My concern about Tulip, and the reason I took mine down (well, that, and the fact that it was shading my vegetable garden!) was that it had gotten tall enough so it would hit my home if it blew over and was still a very young tree, and they can grow to 120 feet, and they almost all blow over at some point, and I didn't want mine blowing over on my house, or getting so big I would need to hire a professional to take it down. Oh, and also, they are supposed to be really dirty trees, producing lots of sticky raining gunk when older and in bloom..... That said, I like their leaves, and stateliness.
That's funny, but I hate tulip poplar trees. And I mean I really hate them. They grow fast and very large and have lots of leaves in the fall. In the spring they drop the tulip flowers on the ground which can be about a third of the volume of the fall leaves. It seems like I am cleaning up after those trees year round. And don't get me started on the widow makers they drop. As they grow taller, they expell the lower branches. Some of those branches can be 8 inches across. You can't be anywhere near those trees in a wind storm. Back on a windy day in January, I stepped outside to grab some wood after dark. I heard the classic snap sound and then thud nearby. I grabbed the firewood from my stack and ran inside. The next day, I found the branch on the ground in all it's glory. I cut and split it up. There was enough wood there to keep my stove going for three days in shoulder season. I could have been killed. Nope, I would never plant one of those trees.
Yes, that is kind of what I heard about the trees, which is why I cut mine when it got to be about forty feet tall.....and was still a young tree. They grow to twice the height of the other forest trees, and are supposed to be very prone to toppling. I didn't know that about shedding the lower branches, but makes sense. They do grow with very regular branching.
I planted all of mine in the woods and in the yard, to extend the woods. The lawn mower will take care of any stray flowers and we don't get any leaves from the woods down this far. I have 3 huge silver maples behind the house and the helicopters and branches that fall from those things make me wish they were tulips.
Oh no, I only wish I could deal with the helicopters instead of the tulip flowers. The flowers are the size of a golf ball and when opened up, the size of a baseball. Unless you have a backpack blower, you will have to rake them up. Or suck them up in the mower. It wouldn't be so bad if they all dropped in a week or two. But they will do a big drop in early May and then continue to drop until sometime in late June. If they are around a driveway, you have to blow every day to clear them away. On top of that, Tulip Poplars leak sap all summer long. Sometimes it feels like rain drops when standing under them. My green wood tarps turn brown. Which I suppose is nice since it helps make them blend into the woods. The trees are similar to bamboo in how fast they grow each year. Before you know it, a tree that is a foot across ten years ago will now be three feet across. Just amazing. It's a shame oak doesn't grow that fast.
Oh come on, you gotta like something about them. What about their bright yellow fall color? Tulips are just one of the many native trees I've planted to get the property to recover from being pasture land for so many years. This year, it will be sassafras and dogwood. I'll have to barricade the sassafras from the deer, but I don't have to protect the tulips at all. The deer seem to hate them as much as you do.
Sorry, I hate to sound so negative about the trees, but I have grown to loave them. When I eventally have them cut down, maybe I will mill the wood and build a shed. I suspect I will have a smile on face then.
I just split some tulip poplar yesterday that I'll burn in October. I do not like the smell otherwise I would burn it outside in the fire pit. Normally I don't cut it but there was a log down in the National Forest that was like 2 feet from the road, I simply could not pass it up.
It makes beautiful furniture & cabinets. Excelent barn siding as long as it can dry! I used to find Morels under them in the early spring. That was back in Fred. Co., a while ago.
I just cut one down today in the neighbors yard. Dropped it into mine so I don't tear theirs up with the tractor. Pretty good size tree. Gonna get it split and stacked asap and hopefully it will be ready by next year's late shoulder season. Gotta get on some standing dead for this year so I can continue to get ahead.
I don't waste my time with it, but I have great wood to choose from. It splits easy and burns fast, but clean. Beyond the lack of btu output, its' biggest flaw imo is that it will rot quickly. Real quickly.
And it smells pretty unpleasant when you are splitting it....and it resprouts from the base with a vengeance.
As a firewood I think Tulip is OK, as a tree I think it is outstanding. Tulip is the largest and most impressive tree in the woods here and in most of the Appalachians. There are stands of virgin Tulip Trees in the Smokies that are unbelievable - they have branches 80 feet off the ground that would be pretty large trees all by themselves. As far as Tulip being a messy yard tree, I don't doubt it is, but my White Oaks drop acorns and a year-round supply of twigs and dead wood, the Black Birch constantly drops twigs, the Cherries stain anything underneath them, and so on. All trees are messy, so you have to get used to some mess on the lawn or get rid of your trees.
Bigger problem with Tulip as a yard tree is that it IS going to blow over at some point (especially on my shallow soil), and the larger it gets the more risk it poses. Would be great lining a long drive or in the woods, not so great near your home or garden.....It is, I agree, a stately tree.
I agree the Tulip is indeed a stately tree, and would be wonderful lining a drive or in the woods. Not so good around the home. They will blow over at some point, especially when growing on shallow soil. The larger and taller they get, the greater the risk. And they do get very tall. I've always wondered if their height makes them especially susceptible to lightning? Wood suck, do you ever see raptor nests in the Tulip trees? After our infamous ice storm, when ALL the trees lost their tops, the Osprey started nesting in the main power pylons, and still do to this day. They seem to prefer the flat platform to the trees. It still feels strange to me to be driving along the power lines and see nicely spaced Osprey nests, with very active young later in the year.
Sherwood I have seen that. but since when do you Canadians get to claim the totality of that ice storm? I got great pics of it as I drove around with Johnny in trunk. that when me and Johnny (jonsered ) became really good friends. that was a hoarders paradise all wood you wanted and get paid to come get it and take it away!
I though we were one big family? "Our" covers everyone in the NE. The short road I live on (which had two homes at the time, now has three, and has hydro running across the property, so has a few of hydro's poles ont he property) was the very last in Ontario to get replacement poles and hydro back, I'm told.....30 days with no power. It was an amazing experience to drive from NY (Westchester) to Southern Ontario and see every single power pole either down or replaced. One wanted to dry, standing outside at night and hearing one tree after another crack, and limbs come tumbling down. We are still losing trees, the result of that storm and the subsequent numerous very dry summers we experienced. On the other hand, some have made remarkable recoveries. Still, have very few trees with really full, healthy tops. I guess an upside may be that we have lost fewer trees than we otherwise would have to subsequent wind storms.
We've been looking at a new tree for the yard and I believe we're gonna go with the tulip. They really are an awesome looking tree!
