Shown above are 100 unrooted Frysville Hybrid Poplar Cuttings.

Our program calls for the planting of 10 inch long unrooted cuttings directly into prepared soil to a depth of 8” below ground and 2” above ground without pre-rooting them. The best preparation of the soil can be accomplished by plowing to a depth of about eight inches deep. Followed by working the ground with a disc and cultipacker to develop a good seedbed similar to what you would need for growing corn. An alternative to this is to use a larger rototiller over the site two or three times.

We recommend planting 1200 trees per acre, which means spacing your trees on 6'x 6' centers. These 10” unrooted Frysville Hybrid Poplar cuttings when planted as early as possible in March thru May will reach heights of five to eight feet by the end of their first summer. By the end of the second growing season they will have reached heights of from 10 to 14 feet and by the end of four years will be approximately 25 to 30 feet high. We suggest the planting of ¼ to ½ acre per year according to your needs with unrooted cuttings.

Shown above is a bare-rooted Frysville Hybrid Poplar with leaves.

This will be done for four successive years. At the end of four years the trees from the first years planting of ¼ acre will have reached 25 to 30 foot high, should be approximately 4 to 6 inches in caliber and should yield 3 cords of great firewood. On the second and succeeding harvest this same planting will yield five cords. This size is just right without having to split it to fit into your stove. There is a very low investment in harvesting - all that is needed is a chainsaw and a garden cart.

Another approach, where plowing and fitting the soil is not practical or if you are interested in gaining a year in the program is to mow the area being used and apply a glyphosate based non-selective herbicide ten days to two weeks ahead of planting on 3 foot circles where each tree is to be planted. This herbicide will kill any existing grass and weeds. In this program you can purchase and plant one year old rooted stock to fill your needs. The rest of the area on the site needs to be kept mowed all summer on about two to three week intervals.

It is important to note that surveys made by The U.S. Soil Conservation Service indicate that the average home in areas like New England require about 3 ½ to 5 cords of firewood per heating season. This varies from house to house depending upon size, insulation and temperatures maintained.