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ryseryse_2004

Question about Tulip Poplar

ryseryse_2004
10 years ago

How old does the tree have to be to have flowers/seeds? Mine are about 8 years old now and just lovely. My son brought them to me as tiny seedlings he found in his yard.

They have grown so fast and have lovely fall color but I want seeds to make more!

Comments (10)

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    10 years ago

    you are sure on the ID.. pretty unique leaf shape.. so it cant be hard ...

    i think .. my mail order.. 3 foot whips.. took about 10 years ...

    you dont say how big they were when you moved them.. etc ...

    so to repeat.. ten years from a 3 foot whip ... which who knows.. might have already been 3 years old...

    how tall is yours ... i bet mine were going on 20 to 25 feet tall.. before they started blooming.. and the ones in full sun.. bloomed a couple years sooner than those in but little shade ...

    ken

  • bengz6westmd
    10 years ago

    Mine's 40' tall after 9 seasons.

    No flowers. It's prb'ly too vigorous to slow down enough to produce terminal flowers yet...

  • Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
    10 years ago

    My neighbor's is probably about thirty foot and a decade since transplant. It has been flowering for several years.

    When you get one like he has that also gets good fall color you are in luck! These are one of my favorite natives.

  • ryseryse_2004
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    The first one he brought me (8 yrs. ago) was only a couple of inches tall and is now at least 30'. A year later, he brought another one and it is 20' and the little one has only been in the ground for about 4 years and is already at least 10'. All have the gorgeous orange/yellow leaves in the fall (just now starting to turn.)

    They come up in his yard from a neighbor's tree and all had less than a year of growth when he brought them to me.

    Hope I will get blooms in the spring from the big dude!

    BTW, yes, definitely a tulip tree --- grew up with them and always wanted some here at the farm.

  • calliope
    10 years ago

    The flowers can sneak by you if you are not looking, especially on the larger trees. They tend to be just the right shade of corally pink and greenish pink to not pop out and they also tend to be on the very terminal part of the branches, so are more easily visible from a distance than right underneath them. I know they can bloom in ten to fifteen years, because I have a volunteer somewhere in that maturity and we noticed bloom on it for the first time this year. Had my mate not brought my attention to it, I'd have missed it. When I did know there was bloom on it, it seemed so conspicuous I wondered how I hadn't noticed it earlier.

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    10 years ago

    if you know a yard where there are volunteers... go get more ...

    in my z5.. now is prime time to move a lot of things ...

    why wait for seeds???

    it would be easy to mail them ... bare root .. in dormancy ...

    ken

  • canadianplant
    10 years ago

    Seeds promote a better genetic diversity, the one thing out tree industry seems to fail to understand...

  • greenthumbzdude
    10 years ago

    from experience tulip trees are not the easiest to grow from seed. Only a few out of many will germinate. Best to either dig up some volunteers or buy a few.

  • jimbobfeeny
    10 years ago

    Tulip trees seem to be popular in State DNR nurseries - You can usually pick them up for around a buck a piece.

    Definitely a beautiful tree - Also one of the tallest trees in the Eastern hardwood forests!

  • famartin
    10 years ago

    Parents have a weed growing next to their house, gonna have to remove it soon before it becomes a problem. Kinda makes me sad because I want to replace the pin oak with bacterial leaf scorch with a tulip poplar when it finally becomes necessary to remove it.

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