This time I want to plant some poplar trees ...... but how?

[woodbowl]

Every year I say I am going to plant some poplar trees, but something always seems to happen and then the planting season is gone. How would you go about getting seedlings and where? I hacked up some 1" poplar sprouts into 18" sections one year and had one 1 of 50 to make it. I don't know what I'm doing wrong but I sure don't want to do it again for such a small  survival rate. I'm now wondering if the diameter was big enough. I found this thread by whitepine, but would like some more tips if I chose to bury cuttings.

http://www.forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=16295.msg233231#msg233231

[customsawyer]

Good morning woodbowl. I don't know about down there in Fl. but us good ole boys in Ga. just call the Ga forestry commission and order from them I can't remember how much they are but you have to order early before they run out. There should be some of these smaller nurseries that carry them as well.

[Pullinchips]

"rooting" poplar cutting is possible,  I let a more experienced person tell what to do to ensure better survival though.

-Nate

[SwampDonkey]

I've done it by burrying last years growth tips in the mud as soon as spring thaw. You'll be more successful burrying multiple buds. I cut mine a couple feet long. I've only done it with balsam poplar. Aspen are difficult to start without hormone.

[woodbowl]

I've done it by burrying last years growth tips in the mud as soon as spring thaw. ............  You'll be more successful burrying multiple buds............  I cut mine a couple feet long.

Just the tips or any section? What about limbs?

Are you looking for a visible bud before planting or just any time after the thaw? 

If cut 2 feet long, do you cover it over or leave some sticking out? How much?

[UNCLEBUCK]

My county extension office has #2 hybrid poplar -10" for .15 cents a piece and discounts for over 500 ordered . My neighbor planted 280 acres of these and another type of poplar called nm-6 and it was 15 years ago coming up and they are looking ripe and ready for harvest . After 3 years it looked like a full woods . When he planted them his whole farm looked like a field full of dead brown sticks and by the end of the first summer it was about 8 foot high and big green leaves everywhere .

[SwampDonkey]

Just the tips or any section? What about limbs?

Are you looking for a visible bud before planting or just any time after the thaw? 

If cut 2 feet long, do you cover it over or leave some sticking out? How much?

The most current growth is best, balsam will drop branch tipped in the fall like leaves and if there is flooding along a river bottom that covers the sticks they will sprout new trees. I've also seen large tooth do this limb pruning, but I have my doughts they sprout.

Burry the stick before bud break, I always burried it all in the mud. You'll get 3 or 4 feet growth (maybe more) once it's rooted good. This spring I'll sprout some and show the process. Gotta mark my calender.

[woodbowl]

Burry the stick before bud break, I always burried it all in the mud.

That may have been the problem. I was told to leave about 6" sticking out of the ground. It seems to me that it would dry out.

[whitepine]

Just curious Us old timers up here  always called aspen= poplar Is that what this  post is about or is poplar a different tree? than what is balsam poplar Aspen seedlings cost about 20 cents but sucker naturally up here from stump

[woodbowl]

Just curious Us old timers up here  always called aspen= poplar Is that what this  post is about or is poplar a different tree? than what is balsam poplar Aspen seedlings cost about 20 cents but sucker naturally up here from stump

I don't know WP. I know we don't have Aspen or Balsam down here. Our Poplar is probably Tulip Poplar. It saws out a very pretty green and when it sits in the sun for a day it turns med. brown.

[SwampDonkey]

So called tulip poplar isn't even poplar, it's in the magnolia family. Balsam poplar is mostly found in Canada and midwestern to NE states handy to the Canadian border. Some isolated pockets in higher elevations elsewhere in the US. More common in the US is eastern cottonwood (eastern poplar).

[woodbowl]

Balsam poplar is mostly found in Canada and midwestern to NE states ....

When I went to Canada to take a log home building course at Pat Wolfe's, they brought in some Balsam, so they said. To me it looked like a slick bark pine tree. It had a pine/evergreen smell and was a little sappy. Does this sound like the Balsam your talking about?

[SwampDonkey]

When I went to Canada to take a log home building course at Pat Wolfe's, they brought in some Balsam, so they said. To me it looked like a slick bark pine tree. It had a pine/evergreen smell and was a little sappy. Does this sound like the Balsam your talking about?

Yup, have a look at the the 'Overwintering Tree ID' section in the Tree ID board. Buds are sticky with a resin. You can always smell the balm in the summer after a warm rain. Everyone around here calls balsam poplar, balm-of-gilead. Black Cottonwood of the West is pretty much the same.

[woodbowl]

Yup, .......... Buds are sticky with a resin. You can always smell the balm in the summer after a warm rain. ..........

That is nothing like our Poplar. In light of this, concerning my original question, I guess I will be planting .............

So called tulip poplar isn't even poplar, it's in the magnolia family .....

.............. something else, apparantly in the Magnolia family. Do the same type tips still apply?

[SwampDonkey]

I haven't any experience with tulip tree, don't have any up this way.

[SwampDonkey]

When I went to Canada to take a log home building course at Pat Wolfe's, they brought in some Balsam, so they said. To me it looked like a slick bark pine tree. It had a pine/evergreen smell and was a little sappy. Does this sound like the Balsam your talking about?

You sure that wasn't balsam fir tips they brought in? It's an evergreen used for Christmas* trees and wreaths. Check out the thread on 'Balsam' in the Tree ID Board

[beenthere]

Just curious Us old timers up here  always called aspen= poplar Is that what this  post is about or is poplar a different tree? than what is balsam poplar Aspen seedlings cost about 20 cents but sucker naturally up here from stump

Probably from people referring to aspen as "popple" and others translating that further to "poplar" and then the confusion takes off from there. Local slang and our 'hearing' get all kinds of knicknames started.   

[Radar67]

WB,
    I just got some poplar logs and I think you may be looking for yellow-poplar (Magnoliaceae Liriodendron tulipifera L.) Check this link and see if its the tree you want.



Yellow Poplar

Stew

[SwampDonkey]

WB,
    I just got some poplar logs and I think you may be looking for yellow-poplar (Magnoliaceae Liriodendron tulipifera L.) Check this link and see if its the tree you want.



Yellow Poplar

Stew

In no way am I suggesting anyone is wrong with what they are using as common names. There's no way anyone is gonna change the status quo. But, you can sure confuse a guy with all the common names out there. Yellow poplar, tulip poplar and tulip tree......all the same tree.   There's no word in the latin name that even suggests poplar or the color yellow. tulipifera translates to tulip-like to me. Now when people say poplar, at the very least, the genus is Populus , meaning poplar.  I don't know where the name aspen comes from.   

But you guys know what they say, when in Rome do as the Romans do.

Now when ya read that, just refer back to Ron W's signature message in his posts.

[Radar67]

SD,
     If it sounded like I thought you were steering in the wrong direction, I apologize. My post was not directed to anyone in particular, except WB. It seemed like there was some confusion over what type tree WB was wanting to plant. If WB can pin down the tree with a picture, it might help him get the information he is asking for. I agree, the common names do get confusing at times.

Stew