cultivators

==>> s/b cultivars ... lets blame spellcheck .. lol ...

remind us where you are ... ken

James Patrick, check out THIS previous thread on this forum. Click on the pix to enlarge them.

Thanks man ! Didn’t get the amount of responses I expected but yours sealed the deal I am gonna go with one !

If you can be patient the first few years, you’ll be rewarded with a nice shade tree. BTW, were there any other contenders for the third choice?

I dislike coffee trees due to the root suckers. If yours is planted in lawn far from any garden beds, you won't curse it like I do.

@maackia I am always open to hear about possible suggestions. Main thing I am looking for in the third big tree is shade with some filtered light !

Very easy to grow from seeds. Because of that, I had leftover ones that I cut & those do sucker from the leftover base. Ones let to grow hardly do so for me, tho. So not an issue for me. Leaves are quite interesting -- low-down branch on mine:

Tree:

KCT and suckering recently came up on a Google group conversation. About half of posters said they had experienced suckering, while the other half didn't. I've never experienced suckering with the two I've grown, but both were in a lawn setting. Actually, I've seen numerous KCT's of various ages and sizes, but never noticed any suckering.

@maackia where was the google group convo? Interested to hear about any other forums around plants and trees !

Man does that tree look like a green ash when young. I have one coming on an order next week. I’m excited for the “tropical” look if it works.

Actually reminds me a lot of an Amur maackia and we have one in our town that’s growing very nicely at town hall. Very similar leaves and crown.

It's an invitation only group, which I'm generally not in favor of...unless I'm invited. ;) Personally, I prefer the free wheeling style of GW.

For a full immersion of KCT, check out megafaunal dispersal syndrome. It makes for great conversation at cocktail parties, which are about as rare as wild KCT's these days.

I am fond of KCT, seen lots of them, some really big. I have never seen any suckering.

HERE is a factsheet with descriptions of 3 cultivars all of which are male. If posters here see suckers of cutivars such as these its because they are grafted and the understock wants to take over. This won't happen if the tree is on its own roots.

This is ‘Espresso’, planted in spring of 2016:

Thank you everyone for the feedback ! @ maackia my last question for is what’s GW? Thanks for the espresso pics ! That’s the cultivator they carry where I will be buying my trees! Yours looks like it’s off to a good start !

G a r d e n W e b :-)

Somebody wants to play ball. :)

Hey Bill. You ever planted one in 3b or seen one around? I’m trying 3a and my nursery has had success in 3a with the species and with true north from umn.

Every minute we’re outside, maackia. She thinks if we go outside that we want to play catch!

never.

I do see some black walnut, catalpa and what I think are buckeye of some sort so maybe if the hardiness of KCT is similar to those, it might stand a chance. But the aforementioned trees I see are never great looking specimens. A little stunted, maybe too short of a season.

IME, larger/older coffeetrees in natural settings or unmaintained, unmowed areas nearly always have at least a few suckers around them. We planted a few True North Coffeetree last year - in the grower's field their foliage appeared slightly darker green than the Espresso's in the same row. True North should have good hardiness, having originated in MN.

Coffeetree Native Range in Minnesota (from Minnesota Wildflowers):

I have seven of them planted in a grove. I got them as rejects from a nursery that were nothing more than sawed off tops with roots. I thought they would grow more like clumps but I ended up with 2 twins and 5 singles. I like them for their bark and leaves, but I do get a lot of suckering.

I was going to do true north but the nursery said it wasn’t doing as well as the regular kct seedling Version.