Poplar

[jonnya]

Hi there

 

I have joined this forum to find out a bit more about Poplar trees - I am not myself an arboriculturist.

 

When I was on holiday in southern France in May, I noticed a huge amount of snow-like, white poplar seed fibres on the ground. I was curious about whether these could be produced for some sort of useful purpose such as insulation or padding and am undertaking a bit of research.

 

So I wondered if anyone knows anything about it..

 

What kind of Poplar trees I am likely to have seen in Provence - there seem to be an awful lot of varieties and I am sure that they must vary a bit..

 

And also whether anyone knows of any uses that this stuff is already being applied to.

 

Finally, whether anyone knows about any plantations where we could get some of this stuff to test..

 

Many thanks!

[Goaty]

Thats the seeds I believe. Fast growing wood not well liked, used to make matches and pallets out of it. High moisture content, rots quickly.

 

Type poplar in the search option on toolbar that should keep you going. Welcome.

[HCR]

As an alternative to kapok?

 

natural kapok, organic natural fibre non allergy ethical fair trade

[Gnarlyoak]

Sounds like it may have been a hybrid Black Poplar. A cross between the European Black Poplar & a North American Eastern cottonwood. The cottonwood non de plume is the describtive name to account for the cotton wool like seed dispersal similar to what you described you had seen in France.

 

Trees have either male (staminate) or female (pistillate) flowers that are located in drooping catkins. Males carry fat red catkins in early spring, females have thin yellow-green catkins in spring, the fruits mature around mid summer, the capsules split open and shed "snowstorms" of cottonwool like seeds. The seeds are actually tiny and attached to small silky hairs that assure dispersal by the wind, but these fine hairs tend to stick and cluster together which creates the snowstorm effect.

 

Sorry but I could'nt tell you where in the UK you could source a useful or reliable amount of these seeds for the purpose you require.

 

Not a highly thought of tree in the UK in terms of its end uses, but somethings that Poplar has and is used for include:-

 

In ancient times, the Greeks and Etruscans made shields of poplar, and Pliny also recommended poplar for this purpose.[9] Poplar continued to be used for shield construction through the Middle Ages and was renowned for a durability similar to that of oak, but at a substantial reduction in weight.

 

In many areas, fast-growing hybrid poplars are grown on plantations for pulpwood. Poplar is widely used for the manufacture of paper.

 

It is also sold as inexpensive hardwood timber, used for pallets and cheap plywood; more specialised uses include matches and the boxes in which camembert cheese is sold.

 

Poplar wood is also widely used in the snowboard industry for the snowboard core, because it has exceptional flexibility, and is sometimes used in the bodies of electric guitars and drums.

 

Poplar wood, particularly when seasoned, makes a good hearth for a bow drill.

 

Due to its high tannic acid content, the bark has been used in Europe for tanning leather.

 

Poplar wood can be used to produce chopsticks.

 

There is increasing interest in using poplar as an energy crop (along with willow) for biomass or biofuel, particularly in light of its high energy-in / energy-out ratio, large carbon mitigation potential and fast growth.

[David Humphries]

I love seeing the snowy down of the seeds, makes the landscape look like a summer winterland

 

Have read somewhere in the past that the fibres have been looked into for use in textile & clothing markets.

 

Think it was research from the states. Don't recall the link or paper though.

 

 

.

[Graham]

There may be some ideas here about cottonwood trees (woodland forum at permies)

[jonnya]

Thanks for this - yes it looks amazing and those photos are great! - very similar to the trees in France that caught my interest.

 

My line of enquiry is to apply these seeds for clothing insulation purposes - as David says there's a report by a researcher at Oregon state university which suggests there's potential in this and I have found a German company which appears to be harvesting the fibres (from looking at their process on youtube they seem to harvest the capsules before they split and then use some sort of process to extract the fibres (it looks like a sort of washing machine with a vacuum attached!).

 

The type of tree that was used for the US study was "Black Cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa)". Gnarlywood this sounds the same as or similar to the tree you're talking about?

 

So do you think you'd have to look outside of UK to get a reliable source for this stuff, or could it be grown in the UK as easily?

 

Does anyone have any smaller quantity that might be used for a test run this summer?

 

Thanks for all your help.

[WoodED]

Thanks for this - yes it looks amazing and those photos are great! - very similar to the trees in France that caught my interest.

 

My line of enquiry is to apply these seeds for clothing insulation purposes - as David says there's a report by a researcher at Oregon state university which suggests there's potential in this and I have found a German company which appears to be harvesting the fibres (from looking at their process on youtube they seem to harvest the capsules before they split and then use some sort of process to extract the fibres (it looks like a sort of washing machine with a vacuum attached!).

 

The type of tree that was used for the US study was "Black Cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa)". Gnarlywood this sounds the same as or similar to the tree you're talking about?

 

So do you think you'd have to look outside of UK to get a reliable source for this stuff, or could it be grown in the UK as easily?

 

Does anyone have any smaller quantity that might be used for a test run this summer?

 

Thanks for all your help.

we have a whole popular plantation here in milton keynes we were thinning there when the seeds were dropping.. was like it was snowing.. im sure if you contact the parks trust they will be able to help you out.. link below

[Gnarlyoak]

The type of tree that was used for the US study was "Black Cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa)". Gnarlywood this sounds the same as or similar to the tree you're talking about?

.

 

No mate,

 

P. trichocarpa is the Western Balsam Poplar from West North America. The tree I referred to, to create the Hybrid Black Poplar is the North American Eastern Cottonwood (P. deltoides)

[Graham]

A vast number of poplars planted around 'new towns' are the hybrid TT32 a cross between P. tacamahaca and P. trichocarpa. I think these are all female.