Hybrid poplar dumb idea ????

[whitepine]

I am  planning on planting a few hundred hybrid poplar this spring using mats and tilled soil but I have available whips also and was wondering if one could cut say 3 ft whips plant them 1 ft deep and they would be high enough to not be effected by weeds which are supposed to be kept down for three years. Comments appreciated Thanks Tom

[woodbowl]

I am  planning on planting a few hundred hybrid poplar this spring using mats and tilled soil but I have available whips also ............

I should know this term, but I guess I don't. Is a whip a sprout with roots?

[SwampDonkey]

I wouldn't plant the stuff, but your not me. ;D I've heard nothing but trouble with them from disease.  :

[whitepine]

A whip is a branch usually taken from the top of the tree. I agree Swampdonkey but I want to try everything up here no problem with disease the problem is they just dont grow on most sites but I have seen a small plantaation that was living up to expectations but the owner the local county extension agent did everything except take them to bed with him to get them to grow. I would like your opinion on the whips I want to try it with the hybrid poplar and Bam ( Balm of Giliad) and maybe some willow so I dont have to look at my new neighbors fresh from the city. These will be planted in an old pasture that hasnt had cows on it for 5 years and the native grasses grow about 2 ft high. All clay except some peat swamps scattered about.

[Frank_Pender]

I planted some 100 plus 12' whips three different times, due to dear and elk damage.  The third year I used wrap around solid plastic protection devices, four feet tall.  Each time they would touch the white plastic it would raddle and spook them.  I now have a nice little stand of three to five inch cottonwood, thirty to forty feet tall. 8)

Mice are a real danger to you trees as well, so keeping the grass down around the base is important. :'(

[SwampDonkey]

On that type of ground I'de use balm, tamarack and eastern (northern) white cedar (tree of life). But the cedar requires calcareous soil for best growth. Just keep the moose and deer away from the trees. Moose won't bother cedar much, they never seem to touch mine.  ;D That must have been hard farming the clay soil eh? Is it real fine soil or is it gravelly. If it's like the Tobique red clay, which is gravelly and calcareous you can grow some nice trees in the stuff.  ;)

[SwampDonkey]

I planted some 100 plus 12' whips three different times, due to dear and elk damage.  The third year I used wrap around solid plastic protection devices, four feet tall.  Each time they would touch the white plastic it would raddle and spook them.  I now have a nice little stand of three to five inch cottonwood, thirty to forty feet tall. 8)

Mice are a real danger to you trees as well, so keeping the grass down around the base is important. :'(

Moose will reach up to 6 feet or so and snap off the top of poplar and red maple around here. Sugar maple is tougher (stiffer) and they don't seem to try it as often.

Ditto on the mice and other rodents, including rabbits. I've seen rabbits move into an area and chew the bark off alot of aspen and hardwood.  >:(

Everything is agin ya. :D

[whitepine]

The neighbors have dogs on chains that bark so I hope they will keep the deer away I plan on mowing for mice and few rabbits here they are supposed to be on ten year cycle but last time was in the 70's than they were everywhere and ate everything. The field was plowed by horse 70 years ago I used it as pasture for 20 years. Frank I  am interested in what you did I did not think they would be able to pull water that high in a whip, how deep did you plant them? Swampdonkey can one plant tamarack whips? Fine clay and boulders in field.

[SwampDonkey]

Tamarack whips? not successfully. Plant containerized, we can get them for $150/thousand delivered in my area. They take well to abondoned fields, grass and all. Watch'm for quill dogs though.