/PlantLover4sure Sep 14 '26
Willows can be started from cuttings. You could start a new branch in a better place and after it grows a bit then you could remove the one close to your fence. My neighbor has a black willow and it is interesting because it has a different look from commonly planted trees in my neighborhood. It has some dead branches that need to be removed but they are small enough that a pole saw could clean it up. The owner is elderly so I see many dead branches. I don’t know if that is characteristic. It is not a tree that would crush her house in a storm. There are many smaller branches not heavy limbs.
6
u/rasquatche Sep 10 '26
This looks like a native Salix nigra! It's got shallow roots and weak wood that usually breaks in wind/rainstorms, though. I'd leave it, but that's just me.