Quaking Aspen

[thewoodlands]

http://www.wwmag.net/aspen.htm


zap

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Nice article there on the popple Zap. I still use it as a last resort for burning. I occasionally will climb one using a climbing tree stand but you have to be very careful because of the smooth bark. If the tree is at all wet or frosty, I won't climb.

When we were kids we used to have lots of fun climbing the saplings hand over hand. When we'd get near the top the tree would then gently bend over and we'd have a free ride back to the ground. Even if one broke, more would sprout and they are a really fast growing tree. A neighbor cut a bunch a few years back when he sold some trees to a fellow who chipped them. Within just a couple of years they grew back so thick you could barely walk through them. The deer loved it too.

 

[thewoodlands]

Nice article there on the popple Zap. I still use it as a last resort for burning. I occasionally will climb one using a climbing tree stand but you have to be very careful because of the smooth bark. If the tree is at all wet or frosty, I won't climb.

When we were kids we used to have lots of fun climbing the saplings hand over hand. When we'd get near the top the tree would then gently bend over and we'd have a free ride back to the ground. Even if one broke, more would sprout and they are a really fast growing tree. A neighbor cut a bunch a few years back when he sold some trees to a fellow who chipped them. Within just a couple of years they grew back so thick you could barely walk through them. The deer loved it too.

I used aspen for my kindling last year and it seemed to work out fine, will the deer eat small branches of the aspen?

zap

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Zap, go out during May or June and look at the tips of the branches down low and you'll see where the deer chew them off. They especially like the youngest popples but will eat any they can reach. This is one reason you will see clear cutting done by the DNR. Those clear cuts will grow back to popple because it grows from the roots. It spreads like wildfire.

 

[thewoodlands]

Zap, go out during May or June and look at the tips of the branches down low and you'll see where the deer chew them off. They especially like the youngest popples but will eat any they can reach. This is one reason you will see clear cutting done by the DNR. Those clear cuts will grow back to popple because it grows from the roots. It spreads like wildfire.

Sav will do, tonight when I was back in they were pounding down the berries.

zap

 

[midwestcoast]

Lots of interesting info. Thanks

[quote author="Backwoods Savage" date="1279480313"]
When we were kids we used to have lots of fun climbing the saplings hand over hand. When we'd get near the top the tree would then gently bend over and we'd have a free ride back to the ground. Even if one broke, more would sprout and they are a really fast growing tree.

We did that with birch, used to call it 'Tree Diving'. Climb 'till it starts getting real wobbly, swing your legs out & ride it down. Steep hills make a nice long ride.
Note: don't try with Balsam, I tried that & fell about 15' into a slash-pile when it broke. Cut & bruised my legs all up.

 

[maplewood]

That brings back memories - tree tipping. The woods were a playground back then.
Funny - I don't remember all these flies and mosquitoes.... I must have been moving too fast!