Trees and Shrubs: Information and Photos

Friday, March 23, 2012

2-3' 1 year old quaking aspen whips

Thursday, February 10, 2011

The following are frequently asked questions regarding hybrid poplar...

Q. What is the best soil type for hybrids?

A. We have seen no consistent results, but if you have a choice, sandy loam generally appears to have a slight edge over other soils.

0. Will hybrids send up root suckers like native aspen?

A. Not normally, but this can be induced by cutting the roots of an established tree. This is sometimes done by disking to improve a stand for wildlife habitat. Most wildlife prefer stem densities of more than 2000 per acre (5’x5’ spacing).

Q. What sort of growth can I expect from my trees the first year?

A. Anywhere from 0 to 10 feet depending on your site, weed control, moisture, and nutrients. Based on our customer experience the average is 2-3 feet first year growth and 3-4 feet for trees on their second year. We had a report of 12 feet from California’s central valley.

0. When is the best time to take delivery on my trees?

A. About a month before the native poplar begin to leaf out, if you plan conventional weed control. If you will use chemical control such as Round-up you should wait till the grass is 8-10 inches high to get the most lasting kill. We can hold your poplar dormant in our cooler till mid July, or even longer. Fall planting should be avoided in areas that have little snow and frost can be expected to reach deeper into the ground than the roots. If conditions are right, fall planting can be superior to spring.

0. Do these trees have “cotton”?

A. No. The trees that we sell are male clones to the best of our knowledge. The females produce the cotton.

Q. I’ve heard of various clones. Which is the best?

A. On a given site you can’t predict with 100% certainty. Based on our experience and what you can tell us about soil and moisture conditions we can make more likely selections. The best method is by experimenting with

various clones on your site.

Q. Will deer bother hybrid poplar?

A. It depends upon the location. When there’s lack of browse that deer prefer they will eat almost anything. If there are species available we’ve noted with letter A the deer will tend to ignore the poplar. Christmas tree growers can exploit these preferred species to decoy the deer from their crop.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Aspen and Ruffed Grouse

I wish I'd kept a copy of the hunter survey's that I did for the RGS, but as I recall the top three states for grouse flush rates were always Mn, Wi or Mi, generally in that order. I also recorded, annual consumption of aspen in each state and the same three were also the highest, by quite a margin. Certainly they do exist where there are no aspen, but it certainly is a major player in the grouse domain. I'd noticed in our yard that some winters grouse would feed in our highbush cranberry and other years not at all and bounced this observation off Dr. Gullion and to my surprise he said this is even true with aspen. It happened once during their Cloquet study. The implication is that a total aspen environment isn't always a good thing in winter time; once again, chisel nothing in stone. Of course this was good news for CSF since we peddle winter feed shrubs! You might want to touch base with the Maine Forest Service and find out which biomass units were aspen consumers and ask if they have record of cutting sites that are 2-10 years old which is the window of prime brood habitat in aspen clear cuts. This might get you closer to home than the Millinocket area in your search for prime bird hunting even thought many of these plants are shut down, you have a few years to reap their beneficiation of grouse habitat.

Certainly most of the clear cuts in Maine are much larger than 10 acres, at least the margins of these cuts should offer the best combinations of stand ages important for good habitat.

If you aren't already aware, the best regeneration of aspen comes on sites that are prepped in the dormant season, where all trees, slash and vegetation are removed to allow maximum solar illumination and elevation of soil surface temperature in the spring and early summer. A good regeneration is considered to be 20,000+ stems/acre.

Mike Hradel

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

WILDLIFE HABITAT – TROUBLE IN PARADISE

As America’s economy has shrunk, so has production of forest products; paper, lumber, wood composites, and energy from wood fueled power plants. Many of their production facilities are being cut back, shut down entirely and some being scrapped for short term quick bucks, never to start again. With all this comes a reduction in forest harvest, the wellspring of grouse, woodcock and the bulk of other wildlife habitat regeneration. This evolution is one to be viewed with alarm. Other than everyone’s personal effort to restore America’s competitiveness in the world marketplace, not everyone is in a position to do anything about this, but if you are, switching your home and maybe your neighbor’s to wood heat is worth considering. By managing your wood harvest methods you can do a better job than many industrial harvesters do for habitat regeneration.

For habitat regeneration a prime choice for firewood is aspen, which is severely under harvested. Much of our aspen acreage is being lost to forest succession which favors more shade tolerant species.

Unfortunately in many circles aspen has a bad reputation as a firewood but I would like to take exception to that misconception. For one, I have heated my home for years here in west Michigan, largely with aspen and would like to toot it’s horn to those with an open mind. True enough, it is slightly less dense than some of the favored species so if you buy it by the cord you’ll get less bang for your buck. However on a per pound basis aspen is equal or even slightly above the favored species in heating value. If you cut your own wood as most do, aspen is a good choice. Another common criticism is that it buns to quickly. When winter wind is howling under your eaves that is exactly what you want happening in your firebox! Take a close look at your neighbor’s no-aspen wood pile. Almost without exception you will notice their wood has all been split, adding many man-hours to their wood pile. If you ask them why, the answer you’ll get is that it burns better, to which I say, “Yeah, just like aspen!” The only split wood in my wood pile is that too large to fit through the stove door. A large variety of wood diameters in your wood pile is an asset heat management, superior to draft management of your stoves heat output. When you have to cut back on you draft your fire burns less efficiently, giving off carbon monoxide, creosote, smoke and other unhealthy fumes and attendant wasted heating value. Large diameter wood is useful in not so cold weather since it burns more slowly. We also use it in cold weather when we will be out of the house for long periods, a single popple log will last up to twenty-four hours when started on a bed of coals.

Another bonus of aspen is in kindling production, a labor intensive portion of your woodpile. The branches are stiff and brittle with much kindling being produced just in felling the tree. Dead branches can be reduced to kindling just by walking over them or wacking them on anything solid, far faster than you can wield a saw or wood splitter.

Aspen is low ash firewood, about one percent. Others are mostly higher, as much as 10% ash, which will increase the frequency that you will have to shovel out your stove.

Other species are certainly useful in your woodpile. It is desirable to clear out other species when you are doing an aspen clear cut since their shade will suppress soil temperature which will reduce aspen suckering and hence habitat quality. I particularly like to burn apple and cherry for their pleasant smell when I’m going to be working out around the yard.

Clear cuts are best done in the dormant season since this minimizes the window of opportunity for weeds and brambles to spring up which will shade, and reduce aspen regeneration as detailed above. When you have completed a clear cut the important final step is to inspect it for any small aspen trees or suckers too small for firewood. These should all be cut as well since their presence sends a signal the root matrix not to sucker as vigorously. This step is typically not attended to by commercial cutters so you should do it on your own if that is the type of harvest you are having done.

Mike Hradel
Cold Stream Farm LLC
Freesoil, Michigan