I am looking to get rid of 2 Bradford pear trees in Allen Tx. The company I am talking to recommended Chinese pisache. Do not know anything about them, is a good tree for the front yard? The estimate is around $2,200 for removal and planting 2 Chinese pisache, is that a fair price?

Chinese Pistache trees are the "it" trees right now. Fast growing and turn vibrant colors in the fall. This may sound funny, but make sure the trees are "male" trees. Female trees bear fruit. They produce tiny red berries that the birds will eat and then you will have red tinted bird crap on everything.

edit: they are also heat and drought tolerant, good for most of the south (Zones 6-9)

$2200 to cut down a tree and plant two new ones is RIDICULOUSLY overpriced.

chiken said:

---

$2200 to cut down a tree and plant two new ones is RIDICULOUSLY overpriced.

---

I agree. Does that price include grinding the stumps? If so, that might not be too bad.

Can you smoke meat with pear wood? If so, buy a chainsaw ($400) and cut them down yourself. If you don't smoke then there are people who will take the wood for that purpose.

How big are the pears?

The following link is a discussion of trees ok for smoking meat. They conclude that Bradford Pears are ok to use for meat.

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52208

We live in the BCS area, but for a comparison (only on removal) we had one elm (taller than the house by quite a bit) and seven large shrubs removed. (Ligustrums, hollies, and one crape myrtle). The elm was rotting, and prior owners had planted shrubs too close to foundation. The price to remove all and grind the stumps was a little over a thousand dollars. The tree itself was a 500 dollar job since it was really big. (the owner itemized his quote). We won't be planting replacements until fall so I didn't have him estimate any install prices. If that gives you a comparison, keeping in mind that it is south of your area.

Edit to add-I don't think my husband was too confident that we could get the tree out safely ourselves. and one of the reasons we were taking it out was so it didn't fall on the house. We are looking at a Shumard oak to plant in the fall along with some more foundation friendly shrubbery.

Tannerite is never not the right answer!

Bye bye tree

I had a huge Bradford Pear (probably 18" diameter at the base and 25' tall) removed last month for $455. It was sandwiched between my house and the neighbor's with very little room for error (fence, pool equipment and houses).

ETA: In Round Rock

What size tree will they be planting?

That seems high.

I would recommend Shumard oak for planting. They are native, hardy, and easy to grow on the Blackland clays in Allen. Planting a smaller tree (about 1" diameter) is best. Dig the hole twice the size of the root ball, and mix in a topsoil / compost mix to give the tree a head start.

Price includes grade and grind old tree and they are pretty much maxed out on size. The new ones would be 45 gallon, don't know what that means

I have a 35 year old chinese pistache in my back yard, probably 25-30 feet tall, 24" diameter base. Well shaped, beautiful in the fall. Must be a male. No berries. Requires very little pruning.

45 gallon pot is fairly big hole in the ground if they do it right. That should be a decent sized tree to plant. 7-8 feet?

gigemaggies88 said:

---

I am looking to get rid of 2 Bradford pear trees in Allen Tx. The company I am talking to recommended Chinese pisache. Do not know anything about them, is a good tree for the front yard? The estimate is around $2,200 for removal and planting 2 Chinese pisache, is that a fair price?

---

Dude. Did you call the huge ass tree farm in Frisco? That seems way high.

Ol_Ag_02 said:

---

gigemaggies88 said:

---

I am looking to get rid of 2 Bradford pear trees in Allen Tx. The company I am talking to recommended Chinese pisache. Do not know anything about them, is a good tree for the front yard? The estimate is around $2,200 for removal and planting 2 Chinese pisache, is that a fair price?

---

Dude. Did you call the huge ass tree farm in Frisco? That seems way high.

---

That would be Fannin Tree Farm.

They are the ones who gave the quote

I've got a Chinese Pistachio we planted over 20 years ago in back yard. Nice tree, no problems. In hindsight, I planted it way too close to our pool, but it hasn't caused any issues at all.

Often you can go with a smaller tree (1-2", 10-20 gal) and it will outgrow a 3-4" tree (45 gal) over the first 5 years. Larger container grown trees can be stunted and have to put on a lot of root biomass before they start growing. They also cost a lot more than 20 gal trees, and are more prone to water stress in the first 2-3 years. You can probably save a little and have nicer trees in 5 years if you go with slightly small trees.

I have lost all four Chinese Pistache that I have planted the past 30 years from cotton root rot. They are one of the few things that will not grow in my yard. These were all planted in different locations in my one acre yard. I love to follow Texas AgriLife recommended lists, especially the Texas Superstars, but that one does not work for me.

I planted a sapling I bought from a fund raiser in Flower Mound in the early 90s. It is a beautiful tree but man does it produce a lot of leaves! Great shade, fast grower, low maintenance and small leaves. Lots of small leaves!

Chinese Pistache is on invasive plant species list. Try to find Texas Pistache if possible. Not sure if Fannnin carries them or not.

Hhilton82 said:

---

Chinese Pistache is on invasive plant species list. Try to find Texas Pistache if possible. Not sure if Fannnin carries them or not.

---

That's racist!

Sounds expensive, but probably about right. $1000 to take out the trees and $1000 to buy a big 45 gallon tree, dig the hole and plant it.