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Hybrid Poplar OP 367

Started by TessiersFarm, February 03, 2013, 06:00:26 PM

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TessiersFarm

I have just recieved 3 Hybrid Poplar OP 367 cuttings to plant.  Was thinking about planting some in a wet gully in one of our pastures.  The area is of no value to us at the moment, The cattle turn it to mud so nothing grows there, I let them because its too wet to mow or maintain.  I figured they like wet so it would be a good place to try them out.  They would make a nice wind screen on the north side of our property.  Plan on cutting them in an alternating grid for firewood if nothing else, maybe an acre or so 40' wide and several hundred feet long.  My biggest concern is introducing an invasive species that I can never get rid of.  From what I have read I can plant these three this year and get several hundred cuttings to plant next year. The internet is plastered with good stuff about them, but not much bad I have read, amost sounds too good to be true.  Anyone got any experience with them? 
Stihl E14, 180, 026, 036, 361, 045
Husky 266, 372, 394
Dolmar 111

ArborJake

 I haven't ever done much with hybrid poplar accept take them down. I personally tend to think of them as a giant weed. They grow very fast but as with most fast growing tree's they tend to be brittle and short lived. If you want fast shade they are certainly an option. They do good in wet areas too, just don't plan on having the tree around for 50 or 100 yrs and plan on some broken limbs from time to time. Not really good firewood either but i'll burn anything.
thick and thin lumber company. qaulity manufacturer of saw dust and slab wood.

Al_Smith

I think the brain storm idea of poplar was introduced around the mid 70's to early 80's when there was an upsurge of wood burning .Mainly due to energy prices rising faster than peoples income .

The idea was that the trees could be cut after about 5 years and although small a 5 acre lot could supply the average home indefinately .By using about 1 acre per year it was assumed they would regenerate forever .

Might be true for all I know .Now then they tried Lombardy poplar for fast growing yard tees and wind breaks which  worked to a point .However they are not a hardy tree in this region and might with luck survive 15 years if that long .

Either one I wouldn't think would be a very good firewood but all wood burns and produce heat some just do it better than others .

As far as poplar I would think tulip would be a fast grower plus they get huge .It would also be a lousey firewood too but there would be a lot of it

proteus

A friend of mine has a farm north of town. He planted  2 rows about a 100 yds long north of the house to act as a wind break. He gave me a bunch of limbs to use for planting. I planted them near the gravel road that goes past our house for privacy and help with dust control. They only last about 25yr, but i think that will be long enough for me  :D
I will post a pic of them tomorrow.
Greg

Ron Wenrich

The idea around the hybrid poplar was to use them as an energy source in co-gen operations.  Plant them in rows and turn them into chips.  The stumps would regenerate themselves and rotations were supposed to be about every 10 years.

Very few biomass or co-gen operations went into place.  Those that did relied on wood waste from sawmill operations and the hybrid poplar went by the wayside, from a commercial aspect.  Natural gas has replaced most biomass operations, as the co-gen aspect went out the window through lower costs to fire the plants.
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

SwampDonkey

In my experience they seriously under perform in growth on top of being hammered by deer and moose so that they never get above 6 feet. Then any that do get a nice dose of canker disease. Planting them on wet ground will ensure they don't amount to beans. :D

And as AL said the lombardy don't live long. I have a 30 year old 20"er that needs to come down. It died out mostly one summer and it wasn't even a dry summer. Dirty yard tree to, every wind fills the back yard with dead limbs, worst than white birch. At least white birch is pruning itself, the poplar is just making a mess. Plus the lateral roots that creep up into the grass above the cut line. ;D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Al_Smith

Those Lombardy poplar grow gigantic in parts of the west coast .Evidently something about the Oregon coast agrees with them .

RB had some pictures of those giants that were like 5-6 feet on the stump and 200 ft plus tall . I'm thinkng he sold those things for lumber logs after their removal .

SwampDonkey

I believe those are black cottonwood. I saw some giants on the Skeena River in northern BC.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Al_Smith

No actually they were in fact Lombardy poplar not black cotton wood that Roger Brown had a picture of on several web forums .Great big things ,tall ,fat .It took them like three days to dissasemble one with a crane .

Now those little scrawny swamp poplar there was a film clip of what looked like a giant round baler they used in some Nordic country . It evidently wound those weedy things into a bale they stuffed in a some sort of a bio burner .

You know heat it heat .Doesn't make much diff if it's sugar maple or buffalo chips .Buffalo chips were used in a time before BS was invented or so they say .Prior to that it was camal dung and it goes on and on .

SwampDonkey

We have a hybrid called Carolina Poplar ( a cross with P. deltoides and P. nigra) that get 4 or 5 feet through. They are cursed things in towns prone to wind breakage. I think black cottonwood maxes out at 225 feet with 9 foot diameter. It is also the largest cottonwood and tallest western broad leaf tree. ;D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Al_Smith

I think the ones we have are eastern cottonwoods .They can get pretty large .

I've got one which is too close to the house of about a hundred feet ,A double with around 5-6 feet at breast heigth .It needs to come down because I do not trust a cottonwood in a big wind storm .

TessiersFarm

My plan was a short turn around, 10 years or less.  Between my shop and maple syrup evaporator I have a pretty good demand for less than desirable wood, burn a lot of poplar now in the evaporator, fast and hot.  I have been clearing old pastures and using the wood currently, about done with that.  Deer and moose will not be a problem, they will be in a pasture in a pasture, no problems now at least.  Everything I have read says they like water, how will that insure they will stay small?  I am having second thoughts now.
Stihl E14, 180, 026, 036, 361, 045
Husky 266, 372, 394
Dolmar 111

Al_Smith

I have no idea if deer would nip them off or not but I wouldn't think so .

About all I know about a moose is it's a big deer with a big head and a nose that looks like a mule with a fat lip .We have the moose club of which I'm a member but that's about as close as it gets in these parts

SwampDonkey

A farmer I thin for had a 25 acre field planted with the stuff. What the deer and moose didn't whack off are dying with disease. They won't amount to beans. This was under the Federal 20/20 forestry program for carbon sequestration. The only popple I've seen do well on wet ground is balsam poplar (balm-of-gilead). It doesn't like dry ground too well, in fact will drop it leaves if it gets dry. I see this happening in August up here. I don't know if cottonwoods like it too wet, I know they grow on flood plains but that's not sitting in water all through the growing season. The black cottonwoods I saw in BC were on gravel bars and silty alluvium that was far from wet in the growing season.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Al_Smith

The cottonwood type around here seem to like close to creek and river banks although they grow any where .

BaldBob

Most of the hybrid poplar planted in Washington and Oregon were planted for pulp to be grown on a 7 year rotation. The reasons for this were:
1. Poplar pulp is quite white and bright, so less bleaching is needed for use in printing paper.
2. The fiber length from individual clones is quite consistent, so there is less hit and miss in mixing in the proper amount of short fiber pulp from these trees with the long fiber softwood  pulp - to get good "printability" -  paper makers need to mix in 10-30% short fiber pulp -  long fiber gives strength short fiber fills in and gives smoothness.
3. In Oregon, trees grown on a 7 year rotation were considered an agricultural crop, and thus not subject to the forest products harvest tax.

There are 2 main areas where these trees are extensively grown : The Columbia plateau in NE Oregon & SE Washington and the lower Columbia flood plain in NW Oregon & SW Washington.
On the Columbia Plateau, which is considered high desert, the plantations are drip irrigated. On the flood plain, a good drainage system is usually necessary.

Although this poplar is still used for pulp, a company recently bought the 20,000+ ac. plantation that Boise Cascade originally put in in NE Oregon/SE Washington for their Wallula,WA paper mill. They are putting in a large sawmill on site to make lumber for specialty applications. They are extending the rotation to 12 years (got a favorable change to the tax laws) and using the butt cut for sawlogs and sending the rest of the tree for pulp.

SwampDonkey

They tried to reforest some of the flood plain with softwoods where the cottonwoods grew along the SKeena. The softwood got over whelmed with all the root suckers of those cottonwoods they cut off. And they are not allow herbicide in that district, at least this was back in the 90's. I found out that place was not fit for human kind on those flats, it was head high with stinging nettles. I got infected and was burning for days.  :D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

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