I find it interesting you say they don't sucker while the picture posted looks like a colony of suckers. I do agree, you have a cottonwood =)

John

And when these suckers sucker, they do it all along the surface roots, not just at the base of the tree...only for situations where that is not a problem. Overnight these suckers can get so big that they cannot be pulled out but must be cut, sometimes with a saw!

Sara

They look like suckers but they are branches that grow off the main stem at the base.... I'm assuming this is the suckering you are talking about Sara?

the bane of my existence???

try to be on your property.. at seed release time.. you probably wont be able to breath for all the seed dust in the air ... there is most likely.. some giant momma in the area ....

ALL POPLARS SUCKER.... you can kill a stump with roundup.. and years later.. the roots will still be sending up suckers ...

i had a 2 foot cut log.. that sent up sprouts/suckers.. again.... for two years ... thought they all died ....

though yours may all be coming from a low stump ... perhaps bushwacked .... all poplars sucker.. are rather short lived trees.. with humongous potential.. and that eventually start dropping rather massive chucks of limbs in wind storms ...

if you must.. a tree for the acreage.. but .. IMHO.. not anywhere near a valued structure.. nor loved one ...

and for a nickle.. i will tell you how i really feel .. lol

ken

Concur with Ken and we have acreage and I STILL have a problem with them. They are 'Western' looking so my husband wanted them around the barns. We are down to two and as Ken notes - the ones that we took out are still making themselves known from time to time, years later. The two that we still have will send up suckers in the middle of the driveway, many yards from the base. We have the 'cottonless' kind but unless they develop the 'suckerless' kind I will never plant another....lesson learned too late...

Sara

We only have four on our property and they are no where near any structures. I'm almost certain they were brought in by the people who built our house as they aren't common in our area and no one seems to know what they are.

We are planning on moving them and hopefully planting more as a shelter belt in the far NE area on our property where there is nothing nor will there every be anything. (too close to property line and as we had no neighbors along that boundary they won't bother anyone!)

Wrong Ken, not all poplars sucker. Native P. deltoides rarely suckers. P. lasiocarpa, for example, never does. There are several species that are highly ornamental - Your experience may be with some of the hybrids, which aren't as good for gardens.