The climate preferences for the plant described in this document include areas with sufficient water availability and soil that is not waterlogged. It can tolerate a range of altitudes. It is important to note that it should not be planted near gardens, septic systems, or orchards.
Poplars
Poplars (Populus spp.) are fast-growing deciduous trees that have a strong affinity for water. They are known for their extensive root systems, which can reach up to 50 meters laterally in search of moisture and nutrients. Poplars are valued for their soft, light timber, and their foliage is highly nutritious, making them a good source of fodder for livestock. Additionally, poplar wood has various commercial uses, including furniture manufacture, paper production, and construction.
Populus spp
United States
Other Relevant Information: - Poplars are known for their rapid growth rate, making them a popular choice for timber production and afforestation projects. - They have been used for erosion control and salinity management due to their ability to tolerate waterlogged soil and their extensive root systems. - Poplar foliage is highly nutritious and can be used as stockfeed, providing a valuable food source for livestock. - The wood of poplar trees is versatile and used in various industries, including furniture manufacturing, construction, paper production, and packaging. - Poplars can be propagated from cuttings, and young trees are more likely to root successfully. - They are deciduous trees, providing shade and shelter during the summer months while allowing other understorey plants to grow during winter. - Planting nitrogen-fixing legumes alongside poplars can enhance soil fertility and provide additional benefits.
- Well-drained soil - Tolerates waterlogged soil - Prefers soil with moisture and nutrients
Family: SALICACEAE
Poplars generally use large amounts of water, will grow adjacent to waterlogged soil and have root systems that have been known to reach out as far as 50 m laterally in search of moisture and nutrient. For this reason, they are extremely good trees for, erosion and for salinity control, but should not be planted close to gardens, septic systems and orchards. Some poplars will tolerate prolonged periods of flooding. They are fast growing, yield a soft, light timber, and provide useful fodder for stock. They grow best in an open, unshaded situation.
The foliage of poplars is extremely nutritious as a stockfeed. Not only will stock eat all the foliage they can reach, including any suckers shooting up from the parent tree roots, but also eat the leaves that fall in autumn. Poplar foliage is superior nutritionally to lucerne.
Composition of Lucerne, Fodder Grasses and Poplar Leaves..
Expressed as a percentage (Food and Agriculture Organisation)
Constituents | Lucerne | Grass | Poplar Leaves |
Water | 74.0 | 80.0 | 60.0 |
Minerals | 2.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 |
Fats | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 |
Nitrates | 4.5 | 3.5 | 6.0 |
Non Nitrogenous Extracts | 9.0 | 9.0 | 5.0 |
Cellulose | 9.5 | 4.5 | 5.0 |
Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
"A Hunter River farm in New South Wales, 40 hectares of river flats, was progressively planted to wide spaced poplars for timber production, with the branch and leaf material from the pruning of the trees being fed to beef cattle. At the outset of the plantings, it was hoped to be able to hold cattle numbers constant, despite the trees, because of these prunings. However, in reality, it was found that numbers could be increased by 20%. There was more summer grass due to the humidifying and sheltering effect of the trees and more winter grass because the trees, even without their leaves, kept the site warmer. The poplars reached timber harvest size in just 15 years. The overall increase in productivity was startling." (Ref. Thamo. A. "Fodder Trees" from "Trees for Farms").
In Maine, USA, poplar wood is being chipped and steamed to provide roughage feed for sheep and cattle at US $3 5/tonne (1981 prices). "As a maintenance ration, the steamed poplar can satisfy about 65% of a dry sheep's requirements". (Ref. White. T. "Poplars and Pampas" from Permaculture Journal, issue 7, March 1981).
In Dungong in N.S.W and at Darville in South Africa sewerage effluent water is used to irrigate poplar plantations. The poplars are sold to match companies and provide a lucrative return to the two municipalities.
Poplar wood is soft, suitable for wood pulp and paper, although it is also used for a wide variety of other purposes. First quality wood is used in furniture manufacture, for the interiors of cupboards, sideboards and for shelving. Poplar wood can also be used in construction work, for framework and roofing timbers, providing it is not subject to too great mechanical stresses and is protected from the elements. Other uses of poplar wood include matches, fruit boxes, plywood, fibreboard, chipboard, woodwool, packing cases, flooring, kitchen utensils, wooden toys, drawing boards and tables and rough boarding. Poplar wood does have a tendency to defects due either to insect or fungal attack, anatomical structure, or internal growth stresses, which lessens its commercial value.
Poplars can be propagated from cuttings, like willows. They can even be established from cuttings 10 m high, provided they can access water. Cuttings taken from young trees strike root more easily than cuttings taken from older trees, and the terminal shoots are generally not suitable. Experiments in propagating P. deltoides in the USA have shown marked seasonal variations, autumn being the most successful time, winter also being satisfactory. Phosphorus has also been shown to have a good effect on root development.
Willows and poplars can be planted around the edge of salt scalds, and trials to establish trees on soil mounds in the scalds could be rewarding. The suckering, salt tolerant varieties of poplars may even 'colonize' such scalds.
Being deciduous trees, willows and poplars are not effective windbreak species for winter winds but can be planted to shelter from hot summer winds. Being deciduous, however, allows a range of understorey, including the perennial bana grass, elephant grass, pampas grass and bamboo, to make growth over the winter months.
Good companions to the willows and poplars are any of the useful nitrogen fixing legumes, tolerant of the same conditions, (eg Acacia saligna for fodder and Acacia melanoxilon for first grade furniture timber).