Poplar is POPULAR here!

[MaggieJ]

Very gusty winds here this weekend and the yard was littered with twigs and leaves from our huge poplar tree. I've fed poplar to the bunnies many times before, but today I took note of what they went for first and was a bit surprised to see them all munching poplar leaves like they were potato chips instead of going for the dandelions or chicory. It will all be cleaned up by tomorrow morning, but they do have their favourites.

I can't pick poplar for them because the branches are far too high to reach, so we have to let the wind do its work. I guess that makes poplar a treat.

 

[Brody]

that's great
I've never had the chance to feed it either but my guys are so thrilled I've started collecting seriously for them already this year

 

[ladysown]

hmmm... i'll have to see if we have poplar around here at all.

 

[Anntann]

How cool is that? I need to try the poplar leaves next time I am feeding. I keep forgetting about maple leaves...the poor mulberries and apple tree in the yard are going to get a reprieve! (they're starting to look a bit BARE in places. )

 

[MaggieJ]

I must caution against over-harvesting of tree branches. Our weeping willow is huge but we can only harvest little bits because it has stopped weeping where we can reach it. Before I was feeding it to the bunnies I had to prune it every year or it dragged on the ground. Fortunately we have other kinds of willow here - also huge - and we are going easy on them.

Even invasive weeds can be overharvested. We used to have huge quantities of plantain... now just a scattering. I mostly leave it be, hoping it will set seed and multiply. Sow thistle is another weed that seems to be vulnerable to over-harvesting.

 

[Anntann]

I don't think I CAN overharvest the plantain. But I'll remember to let some of it go to seed, just in case. I'd forgotten about chickory, too. LOADS of it around the roads near the farm, and we get so little traffic that it won't be tainted. Got to remember to transplant a bunch this week.<br /><br />__________ Mon Jun 07, 2010 6:44 am __________<br /><br />Now if the rabbits would just eat BURDOCK I'd be set for decades!

 

[cereshill]

Maggie
What is the nutritional value of poplar?

 

[MaggieJ]

You could google it, CH, but I believe it is similar to willow.

Over on HT, there is a sticky called something like "The Official Weeds for Feed Thread". I contributed some information about poplar and willow there. Might be worth a look.

I put my faith in serving up a good quantity of mixed greens to the rabbits. What one green lacks, another is sure to have. The rabbits seem to know what they need and eat that first.

 

[mommaebear]

We have a great love of poplar here too! With fall here there were so few leaves in the pens I throw all the leaves we can get in and they love the change. I also have hills made of criss crossed black poplar aka cottonwood buried under dirt, when I had to catch a certain doe who was too smart and stubborn to enter the feed lot/trap area, she happily spent 4 days eating the bark and twarting my plans, lol. My rabbits have such a variety avaialbe normally I let them self regulate and they do great.