Ep152: Tulip Poplar - The workhorse tree on our homestead 

I work in tree care and have just moved into my first house with land. My woods are are 90% poplar. Not only has this been very informative but has given me a new found appreciation for poplar. Beautiful trees. Thanks

The biggest trees remaining on the east coast are tulip poplars! Worth the trip to the park to see them.

TY for calling them Tulip Poplars. Too many just call them Poplars and there is a BIG difference. We are blessed with tons of them here in NE TN along with every hard wood imaginable. Our neighbor hasn't been here in about a year and a half due to the covid and their field is loaded with startups. You must have loads of Cherry there as we do here and they can grow as big as the Tulips. I use that for workbench tops and legs and even siding and tomato stakes👍😎👌

Thanks very much for this video. Very informative. I've just purchased a couple for my property here in Australia. I hope they grow as well as yours have!

Troy you crack me up sometimes, garter snake OK. Now you can use popular for fence posts. Why did I use it ? Well like you I had it everywhere on my place, I did not have any black locust and I was not going to use my oak or hickory for posts obviously. Only thing else I had was Sycamore and other scrub trees. I will tell you how we did in back in the day on my farm in Southern Tennessee. So actually this was shown to me by my grandfather and this was back some 40 years ago. I think Grandpa was nearly 70 then. What Grandpa had me do was go to town and pick up some 5 gallon buckets of tar. I brought it back and he had a large propane burner , you know like what they use for turkey frying, he lit it up , told me to open one and put it up on the burner. We then heated up the tar till it was liquid, he then had me go get some popular posts. He then had me start dipping one end down into the tar till the post hit the bottom of the bucket. Then he had me slowly lift it back out. We did this in the winter to,so the tar cooled off really fast. So what happened was the end was coated in the tar. We did about a hundred posts that day and many more later on. I later used them as posts on my lowland pasture behind my small lake we had and on all pastures as I expanded. After we set the posts and got the fence all up. He made me reheat a bucket of tar and go around and paint the top and about 4 inches down each post. He said that would waterproof the tops and stop rotting from the top too. It sort of looked sexy and very uniform with the light color of the popular posts,These were 6 inch diameter posts. I owned that particular farm for over 12 years before we moved back to Alabama. But those posts were as sound as the day we first put them in 10 years later. I know its an extra step and add costs, but back then we used what we had,we did not have a choice. We also dipped our popular boards we used on re-siding my barn. We put the tar dipped edge down right above ground level. Thought I would let you know about it, since you too have so much popular on your place. Back then when I was so young and started out on my farm, you depended on the old timers. They came up without any fancy farm supply box stores or places like Home Depot and such. They cleared their land by hand and used what was on it to build it up. The house I live in now in Deep South Alabama was all framed up and originally sided in red and white oak that was cut from the property. The oak siding is still on the house, its just covered up with aluminum siding that was done back in 1965. Hell you can't drive a nail anywhere without pre-drilling, LOL. Take care and be safe. Mr. Tom

Poplar is grown on huge plantations to be used for plywood production, because it grows so straight and fast, it's great for making big sheets of plywood when peeled. Good investment.

Because they grew so straight, early settlers loved using them to build log cabins. Plus they’re lighter than most hardwoods. While they’re considered a hardwood, I feel they are borderline softwoods, because they are so light and very easy to split. They also decay faster than other hardwoods in the environment. I’m not sure if it’s the tulip poplar or another type of poplar, but they are used in as pulpwood to make paper out of.

👍👍👍 RTH if you ever noticed some of the ancient barns you see in our Mountain State are built out of ruff cut poplars. It lasts and lasts. I use to live in Salem W.V. in an old house that was built in 1906. It was all framed and floored in poplar. You're right about termites and wood boring bees, neither like the poplar boards. Good video I enjoyed it.

Poplar is nice to carve. Also it coppices well.

Nice in depth talk. Thank you.

Excellent video, quite well done.

very informative, thanks

Thank you for the baby toad, snake, and spider web that made me laugh! As always I loved the informative talk.

I transplanted a couple seedlings into my woods, but the deer DEVOURED them! Trunk and all.. must taste good 🤷‍♂️

I love your tree videos! I love trees :)

Probably my favorite tree to climb!

I like your video’s very educational. Thanks

Very informative I really enjoy watching your channel I live in WV too

40 years ago when I was running edger at the mill, tulip poplar where the ones with beautiful Purple Hearts , the yellow poplar may have been green or a brownish color. Even the knots where purple, however in time it faded some depending on exposure to sun light. Seen a lot over the years, always went to furniture factory's . 👌✌️👍

Really enjoy these videos as you have very similar ecology to where im at. I can attest to them being invasive to a point i have parts of our property that were left to grow up 8 years ago or so and they grow so close together it looks like bamboo. I can also attest to them being terrible fence posts. Although letting them whole, letting them dry, peeling the bark off and oiling them seems to make a big difference

Thanks for your insight about poplar. We have a great deal of in in Connecticut, agree it is a beautiful tree. fast growing beyond any local competive species.

Love working with poplar wood! Almost all of my 1800’s log house is poplar. Every poison vine in our holler I believe is in a poplar

Thank you for the video

They are an important part of the spring nectar flow for my bees. As to the qualities of the honey, I can't say because I only pull honey once a year and it contains honey from many different plants.

I recently bought a knife with tulip wood scales and it is a very nice wood grain. Almost reminds me of some cumaru flooring Ive installed.

My grandmother was from Tennessee and she called this tree the Tennessee Poplar tree lol so yes they have a lot of names depending on where you are. Her father built the family a log cabin way back in the day out of Poplar and that cabin still stands to this day and is lived in. I don’t really understand why anyone would have a issue with this tree. Even if there was to many of them on their property you could just have them harvested by a sawmill like you did to thin them out for a profit. I pulled a seedling out of the ground on my grandparents small farm in Tennessee about 15 years ago and planted it on one of my properties in Kansas. It’s a beautiful tree now and means a lot to me since both of my grandparents are gone now. Question since it’s been 21 years since you had them harvested on your property do you plan on having them selectively harvested again?

There is a massive one growing in my school, there is also a black poplar too

Beautiful tree! I have one in my yard and just made a video on planting another. Fingers crossed on if she lives.

I have poplar trees on my 80 acres and I found one this week that is straight as an arrow and has to be at least 60 feet tall, it's an amazing tree. It's odd these trees only bring $0.30 to $0.40 a foot.

Walking through the woods I see poison ivy mainly on Pines and Sweet Gum, sometimes on Tulip Trees, Cherry, and Oak. Rarely see poison ivy on Sycamore and not at all on Maple, Cedar, or Walnut. A good vine for Tulip Trees is Campsis radicans, right after the Tulip flowers finish up the Trumpet flowers (Campsis radicans) will start to bloom all the way through Sep. Campsis radicans also does well on Walnut and the leaves are nearly exactly the same.

Poplars in my front yard grow huge and about 3 -4 feet thick, their roots are coming out of the ground everywhere, and are 8- 16” thick, lifting concrete and outbuildings. They are also chocking every tree in the area. I’m cutting them off and hope to never seeing them again. Thanks for your detailed videos!!

I've been enjoying these "educational" videos about trees. We live in South Florida, inland in the woods, and I can guarantee you poison ivy is not choosy about what type a tree is. We have them on our pines, our oaks and our palms. I can attest to it being poison ivy because I'm highly allergic.

I like your videos on trees as I am trying to learn as much as possible before we move. Is there a way to put them on a list for easier access?

I have several that I know are about 150 to 200 years old. The Native Americans used them to carve canoes out of because they were so straight.

Troy , I would go around and cut the vines like a 6 inch gap in two years the poison in the ivy will dry out . Also I’m very surprised you don’t do honey , I would think you would be good at it. I hope you guys have a good new year. Todd

I watch a show on the DIY network called Barnwood Builders, they have commented a number of times about pioneer log cabins that have been built in the 1800s were built using popular. Many are still standing today.

I've seen poison ivy vines on oak and maple trees in Michigan. Never on willow or sycamore, though.

I believe any association PI has with Tuliptree is that they are both early successional species and they they begin growing together as small trees/vines, respectively.

This is the prominent species here in southern Indiana. Used mostly as "support structure" such as internal furniture bracing & interior house trim (always painted).

BIG BIGGGG THANKS for the "don't use them for posts" and "avoid ground contact"...the exact use I was considering. ..but I was planning on impregnating them with a petrol based sealant. What about impregnation?

same way where I live in western shore of maryland they are the most common tree then I think sweetgums and sycamores come in 2nd then mockernut hickory and red oaks and a few scattered black walnut trees , but a lot of young beech trees, they will become the dominant tree in a few hundred years if left to grow and no forest fires

As someone who does marquetry, I can appreciate the green colors, even though muted and pea soup-ish, because green is an extremely rare (natural) color in woods, yet a dominant one in landscapes and thus in the art I wish to make. Trouble is, like most if not all wood colors, UV and oxygen turns it brown (& probably eventually grey) very quickly. So although it makes the pictures look "artificial," I do tend to use food colors and other chemical dyes when color is appropriate for the design. I have on rare occasions seen "rainbow poplars" with dramatically & variably colored wood that would be quite handsome (if preserved by spar varnish and indoor siting?). Any ideas how to induce that as the trees grow?

easy to pant as well

Will tulip poplar grow in tropical weather.....

On our land where ever we clear land tulip poplar seedlings are the first and most abundant seedlings to pop up. In a year or two they are twenty feet tall. When I clear them out to keep them from taking over, I will throw the whole trees to my goats who love the leaves and will eventually strip the bark off.

I enjoyed your video on the poplar. I live in California . I have horses and goats. I really need shade, but will the eating of the leaves affect the animals? Thanks again for a great video

Since this is a fast grower, I wonder if it has potential for 1. coppice management, so that it can return after being harvested, and 2. for inoculating with edible mushrooms (e.g. chicken of the woods, oysters, lion's mane, shiitake, reishii; winecaps or oysters on chipped wood), which could be a good value-added proposition for using smaller specimens when thinning a grove?

this is why they named them Tulip Popular

When you fall a popular how do you deal with the poison ivy that’s wrapped around its ?

I love working with poplar wood. With all the pros with the use of it makes it a POPLAR wood. Lol

17:44 I wonder if soaking it dried in oil would help.

Everything I've seen and read indicated that they like full sun, but can thrive in a variety of soils.

A couple years back I got a bad case of poison ivy. Eventually had to see the doc. He mentioned that goats love eating poison ivy. Said they will eat that before almost anything else.

Does poplar help bees make propolis? TY🎉🤗

I just bought a small farm with a ton of large tulip poplars. I was thinking about framing our home with it. Any chance thats a good idea?

Those trees 🌳poplar is good for firewood?

How can i harvest the seeds when everything is so high up? I want to mass plant them from seed.

Poplar trees retain water hence giving vines a water and mineral source

I cut these vines every time I come upon them they overwhelm the tree

Would you suggest what would be your second choice after tulip poplar for the homestead? A fast grower that will provide good lumber for fence posts, building outdoor. Thank you. This was so interesting!!! And the best vines to harvest for usage on the homestead. SE Michigan and NW Ohio area.

Charring the butt end of a tulip tree post might make them last longer, but I have no direct experience with that.

does that wood make good firewood

From having lived the last 12 years with 2 acres of of tulip poplars around the house I agree about keeping them away from the house. Not only because of the danger of falling trees and limbs, but also, because they are a nuisance to clean up if they are around gardens and gutters. Tulips drop something every month of the year: flower casings, flowers, seed pods, leaves, branches. And the seeds are prolific - our vegetable patch would maybe sprout 200 tulip seedlings each year if the seeds were not carefully removed.

I’ve got two of them that I planted about 12 foot apart from each other, their about two years old is 12 foot ok?

Hello, I am trying to get prepared for homesteading and would like to understand, if I cut my trees for use on the property (furniture/firewood/for sale) how can I replace them,so I dont run out of trees? Ty

Wish I had a hundred acres, maybe some day. In the mean time, I'm interested in putting a tulip poplar in my front yard here in southeast Michigan. Any worry about the source of the tree or the cultivar being right or wrong to thrive in my region? Or will anything sold as a "tulip poplar" do about equally well?

Gum trees and sassafras trees.

I go maniacal on the trumpet and grape vines infesting my poplars

Do you sell your popular?

1:58 Leaf close up 2:50 Bark

I haven't seen poison ivy vines like that since i left louisiana

Pls send some plants in pakistan . Plantation is my passion

May I have this tulip popular tree cutting or little palant in Pakistan.

When the first settlers came to Ohio, the tulip poplars were so big, that 10 men holding hands could not reach around them.

I have a 60 year old one in my yard and I've yet to see a bee this year something's wrong

i need a cumber tree

Those vines are lucky to not be on property I own.

When children, my siblings and I called it a Telephone tree because of the leaf shape.

See the face in the trees over your head from 10 to 11 minutes?

I'd not cut the best ones ever. Just let a few grow. Your big ones are still young.

we dont have that tulip poplar here, that i have ever seen a leaf like that, we have the white poplar witch make a huge mess every spring with there huge balls of fluff, there bark is green and smooth, and grow huge and strait it is mostly used here for paper, plywood, OSB, we get a lot of USA Trucks coming up buying the logs for furniture, then we have the black poplar that is found in wetter areas, its bark is more to a black and cores and used for paper and OSB and bam, i hate the poplar, you cut any area, and with in a year it is full of 4 foot high new poplar and with in 5 years the dam things are 30 feet tall, the MNR sprays planted areas to kill off the poplar, so the planted spruce and pine can grow, poplar take over unused farm fields so fast, IT IS HARD TO KILL THE STUFF

I've not had to deal with poison ivy, but couldn't a person take an axe or chainsaw and cut through the vines and let it die? I'd think the vines like growing up those trees because they can root or send tendrils or whatever down into those deep crevices in the bark.

i was told poplar firewood is better than pine firewood

If carpenter bees are such a nuisance perhaps you should make nesting spots for them at least 50 ft. away from your buildings. That might help reduce the problem. Or you can paint all your buildings or build them out of pressure treated wood. Carpenter bees don't like to build nests in materials like that.

Solid video. Tulip (false) poplars always spark confusing conversations. As you mention, they're not actual poplars and provide some reliable hardwood lumber, whereas lumber from actual poplar trees is softer than pine and typically not highly desired. Why couldn't they just have named it properly from the start? LOL

For an European I find it strange you talk about poplar. For us this name is restricted to the trees of the Populus genus. Also hardwood is confusing to us, as a tree with soft wood belongs sometimes to the hardwood family for you. Still interesting videos!

pawpaws?

Well,I'll be damned, you can do a video without giggling like a schoolgirl. Now I know that rolls off you but consider this. I could listen and learn more from this and it was very enjoyable. So when making more of these, think the old bastard who is a thorn in my side likes them and I get attaboys from him. Just saying. Now can you fall the oversized ones so they split when they hit the ground and you can saw then into wide boards?? I know that wide boards tend to split when they dry but as flooring with a nail gun that doesn't feel how many times that you swung that hammer ... can you nail it enough to hold or is it intended to be sawn into narrow lumber anyway. AND can you saw it thin enough to make paneling that you stain for furniture.. Just asking cause I'm a old bastard who can/LOL... I really like your channel and your about the only guy my size who has knots on his for head that caused me to be so mean

Why dont you take out the poison ivy growing on your poplars?

Just to be clear, the "tulip poplar" is NOT a poplar tree. So referring to its wood as poplar is misleading.

I absolutely hate how people can’t just name this tree one name

That's why calling trees by their local or regional names is a bad idea. Liriodendron Tulipifera(Tuliptree) is not a poplar or even in the poplar family. Which you stated, yet continued to call it a poplar lol. Talk about confusing for those that are not Arborists or Foresters. Regardless, love the channel. Keep up the good work!

Man that massive nasty poison ivy climbing up that poplar gave me a scare

you did not just touch that snake.. erwww

Pretty sure this isn’t a poplar tree, leaves don’t look poplar

Kill all the poison ivy, will ya!

I cant take any advice from a man who claims to be a homesteader and stands next to a giant poison ivy vine and touches it….

Interesting video. Your t-shirt tells me that your information needs to be taken with a grain of salt.