My dad just bought 160 acres in Northwestern Shackelford County. About 80 acres has good mesquite cover and 80 acres open. I am wanting to buy some trees or good tall ground cover to plant in the open areas. Any suggestions? Or where to buy some native trees in the area? Thanks

Check with the Natural Resources Conservation Service office in Albany. Used to be the Soil Conservation Service. Our office in Callahan County (Baird) has a program in which you can buy windbrake and shade seedlings recommended for the region. I am sure Albany does the same.

Thanks aeb

I'd plant some live or white oaks near where you will be hunting. Will take a while to grow, but we all know how much the deer love acorns.

Once pecan trees are established they are very drought tolerant.

We have planted pecan, live oak, spanish oak, monterey/chincapini oak at our place. By far the strongest survivors are live oak, however they need suplemental watering to establish as well. Of course we are in BFE south texas... so its not realy where these trees are suposed to grow native.

matt

Honeysuckle is quick and easy!

thanks guys, I appreciate the info. How big does the honeysuckle get? and where could you purchase?

Your county should have a county agri life extension office too, they can be a good source of info, also a master gardener in your area.

Might find this helpful:

http://texastreeplanting.tamu.edu/

By itself with no protection it will not get very tall if the deer find it. It is highly preferred browse. It can get to be 10' tall when protected or grows up thru another tree or shrub. You might check into Western Soapberry as it grows fast and tall. Also Cedar Elm is another. Even the old Hackberry grows pretty fast. All 3 I have listed are good browse plants also. NRCS agent can be a great help also in some counties. Find a nursery that specializes in native plants for potted plants. Jill Nokes put out a book on growing native plants that is a good read if you want to try to grow them yourself.

Sawtooth/gobbler oaks. Deer love those acorns and they are a good nutritional source. Don't know if they will grow in your county or not.

I've had success with honeysuckle in lower wetter areas,you have to protect it and supplemental watering until established.Our deer really eat it up. I think if it's in an open flat pasture it may be difficult to impossible to grow however.

I have seen on the flat prairie land around Eden growing in agerita bushes, mesquite bushes, shinnery oak clumps, etc. So it can grow once establishing a root system. I have seen guys take cattle panels and bend into a round circle and plant the honeysuckle inside it to protect it then the deer can eat what grows outside the panels in a couple of years. They did have to water at first for about a year then it did ok.

What I used were a bunch of tree baskets from an old nursery,the kind used for balled and burlapped trees. This last summer was hard to keep them watered. I think they're pretty well established now. Also threw some cedar brush over them and it's helping to spread the plants. I bought them at Lowes,$8.99 each in 2 gal buckets,not cheap but very healthy. You can also use root-cuttings,just takes a while to root. I wanted instant results.

Erathkid, do you know what kind of Honeysuckle you have? I looked on A&M's website and there are 8 or 10 different kinds. Thanks guys

Japanese honeysuckle...I'm not sure if there are sub-species of it or not. In spring you can take the new tender shoots,cut them on the bias,dip them in root hormone and stick in water for a few weeks until they form tiny roots then plant,keeping them moist. You should probably get at least 30-40% survival. It's a slow process but it has worked for me. I augmented the cuttings with store bought plants because they looked extremely hardy.

I would look into White Honeysuckle for your area over Japanese. Japanese is more of an ornamental variety and it will grow but not like the natives do. It is very aggressive and wide spreading though in growth though. White Honeysuckle is more of a brushy plant that will grow on rocky slopes, road ditches, cedar thickets in central and north central Texas. It will do well in thin rocky soils. It is very viney and spreads well also. It will take the drought better I would imagine also. You can find it at native plant nurseries in Cental Texas north of San Antonio.

Our Callahan Divide Soil & Water Conservation District sells evergreen and hardwood trees for windbreaks, etc. The trees come from the Texas Forest Nursery in Idalou and their selections are adapted to Texas. You can purchase quantities direct from the TFS nursery at https://tfsapps.tamu.edu/wtn/StoreFront/index.aspx
The recommended varieties for Callahan County are Afghan Pine, Eastern Redcedar, Shumard Oak, Bur Oak, Pecan, and Flameleaf Oak. Shackelford County recommendations should be the same.

You can also check with the Lower Clear Fork/Brazos SWCD in Albany for more information. They may have a program that involves local delivery. Cutoff date for Callahan County orders is the end of this month.

I appreciate all the good info