Tulip poplar, also called yellow poplar, grows into some of the widest stumps on wooded lots in western North Carolina and sprouts readily from a cut stump, so grinding it below grade is usually the right job. The wood rots faster than locust or cedar once it is ground, but the width of the stump is what drives the time and the quote.
Why poplar stumps are so wide
NC State Extension says tulip poplar has been known to reach two hundred feet with a trunk eight to ten feet across. Ordinary yard trees are smaller, fifty to seventy feet by NC State's figures, though they can pass a hundred. The tree grows fast, and NC State says it thrives in deep, moist soil along streams and in lower mountain coves, and it occurs naturally in cove forests from about fifteen hundred feet up. So on a wooded lot along a creek or in a cove, the poplar may well be the tree that leaves the widest stump on the property, often with a heavy flare at the base.
A poplar stump will sprout
Tulip poplar regenerates by sprouting, and NC State observes that it can be coppiced, cut to the ground every two or three years to keep it shrubby. That is a gardener's trick, and it tells you what a stump left above grade will do: send up a ring of fast shoots from the base. A stump cut a foot high by a tree crew is a likely candidate. Grinding chews through the trunk base and the collar beneath it until the wood is gone to a depth of four to eight inches, and with it the part that sprouts.
Measuring a big stump properly
Lay the tape on the soil, not on the cut. A poplar felled with a notch or a step leaves an uneven top, and the flare and buttress roots spreading at the base are part of what gets ground. Take the longest line across them. Photograph the stump with the tape stretched over it and a familiar object beside it, then photograph the route a machine would take from the road. Our stump measuring guide has pictures of where the tape goes.
Width, time and the quote
On a big stump, width is what adds time. A stump twice as wide has far more wood in it, all of which has to be turned to chips below grade. That is why large poplars have their own place on the large stump grinding page. Access counts too: a stump in the woods down a slope, or behind a house at the end of a long walk, takes longer to reach than to grind. Several stumps in one visit spread the effort. The rare stump that would take longer to grind than to dig is lifted out whole instead, and that is said plainly when it is priced.
Shallow roots and storm-thrown poplars
NC State notes the tree's shallow root system, and warns that fast growth makes it weak wooded and prone to limb breakage in high winds and under ice and snow. When a whole poplar goes over, the root plate tips up on edge with soil and rock caught in it, leaving nothing level for a grinder to work on. That is a lifting job for the loader or excavator, with the hole backfilled afterward; see storm stump and root ball removal. Leave a tipped root plate alone until then, because a cut trunk can let it rock back.
What a big poplar stump leaves behind
A wide stump makes a large heap of grindings. Raked back into the hole and topped is the default, but on a big poplar there is often more than the hole needs, so think about whether you want a pile for beds or a load hauled away. Purdue Extension rates poplar heartwood as having slight or no resistance to decay, so the roots left in the ground and any chips you keep break down without much delay. As the larger roots go, the soil can settle along their lines. Top those spots with soil once or twice and the ground levels out.
Common Questions
Will a tulip poplar stump grow back?
If it is left above grade, it usually sprouts. NC State Extension notes that tulip poplar can be coppiced, cut to the ground and allowed to regrow as a shrubby clump. A stump ground out well under the soil line has lost its sprouting tissue, and that ends it in nearly every case.
How big a tulip poplar stump can be ground?
Very wide ones. Width adds time rather than ruling a stump out, because the grinder simply takes more passes. Where digging a giant out would be quicker than grinding it, the excavator lifts it whole, and you hear that before any date is set.
Do yellow poplar roots cause trouble after the tree is gone?
Rarely under a lawn. NC State Extension describes the root system as shallow, and Purdue rates poplar heartwood as having little or no resistance to decay, so the roots rot without much delay. As they go, the lawn may dip along the bigger ones; top up those spots with soil and seed.
What to Do Next
Big poplar on the ground or a wide stump left by a tree crew? Measure across the cut face at its widest, photograph it with a tape across, show the way in, and include your town. Call (828) 574-4474.