Is it possible to plant a 6-10 whip of a hybrid poplar and shove it 2 feet in the ground and will it grow? I created a huge screen this weekend and I was cutting the whips off and doing it like normal cuttings. I said.. What about the 9 foot tree? So my nephews and I shoved them in the ground!!! I have quite of few of the hybrid poplars so I normally just cut down the bigger trees and just use the branches. The ground is really moist right now in the UP.
Hybrid Poplars
- Thread starter UP Powers
- Start date
wiscwhip
5 year old buck +
I have read a lot of research that suggests poplars, willows, figs, and especially mulberries can propagate very readily from truncheon cuttings. Most things I have read say that 2/3rds to 3/4ths of the cutting should be buried. Good luck and keep us informed on how they do.
Steve Bartylla
5 year old buck +
I love the idea of using HPs as screens, since they will be effective so much faster than spruce. That said, I have a really hard time seeing how they would be effective. could someone educate me on this, please. Say I want to plant along a road so people can't see into the field. Is that possible/practical with HPs? If so, how many rows and what would the spacing be so that as soon as leaf drop occurred, my screen would still be effective?
I fear it's not practical, but am hoping I'm wrong.
I fear it's not practical, but am hoping I'm wrong.
When I compare my 3 year old hybrid poplars to the hybrid willows it isn't really close as to which one is the better screen. My willows have so many more branches and leaves and are closer together that as long as the leaves are on the tree they will make a good screen. Now my rows I am comparing are 2 rows staggered at 6' or a little less.
The willows will still root out even if the cutting aren't taken till after they have broken bud the poplars haven't shown me that yet but I am still watching and waiting to see if they do.
Personally I like the willows best for screening and it really gets used as browse but I think if one has 3-4 of close spaced poplars it would be a very good screen as long as the leaves held.
I can't wait to use the poplars as my rub/scrape trees in front of my stands. They sure tear them up in the screen lines. They hit the willows hard also.
The willows will still root out even if the cutting aren't taken till after they have broken bud the poplars haven't shown me that yet but I am still watching and waiting to see if they do.
Personally I like the willows best for screening and it really gets used as browse but I think if one has 3-4 of close spaced poplars it would be a very good screen as long as the leaves held.
I can't wait to use the poplars as my rub/scrape trees in front of my stands. They sure tear them up in the screen lines. They hit the willows hard also.
nwmn
5 year old buck +
I think it'll be effective if you maybe did two rows and cut one of the rows down next spring. With spruce planted behind that to create a long term screen. Maybe doing a row of willows and poplar and getting height and width taken care of in two rows.
I tried doing two rows with willows two years ago, but the drought nuked em. Good luck! Post some pics if they take off!
I tried doing two rows with willows two years ago, but the drought nuked em. Good luck! Post some pics if they take off!
nwmn
5 year old buck +
I would suspect most people would use hybrid willows for a screen. John sells them at bigrocktrees but I would assume they are sold out at this point in the year. If he is north central reforestation sells them at 2-3'.
John-W-WI
Administrator
Lots of questions in this one... I'll do my best to cover them:
Longer cuttings - I know for a fact 6' cuttings (all branches removed) will grow just fine. They need to be planted deep enough that they don't 'wiggle'. Any movement will break off new roots. Not good. The longer cuttings are typically used in situations where you want INSTANT cover. Often in a landscape situation (yard) or a really impatient deer guy. They will look like a semi-mature tree by the end of the 1st growing season. 12' tall with many side branches. I'm going to experiment with HUGE cuttings (up to 20' tall) this weekend. I'll let you know how it goes.
(side note, you can't plant any cutting too deep, as long as a bud or epicormic sprout is exposed to daylight)
Screening with hybrids:
Hybrid willow is the gold standard. They often have multiple 'central leaders'. Their horizontal cover is considerably higher than hybrid poplars. Both require a minimum of 2 rows to create a screen. After the 1st year (assuming 12" cuttings) they will be 10' tall. More rows are better (I don't just say that because I sell them, it's true).
Hybrids are NO replacement for evergreens. Depending on your height requirements, hybrids will create a visual block in 1 - 3 years while the leaves are on. After leaf drop, they will be a slight visual break, but you aren't going to sneak past any deer. I always recommend planting evergreens next to hybrids. You'll get a pretty good screen right away, and an excellent screen 4, 5, 6, years later (when the evergreens kick in).
I have a great tip for hybrid screens - I tried to get pictures of it last year, but we had a near drought. My newly planted screens survived, but only grew about 1/2 as tall as they would normally. I'm going to try again this year. The short story is you plant a hybrid screen, let it grow for a season, and the following spring you bend the trees down and tie them off to one another. Creating 'arches' if you will. This will force the central leader to horizontal (or even inverted) so multiple lateral branches will compete to become the new central leader. The horizontal cover created by doing this is massive. I hope to show you what I mean next summer :)
This is the 1st year that we haven't run out yet. The nursery finally caught up to demand. We harvested approximately 15,000 hybrid willows this year. We have a few left!
I hope that helps a little...
-John
Longer cuttings - I know for a fact 6' cuttings (all branches removed) will grow just fine. They need to be planted deep enough that they don't 'wiggle'. Any movement will break off new roots. Not good. The longer cuttings are typically used in situations where you want INSTANT cover. Often in a landscape situation (yard) or a really impatient deer guy. They will look like a semi-mature tree by the end of the 1st growing season. 12' tall with many side branches. I'm going to experiment with HUGE cuttings (up to 20' tall) this weekend. I'll let you know how it goes.
(side note, you can't plant any cutting too deep, as long as a bud or epicormic sprout is exposed to daylight)
Screening with hybrids:
Hybrid willow is the gold standard. They often have multiple 'central leaders'. Their horizontal cover is considerably higher than hybrid poplars. Both require a minimum of 2 rows to create a screen. After the 1st year (assuming 12" cuttings) they will be 10' tall. More rows are better (I don't just say that because I sell them, it's true).
Hybrids are NO replacement for evergreens. Depending on your height requirements, hybrids will create a visual block in 1 - 3 years while the leaves are on. After leaf drop, they will be a slight visual break, but you aren't going to sneak past any deer. I always recommend planting evergreens next to hybrids. You'll get a pretty good screen right away, and an excellent screen 4, 5, 6, years later (when the evergreens kick in).
I have a great tip for hybrid screens - I tried to get pictures of it last year, but we had a near drought. My newly planted screens survived, but only grew about 1/2 as tall as they would normally. I'm going to try again this year. The short story is you plant a hybrid screen, let it grow for a season, and the following spring you bend the trees down and tie them off to one another. Creating 'arches' if you will. This will force the central leader to horizontal (or even inverted) so multiple lateral branches will compete to become the new central leader. The horizontal cover created by doing this is massive. I hope to show you what I mean next summer :)
This is the 1st year that we haven't run out yet. The nursery finally caught up to demand. We harvested approximately 15,000 hybrid willows this year. We have a few left!
I hope that helps a little...
-John
John-W-WI
Administrator
You are looking at the 'landscape' willows... They are under "Hybrids" found here:
http://www.bigrocktrees.com/hybrid-cuttings.html
(12" is the most commonly used)
Thanks,
-John
http://www.bigrocktrees.com/hybrid-cuttings.html
(12" is the most commonly used)
Thanks,
-John
NWWI
5 year old buck +
I bought some of the hybrid poplar about 4 years ago to use as a visual screen at the house and some for the hunting land. The ones at the house that got pampered with regular mowing , watering, and black plastic grew fast and thick. They might work for a visual screen if you have enough rows of them. I remember when Potlach was planting them on farm land around Central MN a few years back. You couldn't see too far in once they got past head level.
John-W-WI
Administrator
(sorry, I'm late to the game on these replies)
Wait until the risk of frost is gone... They are already actively growing, so frost will do a number on them.
sandbur - you are correct, bucky gets more branches than the others... But with the 'tie down' trick all of them will work.
Thanks,
-John
Wait until the risk of frost is gone... They are already actively growing, so frost will do a number on them.
sandbur - you are correct, bucky gets more branches than the others... But with the 'tie down' trick all of them will work.
Thanks,
-John
