Tulip poplar
- Thread starter Yarg
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Tap
5 year old buck +
Just let me clarify something...TULIP poplar (leaves) is the variety that I've observed deer using heavily. Can't comment on any other varieties.
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j-bird
Moderator
What exactly do you have? Is what your calling "poplar" actually some sort of aspen or even eastern cottonwood????
Victor Van Meter
5 year old buck +
Not sure exactly, we have always just called them “poplars”. I will have to take a pic of the leaves and post them.
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Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
I'm also not doubting the leaf eating. My response which was left of neutral is because Tulip Poplar are extremely abundant here. There wouldn't be enough deer in the whole state to eat the leaves that fall just on my land.
I actually set Tulip Poplar mixed in with my oaks about 13-14 years ago. I don't think a one of them died and about as many volunteers came up as the number I set. Now, I'm going through each spring and cutting down TPs and volunteer sweetgum where they are competing with oaks.
If TP isn't bothering anything, I leave them alone, but all sweetgums I pass by get whacked. TPs are fast growing and make a medium value timber tree. Where we cut timber a few years ago, TP is the primary tree coming back in most areas of the forest.
I actually set Tulip Poplar mixed in with my oaks about 13-14 years ago. I don't think a one of them died and about as many volunteers came up as the number I set. Now, I'm going through each spring and cutting down TPs and volunteer sweetgum where they are competing with oaks.
If TP isn't bothering anything, I leave them alone, but all sweetgums I pass by get whacked. TPs are fast growing and make a medium value timber tree. Where we cut timber a few years ago, TP is the primary tree coming back in most areas of the forest.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
I've read - and seen - that TP is used for unseen parts of furniture for support structure, and for shelving, cabinets that get veneered, etc. The sap streaks in the wood don't make for " beautiful " projects, as they say.
j-bird
Moderator
Tap
5 year old buck +
It will be interesting to see if you get pics.
A couple points though...
All the heavy deer use of Tulip Poplar that I have observed is them eating freshly fallen, yellow leaves FROM MATURE TREES. Its surprising how deer will devour leaves from a MATURE tree (of various species) but they show no intrest in leaves of the same species of an immature tree.
I see that all the time around my home. Deer won't touch young walnut or hickory leaves but if leaves from an OLDER tree somehow make it to the ground, then they hoover them up.
So, if your young poplar tree doesn't get used, it may not really be conclusive evidence as to your heard's desire for poplar.
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j-bird
Moderator
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Similar thing here. They are abundant in our woods and you would never notice them missing. However, I've done a lot of bowhunting in the area. There is a short period here when the leaves fall from mature tulip poplars that I've seen use. Deer don't come to them and stay an eat like they can with acorns. Instead, as they move through the area naturally, they simply pick up leaves (mostly yellow) and eat them as they go. They are not competing with many other creatures for these like they do with acorns. They also don't eat them by the hundreds. However I've watch every deer walking through on a trail one day stop and eat a few leaves and move on.
Why? This is somewhat speculative. Every plant and tree has different abilities to "mine" minerals from the soil. Since a deer's diet is so varied, we don't see mineral deficiencies like you do with domestic or penned animals with a restricted diet. I would speculate that Tulip Poplar mines some particular mineral that deer need. That mineral is likely transferred to to the leaves as they mature. Deer have a natural tendency to desire plants that have mineral or whatever else their reserves are running low on. They eat what they need to get the minerals they need and poplar leaves likely provide one source of some specific mineral. I've never seen a nutritional analysis but I doubt they are providing high nutrition.
My point is this: Like you, I would not plant Tulip poplars to attract deer or improve the herd. They grow fast and tall and drop lower branches and don't shed bark so they are great for a climbing treestand. They are a timber tree. But like most native trees in our woods, they do fill some void in the ecosystem. In this case, likely providing some trace minerals for deer for a short period. While I would not plant them specifically for deer, I certainly would not make any kind of concerted effort to remove them as they play some role for wildlife.
Now, if someone were trying to establish a woodlot in some place that was open fields (eastern South Dakota or similar) I could certainly see including tulip poplar in the mix of trees if they fit in the USDA zone of the area.
Thanks,
Jack
cavey
5 year old buck +
Im not an expert but I believe the the tree called a "tulip poplar" is not a poplar tree or aspen at all but a different species that just shares the name.
I have sat in bow stands for hours watching deer eat poplar leaves off young trees instead of feeding in a lush hay field.... even in the later fall, munching on the yellow leaves just before they fall. Deer without a doubt love to browse "poplar" trees; tulip poplar? I have no idea beyond the fact that if they will eat pine needles then in general Im sure they would eat the leaves off a young tree of this variety, its kind of what they do - they are samplers. It is a fast growing timber tree for the cabinet industry and as mentioned above it is used for internal wood members.
I have sat in bow stands for hours watching deer eat poplar leaves off young trees instead of feeding in a lush hay field.... even in the later fall, munching on the yellow leaves just before they fall. Deer without a doubt love to browse "poplar" trees; tulip poplar? I have no idea beyond the fact that if they will eat pine needles then in general Im sure they would eat the leaves off a young tree of this variety, its kind of what they do - they are samplers. It is a fast growing timber tree for the cabinet industry and as mentioned above it is used for internal wood members.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
This is true. It's actually in the magnolia family.
Poplar (actually populus) includes cottonwood, aspen, some other trees called poplar (such as white poplar), and probably others that I'm not even familiar with.
Yellow Poplar / Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) is the tree I was referring to, and I think most others in this thread are too.
j-bird
Moderator
Just to follow-up and I will leave this alone......I pulled my card from my cam over my downed tulip poplar tree this weekend.....EVERYDAY a doe with her fawns visited the tree and foraged on the leaves. Because it was does the video wasn't really all that interesting but I thought the info was so I thought I would share. Leaves had not even turned yellow yet. And being a video and checking the tree myself the deer are eating the leaves with absolute certainty.
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