Wanting to plant some sort of Pine Trees in backyard and curious what can survive with out a ton of maintenance in Central Texas. I do have the option to irrigate the trees if needed.

TIA.

What's your soil like?

no clue.....just bought 1 acre lot in SW Austin and backyard is a blank canvas right now. Should I have someone come out who knows what they are doing to test dirt before I spend the money planting anything?

It wouldn't be a bad idea. A little time and money spent up front can save you a lot of time and money and frustration later.

In your area there are quite a few resources and with a phone call/email/ quick website read, you can have enough info to be on the way to a great yard.

Travis County Master Gardners: http://www.tcmastergardeners.org/

A list of their publications:http://www.tcmastergardeners.org/master-gardener-publications/

Travis County Agrilife: https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/travis/

And another useful website:
Central Texas Gardener -they have a decent search feature and a good blog that relates to your area.
http://www.centraltexasgardener.org/


The Aggie horticulture site above has a tree selector feature that you can use to plug in what you are looking for (pine) and will give advice as to which variety is optimal for your place. Your tax dollars support these services so it's a good idea to use them!

Just curious. Why do you want to plant pine trees? I think there's so much better trees out there if you have your pick. I bought a house with 2 huge pine trees in the back yard that just constantly drop needles in my pool.

IDK, I like pine trees I guess

PlanoAg98 said:

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Just curious. Why do you want to plant pine trees? I think there's so much better trees out there if you have your pick. I bought a house with 2 huge pine trees in the back yard that just constantly drop needles in my pool.

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This. Pine trees are fine on the back 40 - they suck in the yard.

Eldarica Pine

Loblolly works in College Station. Not sure if it goes that far West.

Lost

sims05 said:

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Loblolly works in College Station. Not sure if it goes that far West.

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Not as far as I know. Especially in the hill country the soil, where there is some, is just too alkaline.

Someone asked this question on klbj's show with john dromgoole and Jeff ferris. Their
response was basically 'take a look around and see how many pines you see in sw austin, and that's your answer (i.e., nearly zero)'. Per their discussion, it sounds like you may have only limited success, if any.

Disclaimer: I know next to nothing about trees

If you're dead set on a conifer, go with Arizona Cypress. Its not a pine, but you'll have much better success.

They have a select few in San Antonio near the zoo, but from what I understand they take a ton of soil adjustment due to PH issues.

There's a very real reason you don't see pine much west of bastrop. Those recall are referred to as the lost pines.