Poplar seed?

shawnv

5 year old buck +
I have 3-4 acres I am going to have cut on my property that are now mostly oak and maple. I have some poplar in the area about 100yds away from the area to be cut and I would like some young shoots to sprout where I'm cutting to mix in with the oak and maple that will come back. Is there anywhere you can get poplar seed since I don't know if I'll get enough young shoots from what is nearby?

Thanks!
 
I'd just order cuttings from John and be done with it. You could try your own too, but his hybrids are known performers and the time lost to experimentation might be better utilized with "known quantity" trees. Your maples will take off in full sun, and your oak will likely be stunted by them - yet more reason I'd go with John's cuttings.
 
Poplar generally sends out shoots after they are cut. What's wrong with dealing with whatever regeneration comes up on its own.
 
He's trying to add it to an oak/maple stand. The natural regen where his poplars are now will possibly be explosive, but it won't migrate beyond the roots of those trees.
 
The area being cut doesn't have any poplar right now it's all oak and maple, the closest poplar trees is a small patch up the hill from the future cutting. I just wasn't sure if that was enough and close enough to get what I want growing.
 
...and am I correct that the hybrids do not reproduce? If so I cannot see myself adding 100's to 1,000's of cuttings.
 
Imo-I don't care for poplar, regenerating. It's alright, but oak and maple regeneration are much better than poplar. I Would personally let nature takes its course.
Or, I go with some conifers to break up the landscape. I personally feel some spruce would be you best route. I am adding as much as I can to my hardwoods that lacks it. The deer will relate to them much better than poplar. Actually much much better
 
I'm adding spruce high but I have a low part on the north side of my ridge that is "junk" so I'd like a mix of oak, maple and poplar. In my area, the deer really seem to like the poplar. I'm no tree expert so yea, I'm using "poplar" loosely. It's whatever is the most common across this area of WI.
 
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I have two areas hinge cut on each ridge point but with pressure from the neighbors it wasn't enough and once they hunted hard, the deer left as soon as the leaves were gone so I'm thinking I need to really bump up the holding power of my place being it's pretty small. I have some pines planted already and what I have here in the pics is only a part of what is being planted in 2015 but the areas in green are the main focus areas for some Norway spruce and the tan outline area is where the cutting would be. That area is now some white oak but mostly 50-80ft maples. I do plan to leave a couple of the whites standing.

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Once you cut the maples, I think you'll either feed a lot of deer or you'll get the thickness you're looking for. My red maple has been most responsive to hinging with new suckers. Deer promptly mowed them all off - but they did try to regrow.
 
The deer density is not real high yet so I think I'll get the thickness.
 
I have to agree with Dipper to some extent. Although I like poplar (aspen), I think you'll be amazed at the stump sprouting from the maples. The oaks will likely loose out to the maples, so don't count on them much. Unless you do some manual cutting in year 2 or 3.

The regen will be so intense, planting anything might be unnecessary. It's been my experience it takes a solid 3 years for regen to amount to much. Even a few deer will keep fresh stump sprouts pretty short for the 1st year or two. They are the best food in the woods in Feb. around here.

If you do want to hurry things along, a couple rows of hybrids would do the trick. Until the leaves fall at least. Without seeing it first hand I'm kind of only guessing, but if it were mine, I would plant a few rows of hybrids and some norway spruce. In 5-6 years the norways will take over. Until then the hybrids will be the screen. More rows, far apart is better if you can swing it.

(edit, I didn't answer the original question very well).

I wouldn't mess with poplar (aspen) seed. They are SMALL and likely very difficult to plant. Have you ever seen that white junk on your windshield (or fishing line) in the spring. That's poplar seeds. They are smaller than small. I can't imagine trying to broadcast them!

-John
 
If that was my property, I would continue the timber management and that regeneration. As far as planting trees and shrubs, I would be focusing on those open areas.
 
I would smoke the maples.. leave the oaks.
 
I wouldn't mess with poplar (aspen) seed. They are SMALL and likely very difficult to plant. Have you ever seen that white junk on your windshield (or fishing line) in the spring. That's poplar seeds. They are smaller than small. I can't imagine trying to broadcast them!
-John

I always wondered what that hard to remove stuff was on my fishing line! :)
 
Yea, the maple shoots I got from where I hinge cut were pretty extensive. I would hinge cut a lot more but my trees are so tall you would have to be an expert at it to not get the trees hung up and even then it would be a pain. Because If that I'm just going to go with a select cut on the 4 acres. I'll leave a couple white oaks but the rest can go, food is not a limiting factor on my place, it's dense cover since the woods is only 175yds in width at it's widest point right now. In 5 years it should be much better than it is right now.
 
You might get lucky and have some aspen seeds land in the right spot and grow, but they'll have a tough time competing with the sprouts that come from the stumps you cut down. On my land in Northern WI, I planted some tree rows around the perimeter of my field. I have thousands of new poplar trees growing from seeds that landed there from mature aspens that were 1/4 mile away. I think some of that natural growth was because the tree rows were planted on ag fields so there was no competition for the aspen seeds from existing trees/shrubs. The aspens grew so thick in some areas that they shaded out everything I planted in a couple of spots. I decided to let nature take it's course there since apparently those spots are better suited for the aspens.

If you cut down enough trees so sunlight hits the forest floor, you'll have an impressive thicket in a couple of years.
 
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