Invasive White Poplar Tree

[Miette_xo]

So, I've been dealing with this issue for about 2 years now. I don't know if the tree we had got a disease or was under stress, but it started making little saplings pop up everywhere. What I believe was the "mother" tree has been cut down, but I'm still getting some of these popping up.

It seems like it's more under control since I got the tree cut down, but I was wondering if there was any hope for getting rid of this problem, or if it's just something I'm going to have to live with. Any advice is much appreciated!

 

[Pepperhead]

The only thing I can recommend if you want them gone, is to wait until after a soaking rain (so they're easier to pull), grab some tough gloves or a post-hole digger, and pull/dig them up before any go to seed. If they've gone to seed, throw them in the trash instead of piling them or composting them. Invasive weeds (like sticker burrs where i'm at) are best dealt with that way in my experience so far.

 

[Tetters]

Hello @Miette_xo This is a very invasive tree, and you did the right thing to cut it down. Has the stump been removed? If not it either needs to be ground out with a stump grinder, or killed off. It is possible to do this using a big supply of epsom salts. Drill holes in the stump and fill them up with plenty of salts - then cover it all over with some black plastic and tie it down. Those are suckers from the roots of the tree. One way to get rid of them is to mow them down -very regularly, and start right away as they grow fast! If they are deprived of light they will not survive, but they will grow away again as soon as your back`s turned if you don`t keep up the mowing. It will be a battle, so you will need some determination.
Using epsom salts on an unwanted tree stump is better than poison. Any seepage from the salts will be less powerful, and if you have any valued plants growing nearby, the salts will only feed those - it is the overdose that will kill off the tree.
Good luck

 

[Marck]

White Poplar (Populus alba) is a deciduous, dioecious, clonal, tree, in the Willow Family (Salicaceae), native to Europe, southwestern and central Asia, and northwestern Africa. White Poplar leaves display a beautiful silver-white effect, giving the tree an distinctive and attractive appearance. However, White Poplar's often invasive spread, due to both seedlings and root sprouts has med it unpopular in may cultivated settings.

This White Poplar colony is like largely the product of root-sprouts, though if the parent tree was a pollinated female there could also be seedlings in the area. I agree that a combination of hand-removal, mowing and tilling the ground would be a good way to reduce, and eventually eliminate this colony. Multiple repetitions of these procedures will be needed. You may also wish to remove the main stump, but its removal will not affect the growth of the many root sprouts. These root-sprout saplings are now largely functioning as independent plants. However, there are still root connections which may be exploited by a careful application of herbicide.

If you want to try to use an herbicide such as glyphosate, begin with a small, experimental application on a part of the poplar colony that is as far away from the other tree species in the field as possible. Observe how far the herbicide spreads from that one point, and then judge whether additional similar applications could be done elsewhere.

 

[Neno Baylov]

Tractor, deep plow. The root system is deep will not happen with spraying.

 

[cntrlwagdnr]

Grind out the stump first. It will cost you a couple of hundred bucks, but well worth it. Otherwise it will keep on growing. make sure they grind the entire core out. Then use a broad leaf/brush killer. Pulling them up will leave just pull the suckers off the roots, leaving them intact. It's probably gonna take a while to completely get rid of it.