Hybrid Poplars for quick cover

[hockeybc69]

I have no experience in hybrid poplar plantings.

anyone here have any experience and best practices in doing some plantings with cuttings?

I am looking for quick growing stuff. We have planted several thousand pine trees over the last few years, but they are slow to grow for sure.

So I thought going with some HP I might accent the property a little sooner.

I am looking at a couple blocks of trees and about a half dozen areas I just want to interconnect woodlots with a handful of rows of trees between.

Thoughts? Questions? I am listening.

[Pinusbanksiana]

Where is the land located? Tell me specifics like soil types and current cover type where you plan on planting.

[hockeybc69]

Ottertail County

Soil in general is not real good. Areas to be planted are somewhat "light" for a lack or proper description. Somewhat gravelly as well in areas.

Property is 120 acres. Current cover is mostly hardwoods. We have some pines as you can see from the aerial that were planted in 1988. We have also planted nearly 6000 pines and some berry trees in the mix over the last 4 years.

You may ask,, "Why put Hybrid Poplar in these areas?"

All the other open(grassy) areas already are in CRP tree plantings and WHIP projects.

There are 3 blocks you see, those I want filled with trees. the lines would be a few rows of trees for screens and runways between cover/woods.

[Pinusbanksiana]

Do you have a stewardship plan written for the property? You must if you are enrolled in those programs. A proper stewardship plan will tell you what soil types you have. I assume it is pretty sandy since you have pines in the area.

HP is a good species for providing cover, but lacks in food for critters. It is also pretty maintenance heavy, mowing between the rows to help with competition as the trees get taller.

A good first step would be to call the forester who wrote the plan and see if the practice is recommended or not.

[LABS4ME]

Hybrid poplars offer basically nothing in terms of habitat. Yes they are quick growing and if all you are trying to accomplish it 'cover' to connect woodlots, it may have it's place. We may be doing one strip of poplars to give a field a break from the road. We will still follow up with additionl plantings behind it to help more with our overall objective of habitat improvement. But for short term breaks or connecting woods, it has a place. Bucks are very hard on them during the rut. It would not be uncommon to see an entire row of 100 rubbed when all is said and done unless you are willing to protect them.

I should take you over to the land we've been improving the last 6 years. It is by Parker's Prairie. Some 'large' shrub / small tree options that will help with travel corridors and provide addl. habitat for other species are: Serviceberry, Elderberry, Nanking cherry, Dogwood, chokecherry. These all have proven to grow very fast and aid in pheasant, song birds and turkeys. The deer like to eat the fruits also. The elderberries alone are only 5 years old and 8 ' tall. Plenty tall enough for a travel corridor.

Good Luck!

Ken

[hockeybc69]

We have the book, but its up at the cabin.

We have plenty of food. I plant 8 acres of corn and beans every year, plus I have about an acre of clover. Also add the Oaks to the mix. Our hardwoods are 95% oaks.

When we talked with the foreter in the recent few years, we have talked about HP and he did make mention of the more intense maintenance needed to get it going.

Its definitely an option for us based on conversations.

I have calls into our Forestor and NRCS office and starting discussions.

I also wanted to get some real world experiences from others on the topic to mesh with what the "professionals" have to say.

[hockeybc69]

Oh hey Ken,

Its Mark... I have been over there to Mikes place.

[hockeybc69]

Quote:

Serviceberry, Elderberry, Nanking cherry, Dogwood, chokecherry.

We have all those planted around the sloughs in the Riparian Buffer Program.

Albeit, we did not mat them and its been a few years with very little growth. We gambled on not doing the mats... Price and labor kinda made us not do it....

I hardly have enough time each spring to get half of my to-do list done. Doing mats on several thousand trees would take the whole spring and then some, and probably still couldnt get it close to done.

[Pinusbanksiana]

Personally I don't like it and I don't recommend it unless the landowner insists. Mainly due to the high failure rate I see because it is so hands on. It is an option though.

[hockeybc69]

Good thing if failure rate is high, at 12 cents per cutting, it wont break the pocket book.

The guy I am planning on getting them from said he has the NM6 variety and I asked why he only has that. He simply said its the fastest grower and the most successful he has handled in 20 years in the business.

Keep in mind, I am not doing this as a primary cover. its just a fill in or screens for small areas around everything else we have planted over the years.

[LABS4ME]

Oh hey Ken,

Its Mark... I have been over there to Mikes place.

Sly! Very Sly!

Mike has it in his head that we are going to cut an alfalfa field off from the road with these. I told him fine, but with the knowledge that we will not just plant those. The problem down the road comes two-fold. Over time they will naturally 'head-up' and as a canopy tree they will do nothing to increase security for the deer. In essence you will have a 'shade tree' to create travel corridors / screens. Second they are very mono-culturistic. They are devoid of most anything of value to wildlife and may be a hinderance to ground nesting birds due to the avain perch provided for raptors as they mature. So all said and done, I think there will be one 2 row block about 100 yards long put in, but I can't see anymore than that being utilizes down the road.... unless we want to create a rub line corridor somewhere!

Good Luck!

Ken

[LABS4ME]

did you ever try Ninebark, Buffalo Berry or Amur Mpale? All pretty tough! Buffalo Berry is a native... handles dry gravelly soil well.

Good Luck!

Ken

[hockeybc69]

Screen is a big thing for me along the roads for starters.

Travel corridors is a close second.

I am not worried about creating perches for raptors. We already have trees they can perch on, as well as power lines along both roadsides.

On QDMA a guy mentioned hinge cutting Hybrid poplars to create more of a cover once they mature a little. He claimed to have good success with it. Another guy posted pics using black plastic rolls. He planted without any mats, mats out of cardboard and mats just using black plastic.

Very interesting info, especially the fact he said the deer will NOT step on the black plastic. He had almost no deer damage where using the black plastic, where he did have buck rubs on the unmatted trees.

[hockeybc69]

We have not tried buffalo berry, but we wanted to. The DNR nursery didnt carry them or was out of stock or something our last time we bought.

[LABS4ME]

Yep... I think cutting them back early and often will keep them in the screen category. They want to be big trees otherwise.

Maybe they'll figure out cellulostic ethanol in the next 20 years and you can sell them off for that then! HA

All in all... still not a fan of them but will succomb to planting them in a spot or two. I guess I'm a bit surprised that anyone in QDMA even puts them in the 'cover' category. LOL

Good Luck!

Ken

[hockeybc69]

I wouldnt go as far as to say anyone on QDMA is promoting them as cover, but people have utilized them and manipulated them into "some cover".

Believe me, I am not intending this to be our primary forest by any means. Just have thousands of pine trees waiting to grow all over, and wanting to get a couple quick growth areas and the screens and coorridors.

[B. Amish]

i would never plant hybrid poplar on my land. i think they are the ugliest tree on the planet.

[hockeybc69]

I dont think ugly is a part of my decision making process. LOLLL.

[LABS4ME]

A hybrid poplar is nothing more than a cottonwood hybrid. The nursery trade felt it would be more palatable to sell them as poplars vs. cottonwoods. They Do Not produce cotton and if anything have a much better growth pattern than a true cottonwood.

Many people think of the old Lombardi Poplars when they hear the term hybrid poplars.

There were times in the landscape trade that we used them to create very quick canopy trees. A 2" cal. siouxland poplar would be 8-10" cal and 25' tall in less than 10 years. They actually look fairly nice.

Good Luck!

Ken

[hockeybc69]

I found a guy near Deer Creek that has cuttings for 12 cents a piece if you order 1000 or more.

[Pinusbanksiana]

Find a plantation and cut your own. For that matter you could plant native aspen, bigtooth or quaking, by cuttings as well. Nothing magical about cuttings. That is the easy part.

[Pinusbanksiana]

And I think you might mean Deer River instead of Deer Creek.

[hockeybc69]

Quote:

And I think you might mean Deer River instead of Deer Creek.

No, I think I know what I am talking about Penisbedinus.... LOLL

Geezus. I knew when you replied the chit wasnt gonna be positive in any fashion...

For $120 for 1000 cuttings... I am all over that. We cut several hundred willow cuttings 3 years ago.... Pain in the a$$. Bring me the cuttings if its so easy... LOLLL.... Been there done that... $120 for 1000+ cuttings... Thats my style!!!!!!

[nubbin]

I planted 40 hp last year and they all grew and were about 4 feet tall when the deer found them. All were chewed to the ground. Hopefully they resprout this spring. I had sprayed and put black plastic down. The deer in our area walked on the black plastic.

[Crappie Rage]

I planted a bunch of HP in Kansas. Got them from Big Rock Trees somewhere in WI I think.

The drought hit pretty hard but the ground was wet when I planted. 99% of the trees just went into the ground. They maxed out at about 18 inches. The other one percent were planted with black plastic. Those were 6-10 feet tall by the end of summer. The deer rubbed the ba geezez out of them.

The guy at Big Rock told me I could cut the entire tree into 6 inch pieces and every piece including the stump would grow.

I will plant more this year and most of those will go in black plastic.