Planting Britain's rarest native tree on our homestead!

[@combitz]

We planted 5 black poplar 18months ago in our woodland (Cheshire) and so far they have had their second successful year growing. They all seem to have got away well. yes they love when soil.

[@theviewfromtheclouds]

They really do! It is amazing how they can cope with soil that other trees just can't.

[@blockhead9746]

We planted 7 including 3 female trees here in Shropshire near the Welsh border and all are doing well. They are all from cuttings taken from local mature trees. With help from someone from Shropshire Council we were lucky to find out about a mature female tree which was not too far away. The owners of the tree very kindly gave us permission to take cuttings which we grew on. Three were planted in our small holding and the rest we gave away. Once you get your eye in you can spot Black Poplars from a distance and there's a lovely mature tree in Newtown in the carpark next to the river which has the characteristic 'lean' of the mature tree.

[@theviewfromtheclouds]

That sounds fantastic! Yes, they are really nice. I drive past one most days and often marvel at it. Do you have a source for genetically pure male black poplars? Our ladies would love some company! Chester Zoo do sell them, but at a fairly high price.

[@blockhead9746]

We got ours by taking cuttings from a big old Black Poplar which actually belongs to our neighbour's farm and it was free which is good. With his permission of course. I don't know if it's genetically pure but it's big and looks very old with all those big knobbly burrs on the trunk. We wanted to get cuttings from local stock rather than buying in. I've no idea how old it is but it's right on the corner where 3 fields join and I understand they were once used as boundary markers. I'm guessing it's at least 100 years old. The cuttings took very readily by the way. We are in Shropshire and you might remember it had a famous Black Poplar tree called the Arbor Tree in Aston On Clun. It was the centre of a festival called Arbor Day when the tree was decorated with flags. It fell down in 1990 but was replaced with cuttings taken from the original tree. Perhaps you could arrange to take cuttings from the new tree which would be genetically the same as the old one.

[@benfox9382]

awesome stuff, would love to get one going in my plot in East Germany! Any reason you dig the root hole onl to the size of the rootball? I tend to dig out a good 10x size, clearning the base area of grass roots completely.

[@theviewfromtheclouds]

Hi, there is a lot of debate about this. Our thinking is that the tree will need to deal with the soil that we have. So, it makes sense for the tree to adapt as soon as possible. Also, a larger hole means the tree can rock more in the wind. With regards to grass competition. -the trees are above the grass so that is helpful for getting to the light. If we were planting these as single specimen trees in our garden, I likely would control the grass. But we have thousands, so it quickly becomes impractical.

[@benfox9382]

@@theviewfromtheclouds all makes sense! Solid work lad! love the channel!

[@hannahbrown2728]

I wouldnt be surprised if the same practice of only planting male trees here in the US has also resulted in less biodiversity. I know its commonly blamed for an increase in ridiculous amounts of pollen. All because they consider the cleanup of seeds and whatever survives long enough to grow too much of a hassle. But then we'd start getting into people obsession with manicured lawns and the like. YT randomly suggested this to me but I wish you and that tree good luck, maybe she'll help parent a grove who knows.

[@theviewfromtheclouds]

I agree. We need more diversity even if it is messy. We will get there - one tree at a time!