With their gently swaying, shady and privacy-protecting character, poplars are undoubtedly very likeable deciduous trees. However, if the property is too old, the property is being restructured or there are stubborn roots, the chainsaw is sometimes necessary.
Why should you cut down a poplar tree?
A poplar tree should be felled due to old age with a risk of falling, property restructuring or stubborn root runners. An individual assessment by experts helps to assess the risks and choose the best course of action.
Possible reasons for felling a poplar tree
The most likely reasons that can encourage the felling of a poplar tree are as follows:
1. Too old
2. Replanning of the property design3. Stubborn root runners
Dangerous age
In the wild, poplar trees reach an age of around 100 to 300 years, depending on the species. This puts them at roughly the same level as ash or beech trees.
As a tree like this gets older, the risk of it falling over increases. Since poplar trees can grow between 15 and 45 meters high, such a case is not something to be trifled with. It is not for nothing that old specimens in public spaces have often been the subject of court proceedings.
However, there is no general limit as to the age at which a poplar tree poses an acute risk of falling over. There are approximate maximum ages depending on the species. Quaking aspen trees live to around 150 years old and black poplars up to 300 years old. However, the specific condition of a specimen must always be assessed individually by experts.
Property restructuring
If you want to redesign your property or have only recently taken over one, one or two trees may of course have to go.
In this case too, it is necessary that you approach the matter in a structured manner and, for example, first talk to any neighbors. Above all, a poplar stump has a consequence that should not be ignored: increased shoot formation.
Saplings
If you have to deal with constantly shooting up mini poplars around a poplar tree, you may also be willing to cut the tree down. Unfortunately, this phenomenon does not end with the felling of the mother tree. Rather, that's when the trouble really starts. Because cutting the crown stimulates vegetative reproduction.
Whether this takes place above or underground depends on the height of the cap. If you shorten the poplar by more than 2/3 of its original height, it will shift to sapling propagation. If you leave a longer stump standing, it will sprout again directly on the trunk wood. This is perhaps the better alternative for everyone who can tolerate a continued moderate sapling spread.
In order to completely stop vegetative reproduction, digging up the rootstock is unfortunately unavoidable.
