Although many people do not know it in depth, hackberry is a very popular tree for cultivation both in parks and gardens. Its great growth capacity and its long life, up to 600 years, make it ideal for creating pleasant shaded areas in all kinds of green spaces, at the foot of which all kinds of plants can also be grown thanks to its roots. They are deep. In addition, hackberry wood is also highly valued, especially for making tools.
If you want to know more about hackberries and some of their main characteristics, such as how long it takes to grow a hackberry, join us in this EcologíaVerde article in which you will see a guide on the hackberry care.
Hackberry Characteristics
These are the main characteristics of the hackberry tree:
- It is commonly called lodón, aligonero, ledonero, lodoño, quicavero, latonero or almez, its scientific name is Celtis australisand it is a tree of the Cannabaceae family and is part of the genus Celtis, which has around 70 species of trees that are found in much of the temperate zones of the world.
- Hackberry can reach about 25 meters tall, with a straight trunk and a rounded and wide crown.
- It is deciduous, these being lanceolate and lighter on the underside.
- It grows in Mediterranean regions and up to 1,200 meters of altitude and near water sources such as streams, reservoirs or fountains, although it is always found alone, being one of the most recognizable features of the tree, which never forms forests.
- The hackberry fruit, for its part, is usually called hackberry or hackberry, and they are edible, with a sweet and pleasant taste. They are commonly a very important resource for native fauna and have traditionally been used in folk medicine.
- Flowers appear in spring, the exact month depending on the local weather and temperatures that year. They are small and inconspicuous flowers that appear in the axils of the leaves on the youngest branches.
- In the Catalan tradition, there was a custom for peasants to plant one of these trees when the future heir of the family was born.
- When it comes to when to plant hackberry, the best time for planting is spring, in a clear, lighted area.
location for hackberry
The most important thing when choosing a location for this tree is lighting, and also a nearby source of moisture. It is a plant that needs a good direct sun exposure, with many hours of light per day. As for humidity, it will suffice that the roots can reach the underground moisture from a nearby water source or, if not, maintain a more frequent watering.
Thus, the most important thing is to find a clear zone in which it can grow widely and develop without problems or competition for light.
Soil for hackberry
The ideal is to have a soil rich in nutrients, fresh and well drained, but the reality is that this tree is so resistant that it has a Great adaptability to all types of soilsbeing able to grow even in very rocky and stony soils, often being used in projects to recover areas to give stability to the soil.
In alkaline soils the tree will grow less and more slowly, but it can grow without any more problems than that, even in urban environments where other species suffer from a lot of stress. It is important that the soil offers a acceptable drainagesince a prolonged flooding would greatly harm it.
hackberry irrigation
The tree, once adult, is not demanding with watering, requiring very little attention in this regard, especially in areas with a certain level of humidity or rainfall. Yes irrigation is more important in the early stages development of hackberry, and it is that a young specimen will need regular and frequent watering to be able to grow, especially in the hot summer months.
With the young trees will have to water between every 2 or 3 days approximately, while an adult tree will have enough with one watering a week and even tolerate occasional and not too long droughts.
To learn more about the watering needs of plants, here you can read about how to know when to water plants.
hackberry pruning
The hackberry does not really need pruning and, in fact, it does not take well to pruning its thicker branches. It happens that, however, one of the main problems of this tree is that its branches, when they form, tend to grow in a very chaotic way and get entangled and get in each other’s way, requiring manual intervention when this happens.
In these cases, it would be better just remove the finer branches, letting the thick ones follow where they go. It is necessary to be very careful with pruning, carry them out with properly disinfected tools, carry out inclined cuts that do not favor the accumulation of water or residues and, therefore, of fungi such as rust, dangerous for the tree.
Now that you have learned about hackberry care, you may want to learn more about trees and perhaps discover some other that you would like to have in your garden, orchard or land. Therefore, we encourage you to read about the different types of trees and 20 ornamental trees.
If you want to read more articles similar to Hackberry: carewe recommend that you enter our category .
