My yard has been under several feet of brackish water due to Ike for about 3 days. Is there anything I can do to bring my young trees thru this?
I have several river birch, green ash, crape myrtles, live & water oaks, red maple and citrius. The grass is already starting to die I would love to hear any advice on how I can save my trees!
Thank you!!
Caren
Nothing you can do. They may survive, they may not (and particularly not if it is salty water), but no action of yours short of major flood defences and pumping can improve their chances of survival.
Resin
bummer! :(
Caren
Sorry Caren, lots of Iowa saw this too when we had flooding in June. Most of the trees under water for more than a day, especially the smaller younger ones, did not pull through. Lots of dead trees on campus, even though we sandbagged our hearts out, our entire arts campus is in ruins. In the attached picture, I'm sandbagging with a group. The area where we were standing was under about eight feet of water two days later.
Just wait, though, after the floods there will probably be lots of sales in your area and you can replant!
Elizabeth
I thought I had made a good choice with the river birch trees. Our yard holds a good bit of water in a hard rain storm but I would have never thought we would get salt water in the yard. I'm fairly sure the oaks will make it but I really liked the look of the river birch.
Can you all recommend a good salt tolerant tree that doesn't mind having wet feet for several days at a time? I would like to think that we will never have salt water in the yard again but I don't think that is very realistic.
Thanks again!
Caren
Think your in trouble with that. Very little likes fresh and salt water, it a either or situation I think. Ask Ardesia on the Carolina board. She lives right on the ocean and would know what to do.
Thank you.
Heavinscent - Don't give up on your trees yet. When you have a hurricane, you have a lot of rain (fresh water) that dilutes the salt. (I'll put a list of salt tolerant trees at the end of this message)
When you posted, you had standing brackish water for 3 days. How deep was the water? How long before the water receded? Were trees completely submerged or standing in a foot or two of water?
I live on the Chesapeake Bay in southeastern VA. We have hurricanes and tropical storms often. Two years ago, two tropical storms brought high winds (70+ mph) and 3 foot waves under the house and across the property for many hours. We had just moved into the new house and I was planting trees and shrubs like a crazy woman. The wind and waves pulled many trees and shrubs out by the roots and deposited them on higher ground 100-200 feet away. All the native stuff near the water was flat. The native persimmons turned from green to orange overnight. I thought all was lost.
All deciduous plants turned brown and looked dead. After the water went down, I watered plants that were still in the ground with fresh water to reduce the impact of salt water (I didn't have real "fresh" water because the well was under water). I gathered the trees and shrubs that were pulled out of the ground, watered them thoroughly, replanted them, and continued to water with fresh water until winter because I thought the soil would likely hold some salt after being inundated.
The next spring, I discovered new growth on nearly everything. A weeping yaupon holly recovered and doubled in size in the past two years. The river birches that were pulled out are growing and look fine, although I'm sure this was a setback. A japanese maple and a witch hazel didn't make it. They were already struggling in a hostile environment with too much sun and wind. The junipers were fine. Spireas pulled from the ground put on new growth the next spring but never looked that good, so I decided to replace them.
After experiencing two tropical storms in less than a month, I assumed this will happen again - often. Now, I anticipate problems by paying attention to what trees and shrubs to plant where - i.e. planting stuff that can tolerate some salt close to the Bay. Here is one list of trees that are tolerant (highly, moderately, slightly) to salt and wind. Some oaks can tolerate standing in water for relatively long periods of time - i.e., Nuttall oak, live oak, swamp basket oak. Bald cypresses and magnolias are hardy. Your state universities, state dept of forestry, and conservation dept have probably compiled lists of plants that tolerate these crummy conditions. This list was prepared by Va Tech - it is not comprehensive.
* Highly Tolerant of Salt and Wind
Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergiana)
Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana)
Atlantic white cedar
Hollywood juniper (Juniperus chinensis)
Live oak (Quercus virginiana)
Yaupon (Ilex vomitoria)
Salt cedars (Tamarix spp.)
Southern Wax Myrtle
* Moderately Tolerant
Sand pine (Pinus clausa)
Slash pine (Pinus elliottii)
* Slightly Tolerant - Not for Direct Ocean Front
Leyland cypress (x Cupressocyparis leylandii)
Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris)
Spruce pine (Pinus glabra)
Norway maple (Acer platanoides)
Southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora)
Russian olive (Eleagnus augustifolia)
http://www.yorkcounty.gov/vce/progareas/hort/pubs/Salt%20Tolerant%20Plants%20w%20ltrhead.pdf
Don't assume everything is dead. If you planted river birches and some of the trees on this list, you may be surprised next spring.
Norway maples would be a pest in Heavinscent's zone - they are pretty much a pest even in my zone. I have 3 on my property that I want to take down over the next few years - their roots are a major mess and choke out most everything else. They are just messy trees in general, drop lots of sticks and seem to be the most fertile trees on earth, it seems that every seed that falls from the tree germinates. I REALLY don't like those trees. Even my husband, who is in favor of leaving everything as it is, wants those trees taken down.
Elizabeth
Thank you for taking the time to post those for me Pam! I was pretty sure the live oaks would be ok there are so many 100+ year old trees here. I know they have seen some of the worst hurricanes LA has to offer. Some of the oldest I have seen are very close to our coast.
The water was in our yard for 3-5 days depending on what area of the yard the trees were in. We have a pretty good slope to our yard so the water was about a foot deep for some of the trees in the front while those in the lowest part they were nearly submerged. We have had several good rain showers since Ike so Im hoping that has done some good. Almost all the trees are dropping their leaves but I can't tell if that is from the wind or the salty water. The oaks look unfazed but the river birch and red maples are looking pretty sad. I'm going to leave everything in place until next spring just to see if they will make a come back. If they don't I will just replace them all with more tolerant variety's.
Thank you all for your help!
Caren
Pam, What a great post. You represent what is good about this site. I wish you well.
Carin: It was a pleasure. I remember how depressed I felt after those storms - all the plants I worked to establish looked so bad, I felt hopeless. I learned an important lesson when so many trees recovered - that many trees, especially trees native to a region, are more resilient than we realize. I learned to do research into what trees and shrubs can tolerate the conditions at my place.
While doing research, I stumbled onto a Tree Forum on a different site. People were so patient with me and my endless questions (really endless!). Over the next year, they helped me develop a reforestation plan for our property. They gave advice about what plants to use for what purposes and places, especially native plants that would thrive and benefit wildlife - an incredible learning experience. This spring, I planted 1,100 seedlings, most are doing great.
A big test is happening right now.
Tonight, we are under water from a storm off the coast of NC. It's high tide so waves breaking over the yard for the first time since those storms 2 years ago. When I wake up in the morning, I know everything will be flattened. There will be wrack and heaven knows what else to clean up. I'm sure I'll have some losses, especially with the little seedlings. Overall, I think we'll be okay because I planted native trees that can tolerate wet feet and occasional salt water flooding.
BTW: This link will take you to a subdirectory of photos from the last storm.
http://www.harborhouselaw.com/photos/ernesto/
Most people don't realize what a storm's fury looks like. (We lost that little white car.) Most people probably think we are nuts to live so close to the water. They may be right! But this area of the Bay is a lovely place 99.5 percent of the time. ;-)
ic_conifers - I wasn't recommending that Carin plant anything on that list. I just wanted her to know that these lists are available. She needs lists for her area. From the trees she mentioned, I think she made good choices.
peony01 - thank you. Two years ago, I was in the same boat as Carin so I could throw her a lifeline.
Wow, those pictures are incredible. Did you have to do any rebuilding after the last storm (sorry if I missed it and you already posted that)?
What I can't get over are the WAVES....it is one thing to have flooding, another completely to have the scouring force of fast moving water. Was there any sort of evacuation order? I did not think that emergency authorities would want residents remaining in those kinds of conditions.
Elizabeth
Hi Elizabeth: No, we had no warning with that tropical storm which is unusual. The night before, the weather folks said we would have 25-35 mph winds for a few hours (normal here) and some coastal flooding. Nothing much. Because of this forecast, most people did not prepare and many had serious losses. That morning, when the wind built so strong and fast, we realized the forecast was wrong. We had little time to prepare but took the cars (except for the little white one) to the top of the property where the land is much higher and doesn't flood (yet) and got back into the house before the water rose higher.
You are right - seeing waves breaking across your land and under your house is a fantastical sight. Very different from ordinary flooding. By afternoon, the waves were chest high and the winds were 65-75 mph. Conditions got worse but we stopped taking photos for fear we would fall or lose the camera. If we stayed in the house, we were not in danger. With the help of an engineer, we built this house to withstand a Category 3 hurricane. The house is on pilings 10 feet above flood plain. The pilings were driven 30 feet deep through 2 6-8 ft oyster beds. There are steel beams on the sides that face the water and all interior walls are sheer walls.
That TS taught us a very important lesson - assume and prepare for the worst. Watch the weather patterns, the lows and highs, the isobars, especially during hurricane season. Strangely, most trees survived, although they looked very ratty until the next spring. That's what I wanted Carin to see - after waves ripped trees and shrubs out of the ground, I replanted them, watered them copiously until winter. Most survived. Now, the stuff I plant near the house (the flood zone) are natives that grow in the woods and trees/shrubs that have a long history of tolerating these conditions, especially wind and salt. So far, this is working. I can be more creative with plants that will grow on higher ground.
Elizabeth, I'm sorry to hear you all lost so much during the flood. As we watched this unfold, we were transfixed and horrified. ~ Pam
