The two early pioneers of the Hybrid Poplar industry - the late Dr. Ernst J. Schreiner and the late Miles W. Fry.

Frysville Hybrid Poplars are trees that were first developed by The U.S. Forest Service over a half-century ago. We at Frysville Farms became involved with The U.S. Forest Service and in particular with their research geneticist, the late Dr. Ernst Schreiner. The U.S. Forest Service Hybrid Poplars were first known as The Schreiner Poplars.

We are the only commercial nursery that has specialized in the clonal selection, production and marketing of these trees since the spring of 1955. It has been a great 52 years. The farm we operate is an old family farm deep in the heart of the Pennsylvania Dutch country. It has been under the continuous cultivation by the Fry family for nine generations going back to 1783.

During the first thirty years of our program we introduced over two hundred clones (selected progeny from various parentage) from not only The U.S. Forest Service but from geneticist from around the world into our testing program. We graded and selected from these entities based on the individuals rate of growth, ease of rooting the unrooted cuttings directly in the field, resistance to insects and diseases and the ability of any clone under final consideration to regenerate from the stump and from the existing root giving you multiple harvests without replanting.

A skyward view of a twenty year old Hybrid Poplar tree at the Hopkin's Experimental Forest in Williamstown, Mass.

The clones we offer the market are very similar to those being used by the pulp and paper industry to grow 100,000 acres of Hybrid Poplars in the Northwestern states of Oregon and Washington. They too are working with a short rotation-high density silvaculture program. We as well as the paper industry expect to get up to thirty years of harvesting from a single planting of unrooted cuttings.