Twin and Triple Tuplip Poplar Quality

[Jjoness4]

I have hundreds of 20" to 30" tulip poplar growing on my farm.  Probably 20% are growing as twins and even some triplets.  My experience is that there is a high likelihood that the butt logs will have hollow rot, perhaps caused by the twin growth.  Is there anything I should do now for the smaller trees growing this way to prevent quality degradation later on.  That is, should I cut away one of the twins or just let them grow.

[bucknwfl]

20-30 in diameter or tall?

[Ron Wenrich]

Your multi-stemmed poplars come about because they are stump sprouts.  The rot isn't coming from the other stem, it's coming from the old stump.  So, even if you remove the twin, you'll still have the problem of the old stump.  The best quality of trees come from seedlings. 

[Jjoness4]

Thanks for the helpful replies.