# Tamarack (Larix laricina)

> A conifer that turns gold and drops its needles each fall, the fastest-growing native conifer of northern bogs and wet ground.

Also called American larch, eastern larch, hackmatack. Category: Uncommon Yard Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/tamarack/

![Tamarack (Larix laricina) in a bog in autumn, its soft needles turned gold before they drop](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/tamarack-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3A2024-10-17_12_32_06_American_Larches-Tamaracks_changing_color_in_autumn_in_a_bog_near_Rensselaer_County_Route_42_%28Taborton_Road%29_in_Sand_Lake%2C_Rensselaer_County%2C_New_York.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Large tree
- Mature height: 50 to 75 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 2 to 6
- Grows wild in: Stream banks, swamps and wet flats
- Native range: Alaska and 17 other states, north and west to Minnesota and south to West Virginia (Alaska, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin)
- Sun: Full
- Soil moisture: Wet, Average
- Growth rate: Fast
- Traits: Fall color, Tolerates wet soil, Wildlife value
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed.

## Notes

Tamarack is a larch, and apart from the bald cypresses, the larches are the only native conifers that stand bare all winter. It is usually the first forest tree to invade a bog as a lake fills in, and it grows north to the limit of trees. Native peoples sewed birch-bark canoes with its fine roots. Illinois and Maryland list it as endangered. Indiana and Rhode Island list it as threatened. Plant a group at a pond edge or in a wet, sunny corner.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Tamarack grows fast, about 2.75 feet a year in our growth estimator. A good plantation in Ontario averaged 49 feet at 25 years, though growth slows after 40 to 50 years. It matures at 50 to 75 feet with a narrow, open crown 15 to 30 feet wide. Its maximum age is generally 150 to 180 years.

Pollen is shed in late April and early May as the new needles appear, and the cones ripen in August and September. The upright cones are half to three quarters of an inch long, rosy red when young and brown when ripe. The needles start to yellow in early September, reach full color in early October and drop by mid-October. Crossbills and pine siskins eat the seed.

It has one of the widest ranges of any North American conifer, from Newfoundland and Labrador west to Alaska and south to southern Minnesota, northern Ohio and northern New Jersey. Isolated stands grow in the mountains of West Virginia and Maryland. It grows mostly in bogs and swamps, and also on moist ground along streams and lakes.

## How to grow Tamarack

Tamarack needs full sun, and it will not grow in the shade of other trees. It wants soil that stays moist or wet, and it does well on acid peat and on clay. It does poorly in summer heat and in city pollution. Dry, shallow or chalky soil does not suit it. Its roots are shallow, and strong wind can uproot trees on wet ground. Plant it 20 feet from a wall, and set trees 20 feet apart for a grove. Keep it more than 50 feet from overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant it while it is dormant, in early spring or in fall after the needles drop, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the root flare at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the trunk. Sow seed outdoors in fall a quarter inch deep. For a spring sowing, keep it damp in the refrigerator for 20 to 60 days first. Germination is often erratic and poor, even in a greenhouse.

Water weekly through the first two summers unless the ground stays wet, since young trees stand neither drought nor flooding well. Keep grass and weeds away for the first two years. Deer and moose seldom browse it, but hares and porcupines damage young trees. Prune, if needed, in midsummer.

Each tree carries both male and female cones, and the wind carries the pollen. Its own pollen yields mostly empty seed, so a lone tree bears far less sound seed than trees in a group. Trees can bear seed at 12 to 15 years, and good crops come every 3 to 6 years. The larch sawfly and the larch casebearer strip the needles, and years of heavy attack can kill a tree. Although it grows in bogs, a lasting rise in the water level can kill it.

## Sources

- [USDA Forest Service, Silvics of North America: Tamarack, Johnston 1990](https://research.fs.usda.gov/silvics/tamarack)
- [USDA Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System: Larix laricina](https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/larlar/all.html)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual: Larix chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Larix.pdf)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 2: Larix laricina](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233500743)
- [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Larix laricina](https://plantfinder.mobot.org/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=284985)
- [The Morton Arboretum: Tamarack](https://mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/trees-and-plants/tamarack/)
- [Virginia Tech Dendrology: tamarack](https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=159)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Larix laricina](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=LALA)
- [USDA NRCS Plant Guide: Tamarack, Nesom](https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_lala.pdf)
- [Trees and Shrubs Online: Larix laricina](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/larix/larix-laricina/)
- [Native Plant Trust, Go Botany: Larix laricina](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/larix/laricina/)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Larix laricina](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.152910/Larix_laricina)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [Is my bald cypress dead? The conifers that drop every needle in fall, and when brown means trouble](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/is-my-bald-cypress-dead/index.html.md)
- [Winter identification: telling native trees apart by bark, buds and twigs](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/winter-tree-identification/index.html.md)
- [Six trees not to plant near a house, and what to plant instead](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/trees-not-to-plant-near-a-house/index.html.md)

## Related

- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Tamarack, add ?species=tamarack with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=tamarack&zone=2&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Tamarack](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=tamarack): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=tamarack
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Tamarack is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=tamarack
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Tamarack needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=tamarack:2
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Tamarack flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.