After the storm in the Sugar Land area I have a large hackberry tree down completely in my yard. The top of the crown is lying on top of some power line but they aren't down. Will the power company just remove those offending branches or do they do anything else with the rest of the tree? I plan to call them tomorrow. I have a pole saw and a chain saw so I could deal with the rest of it but I may consider a tree service to come take it out. Does hackberry wood have any use or does it make decent firewood?

If it is on the power line they will cut it up. If it is on private property they will probably leave whatever they cut on the property. If it is in an easement or ROW, they will probably clean up whatever they cut up..

No. Hackberry wood doesn't make very good firewood. You can burn it in a fire pit, but it is really soft wood and not good for heating a house in a fireplace

Capt. Augustus McCrae said:

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No. Hackberry wood doesn't make very good firewood. You can burn it in a fire pit, but it is really soft wood and not good for heating a house in a fireplace

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Can confirm it's not great firewood. But if someone else cut it and you need something to burn, it certainly catches fire and produces a little heat.

My experience is that it doesn't burn as much as it smolders.

Hackberry makes good firewood. Not good for cooking or anything but seasonwd hackberry pops and cracks a lot and burns well.

I just spent the afternoon taking a hackberry off a transmission line. First of all, and you already know this, DONT TOUCH IT if its in or close to the powerlines.
Every utility handles debris differently. For example, a few weeks I had a tree down blocking the road in front of my house. It was also touching the neutral wire. Called the power company, 30 min later they show up. 15 minutes later they have it off their line and are gone, leaving the tree still completely blocking the road. City had to come remove the tree. Never have seen such.

Give thanks that you have a down hackberry.

But an old one makes an awesome shade tree. Too bad they break and get blown over often. Old hackberry's are beautiful trees.

I have several more that size or bigger in that same area down by the creek. They look much better than the box elders that are down there with them. Plus the birds love them. I have some small oaks planted in the understory to get ready for when the hackberries will give out over time.

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But an old one makes an awesome shade tree.....Old hackberry's are beautiful trees.

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WTF

Hackberry trees make shade, but I would definitely not say they are good shade trees.
They are important for wildlife for sure.

Make sure you treat the stump with remedy/diesel mix to keep it from sprouting at the stump.

In my experience Hackberry comes in 2 varieties

Hasn't fallen down yet and fell down without warning and needs cutting up. The first variety isn't exceptionally long lived.

schmellba99 said:

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Not good for cooking or anything but seasonwd hackberry pops and cracks a lot and burns well.

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This isn't true. Hackberry, also known as Southern Sugar berry does indeed make good wood for smoking meat. It is a fruit wood, and when you cut it, it smells like syrup.

It does retain moisture more than other hardwoods, so it needs to season a bit longer than other woods before smoking with it. At least a year.

There was a guy on the OB that used to own a barbecue place in Memphis Tennessee, and hackberry was all he used to smoke his meat. He said his customers loved it.

Also, it's a beautiful snow white wood. I don't know if it can be used for woodwork, but some of the guys here can probably tell you. It's beautiful wood.

The grain is fine and the wood is fairly soft, which makes it not very durable. It doesn't get used for much.

Apache said:

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But an old one makes an awesome shade tree.....Old hackberry's are beautiful trees.

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WTF

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We had a Huge one beside an old corral interior fence. Provided shade for animals on both sides. The trunk and canopy were massive. No idea how old it was but the corral dates to 1946. Unfortunately it went down a few years ago. Miss it. I'll take the hackberry over gum and pine trees any day.

We burned hackberry every year in our fire place growing up. It doesn't last very long compared to oak or mesquite, but it does burn a very hot blue flame.

We never cut it for firewood on purpose but many of them would rot off at the ground and fall over usually across a road, sendero or right next to a feeder, so we would cut it up and burn it.

It would not last over a year as the bugs got into it and about all you would have left is the outside and a bunch of sawdust. Made for great "Pops" in the fireplace though.

You learn something new every day. I have honestly never heard of using hackberry to cook or smoke with, and never would have thoughto do so.

Turns out it is not on the power line according to the power company techs, just the cable/phone line. AT&T tech today says it's a Comcast line. Comcast say they will have a tech out tomorrow. I assume he will tell me it's my problem.

Scientific name is Usforus bonfirus.