jonnya

Thanks for that MK lead WoodED - I will follow that up. Thanks Gnarlyoak for the clarification. I need to get to the library to get my head round these.. Sounds like the MK trees are likely to be TT32 then - will be interesting to find out if these have the same qualities as Populus trichocarpa. From the videos I've seen of Poplar seeds being harvested, they seem to be cut before they split open and shed their seeds and then they are processed to extract the fibres - there's a video at [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvXr_5BeKIU]Pappelflaum® - Die Ernte mit dem Ballon / Harvest with balloon - YouTube[/ame] which shows the harvest and processing.. Presumably this sort of harvesting is the sort of thing that could be undertaken by members of this forum? I will keep you posted.

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.

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!