All the sawmills around here refuse to accept logs from trees that have been in yards. Somebody at some point probably nailed a birdhouse, sign, etc. to it at some point in the past. Any metal like that wrecks sawblades, which costs the mills more money than the log is worth. Most mills around here hate logs that big too, because they’re too large to saw. That means someone has to rip the log into halves or quarters with a chainsaw, which is a time intensive undertaking. If there’s a mill that specializes in cutting wide slabs, the retail price of those slabs isn’t in the log. It’s in the time to saw, stack, dry, and store the slabs. And that’s if the trunk was good and metal free. I’ve cut oak trees that big that were solid as could be and I’ve cut oak trees that big that were very disappointing due to rot, shake, and massive heart cracks. Homeowners often times think their trees are worth much more than what their trees are actually worth. Trying to recoup some money when having a tree removed is a good idea in theory, but you’ll virtually never cover your removal costs unless you pour a ton of sweat equity into it yourself. I’m not saying this to put you down in any way, but rather to hopefully give you some realistic expectations. $3k is a pretty good price for limb trimming and removal. You might could cut the price down by having them leave the limbs and cutting the limbs yourself or having someone else come get them for wood. It’s a beautiful tree. It’s a shame it’s in a spot where it’s causing damage and is a big hazard.
Thanks for clarifying! Indeed Carpinus caroliniana (American Hornbeam, Blue Beech, Hornbeam, Ironwood, Musclewood, Muscle Wood, Water Beech) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox (aka musclewood!) vs Ostrya virginiana (American Hop-hornbeam, Eastern Hop Hornbeam, Hop Hornbeam, Hop Horn Beam, Ironwood, Leverwood, Wooly Hop hornbeam) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox
I’ve got Autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata), stiltgrass, sweetgum, and deer to keep everything else in check.
Seconded. Apparently there’s a very similar plant citrus garrawayi that is essentially a thornless finger lime. But even without the thorns the plant would still really be a finnicky fickle f***
way too close. I have cut down a few myself and have an arborist coming later in the spring for another that is getting bigger.
I totally forgot about the sweetgum tree I had removed a few years ago. It sent roots in the sewers multiple times, each time clogging up the drains in the house IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER causing huge emergency plumbing bills.
I eventually got my act together and had an arborist take the tree out and grind stump. I had to do it surreptitiously on a weekend too because the city here likes to meddle and prevent any tree removal.
However the tree took revenge by sending another root down 8 FEET into the deepest part of where the sewer line was (the front yard is sloped) and broke into it. This was 3 months after the tree was removed.
The plumber was amazed to find tree roots that deep.
I hated that tree.
Oh noooo! I just ordered a Lapins cherry.
Have you actually done it? I’ve heard that, but have yet to find anyone that did it. I cut one down and have root sprouts every year now.
I adored my finger line while it produced limes… exactly one year out of 4!
I haven’t personally as I don’t have any crepe Myrtles, but I know it works. They are very closely related and know people have done it on here. I may toss a sneaky graft on our local grocery stores crepe Myrtle’s but I know they’d cut it off next year so it wouldn’t prove much long term. They buzz them way back every year.
@Joy … It could be a different story for you out there in California.
Tennessee is not known to be grower friendly for sweet cherries.
I added 5 grafts of montmorency to my lapins a few years back and last spring they produced some nice fruit.
I planted a montmorency tree in my new orchard last spring. It grew very well.
Think I will be happy with tart cherries… the montmorency cherry was delicious last year.
TNHunter
i prefer the taste of monty over the romance series cherries.
I hate avocados because people try to grow them here, and I have to crush their dreams and tell them the trees won’t make it.
Olives. Apparently the Texas Hill Country has a Mediterranean climate, so we are supposed to be able to grow olives here.
I don’t think the Mediterranean has 40 degree temperature swings, cotton root rot, hail, porcupines and lack of olive processing facilities, but I’m not sure. I haven’t been there.
You have porcupines! That caught me off guard. Had to look at the range map. Cool.
The powers that be have been suggesting Olives here for years now. Even the big box stores have large displays of Olives for sale.
The wild Callery pear tree. WORST invasive tree I have seen in my lifetime.
That has me wondering if pineapple guava could be grafted to them too. I remember reading they are part of the Myrtle tree family. 
As typical of common names, crape myrtles and pomegranates aren’t in the Myrtaceae family but actually the Lythraceae. They are in the Myrtales order, but the Myrtaceae family is already so large and filled with graft incompatibilities that it would be unlikely. That doesn’t mean its not impossible, and I’m also not a botanist or a geneticist. They do have similar growth patterns, other than the fact feijoa are evergreen and pomegranates are not. A bunch of spindly trunks coming from the base.
Outside of my granny smith that succumbed to fireblight id go with the American Holly. Beautiful trees and great for wildlife but they pop up everywhere, the leaves are brutal, and they take forever to break down.
Don’t fall in the olive trap! The most money made in olive trees is selling the trees, not the oil.
They are pretty trees, don’t get me wrong. But our powers that be pushed them too, and they got frostbit. Thankfully it looks like the enthusiasm is winding down.