Is there any habitat value to a balsam poplar?

[SD51555]

I've been waging jihad on my balsam poplars in my forest. I've done a fair amount of reading and observing, and I cannot come up with any wildlife, habitat, or forestry value to balsam poplar. I can find value in aspen, but it doesn't seem anything uses balsam poplar for anything, and it grows so fast, it's a nightmare for regen when you're trying to keep other things in sun.

Am I missing anything, or should the jihad go on?

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I've been waging jihad on my balsam poplars in my forest. I've done a fair amount of reading and observing, and I cannot come up with any wildlife, habitat, or forestry value to balsam poplar. I can find value in aspen, but it doesn't seem anything uses balsam poplar for anything, and it grows so fast, it's a nightmare for regen when you're trying to keep other things in sun.

Am I missing anything, or should the jihad go on?

I don't know what "balsam poplar" is, SD. If it's an actual poplar, they do grow really fast & spread like wildfire. Some of the hybrids that have been released are invasive/noxious. Our neighbor had some in his yard, and they spread to most neighboring yards by underground runners. We all had a terrible time trying to get rid of them all. Soft wood -no value for anything but maybe paper pulp.

 

[Telemark]

Animals eat it, and you can make a balm from it. I think it would be neat to have on my property, but I would probably also wage a jihad on it if I had it on the scale you seem to.

Is it growing from seeds or root suckers?

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Balsam poplar is a true poplar and also goes by the name Balm of Gilead. I don't have a ton of it, but it does occur on my land. I do a lot of poplar regen for grouse and whitetail habitat. It wouldn't bother me to have strong stand of balsam poplar growing as long as I could brush hog it every now and then to knock it back. Great grouse cover and food. Great whitetail cover and browse.

 

[SD51555]

I've never seen it browsed on my place, by deer or grouse. If I cut one big one down, a hundred shoot up from the root system, and they grow 10' per year. The one thing the fast growing shoots are good for is fire starter. If you harvest those shoots in the winter when the buds are big and fat, they are soaked in something between diesel fuel and wax. Dry them out for 6 months and they are something else for getting something burning. But you need a lot of it.

 

[bigboreblr]

Old place had some, I cut the tall stuff and deer browsed the short stuff. Never got tall on me again when I sold the property.

Be a good brush hog every other year thing in an overgrown field.

 

[Jerry-B-WI]

If you're cutting those big ones in the winter it will regen quicker and thicker.

 

[SD51555]

If you're cutting those big ones in the winter it will regen quicker and thicker.

I should do them in late summer when I can see them. They’re pretty easy to ID by their leaves.


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[Telemark]

I've never seen it browsed on my place, by deer or grouse. If I cut one big one down, a hundred shoot up from the root system, and they grow 10' per year. The one thing the fast growing shoots are good for is fire starter. If you harvest those shoots in the winter when the buds are big and fat, they are soaked in something between diesel fuel and wax. Dry them out for 6 months and they are something else for getting something burning. But you need a lot of it.

Are you not treating the stumps?

 

[SD51555]

Are you not treating the stumps?

I haven’t. I should. I used to treat ash stumps by putting salt on the stump, and that took care of them.


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[Telemark]

I would cut a big one this winter, and treat one half of the stump with 2,4D and the other half with gly. See if there is a difference on regen on either side.

Then I would wait until August, cut a big one and treat the whole thing with 2,4D and see if you can get it to push uncontrolled growth late in the summer and exhaust the roots.

 

[b116757]

Have u hinge cut them for deer use?

 

[rocksnstumps]

Balsam poplar is a pioneer species just like Aspen and cottonwood. They are some of the first trees to repopulate a devoid area and serve a purpose just like some on here promote......thistle. Sorry couldn't resist but realize that your immediate neighborhood and time-frames for plant succession are dependent on your circumstances. If you already have Aspen, sure would promote that over balsam poplar given a choice. My friend on the other hand with an old barren field looking for some cover welcomed his patch of balsam poplar. The other species that also started growing were grasses. The other trees at same time were ....nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. He did later plant some spruce and pines but that took a number of years to grow.

Balsam poplar is eventually gonna fizzle out and turn over into some other cover but normal succession may not line up with a normal human lifespan. Deer will rub the crap out of it and use it for cover though.

Just treat it like I treat prickly ash. It does provide a bit of new cover and a little bit of browse but I whack the crap out of the marching advance as much as I can. It's not gonna disappear no matter what we do.

 

[SD51555]

Balsam poplar is a pioneer species just like Aspen and cottonwood. They are some of the first trees to repopulate a devoid area and serve a purpose just like some on here promote......thistle. Sorry couldn't resist but realize that your immediate neighborhood and time-frames for plant succession are dependent on your circumstances. If you already have Aspen, sure would promote that over balsam poplar given a choice. My friend on the other hand with an old barren field looking for some cover welcomed his patch of balsam poplar. The other species that also started growing were grasses. The other trees at same time were ....nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. He did later plant some spruce and pines but that took a number of years to grow.

Balsam poplar is eventually gonna fizzle out and turn over into some other cover but normal succession may not line up with a normal human lifespan. Deer will rub the crap out of it and use it for cover though.

Just treat it like I treat prickly ash. It does provide a bit of new cover and a little bit of browse but I whack the crap out of the marching advance as much as I can. It's not gonna disappear no matter what we do.

Thistle! LOL

That is true.

I wanted to bounce the idea off the brain trust. I didn't feel I was going to eradicate it no matter how hard I try. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something before I keep on the campaign. It does have one big value to me, and that is to quit blocking the sun. My deer don't browse it, and the deer don't rub it. They love rubbing my 6-10' balsam firs I've been working so diligently to release. I've slowed them down this year with all the brush I'm stacking around the new ones.