What kind of poplar

[johnjbc]

Five years ago my mom gave me  5 trees in black plastic pots. Pictures were taken last summer making them 4 at the time.
There were 2 maples and three poplars. She started the poplars by putting twigs in the pot and keeping them wet.
I planted 2 and set the rest behind my workshop and never got them planted

You can tell by the blocks that the poplar is about a ft in dia. and the maple about 3 in. The others aren't quite as big may have some thing to do with the hose you can see in the picture


Perty tall also the workshop has 10 ft. walls

Now for what got me started. not sure what it is but its one spot on the building side about 5 ft from the ground.

[Tom]

The picture of the whole tree in the sky looks like Tulip Poplar.

The rot in the bottom photo looks like it started out as a wound that was too large to heal quickly.

[johnjbc]

Tom
Its not a Tulip Poplar. I have two of them in my yard and also another kind that came up wild in my barn foundation in 1991. The one in the picture came from a cutting of a tree Mom ordered from a catalog. Unfortunately she doesn’t member the Varity. I don’t believe there was any wound. It is toward the building, no more than 10” from the block wall. I will pull the loose bark off and try to get a better picture.
John

[beenthere]

Maybe some kind of hybrid poplar, which are very fast growing trees. Being that close to the concrete block foundation, I would consider cutting it down before it pushes your block wall in (not a problem if there is not a basement on the other side).

As to the wound, it was possibly something (animal, insect, fungus, or object) that broke the cambium growing layer under the bark and is causing the canchor that you show in the picture. Whatever the aggrivation, it doesn't look like it is healing up very fast, and will allow the inner wood to decay. That may solve your problem of the tree growing too fast near the foundation.

[Tom]

Tulip (yellow) and White (alba) poplars have lobed leaves.  I can't tell whether yours are lobed or not.  That will be a place to start. Dang! Where's my glasses?

Black poplars have heart shaped leaves and include cottonwood.  One ot the trees that I found with a similar shape to yours was Lombardy poplar which is sold as an ornamental in nurseries.

There is a common insect disease (poplar borer) that causes massive stem damage that ultimately is infected with fungi or bacterial diseases.  That may be the scar on your tree.

Here are some links to get started.


White poplar
http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/poal1.htm
http://science.northern.edu/biology/treetrail/13/13.html

Black poplar, Lombardy poplar
http://home.sullivan.k12.il.us/teachers/brunner/tree/L%20poplar.html
http://brickfieldspark.org/data/black_poplar.htm
http://www-saps.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/trees/poplarb.htm
http://hort.science.orst.edu/classes/hort226/pode2.htm (compared to Eastern Cottonwood)
http://www.aginfonet.com/aglibrary/content/farm_woodlot_assoc_of_sask/aspen.html (poplar borer)
http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/pdeltoides.htm
http://www.rook.org/earl/bwca/nature/trees/populusbal.html

Poplar borer/Poplar and willow borer
http://www.forestpests.org/subject.html?sub=416
http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfp/forsite/pest_field_guide/poplar_and_willow_borer.htm
http://www.aginfonet.com/aglibrary/content/farm_woodlot_assoc_of_sask/aspen.html
Oh! There they are, on my head. :-/

[OneWithWood]

I think Tom has it right.  The tree appears to be a Lombardy Poplar.  Lombardy Poplar is often marketed as a windbreak because it grows fast and in dense rows if planted that way.  The trees are not long lived and are often used to start a windbreak while the pines are maturing.

[Bud Man]

It's a Lombardy Poplar, enjoy it quickly- short lived and susceptible to wind damage and highly destructive to sewage and septic systems because of deep and dense rooting habits, some cities prohibit their plantings in certain areas. 4" diameter and 30 ft. height in a year are common.

[Jeff]

It don't look like a lombardy to me. Lombardy has very pronounced, up-swept branching, so much that they look like they have been "wrapped up". Could be a hybrid, but the form looks to me like that of quaking aspen. Need to see the leaves.

[johnjbc]

Thanks for the replys. At this I point I guess we need to wait for the leaves to come out.Then I will post the leaves from all 3 types of polpars in my yard.  

[SwampDonkey]

HI:

Quaking aspen or Large-toothed aspens can't be rooted from cuttings. Balsam poplar, black cottonwood and lombardies can tho. This is a regenerative mechanism for these species since they grow in river flood plains and terraces. They will shed green branches in fall which can root in springtime after flood waters retreat. I'm going with lombardy poplar since the leaves in the top photo look pointy-tipped.

[Stephen_Wiley]

Your leaf sample pic and bark appears to be a Hybrid Black Poplar Populs x canadensis most likely 'Robusta' by branch growth.

This hybrid is a cross between the European Black Poplar and the  North American Cottonwood.

Leaves do not appear to be Lombardy at all.

Budman stated only a few reasons (yet good ones) that these trees are planted in the wrong location.  You may want to reconsider their current location as the problems especially from invasive roots and continual growth (nearly impossible to kill) will certainly cause damage to the block wall and eventually structural failure in the canopy as well.  

[johnjbc]

We had a thunder storm last night and it blew down the popular tree in this thread. It broke of about 20 feet up and took out the tree beside it. Glad it didn’t go the other way or I would have a flat truck.





It broke at one of the cankers that seem to form on it. The brake is still about 10 foot up so the picture isn’t to clear.



This Picture shows how much it has grown in 2 years sense I posted the previous pictures. About 6” DBH 
As for the kind of tree It shed what looked like cotton for the first time this year.

[SwampDonkey]

I'm thinking Carolina poplar. They grow very fast and are susceptable to cankers.


On the topic of regenerating poplars from cuttings. I was walking along a road last week and noticed something interesting. The road commission or DOT put sticks in the ground in the fall to mark the mouth of culverts for spring cleanout. Well, someone cut off a balsam poplar and stuck it in the mud, and it now has rooted and new leaves are comming from dormant buds in the bark. We've had so much rain this spring, that conditions have been ideal. Kinda cool I thought.