Do Tulip Poplar trees sucker?

Sat Jul 30, 2011 5:09 pm

Hi, I bought 2 Tulip poplar trees and am wanting to plant them fairly close to my lawn but I am worried about sucker shoots coming up in it. I read that the Tulip Poplar is not a Poplar at all but a member of the Magnolia family. Is this correct? Does that mean it wont sucker?

Thanks so much

Sat Jul 30, 2011 5:14 pm

I had one for many, many years and it never suckered, nor did the seeds produce a lot of sprouts in my lawn. They also serve as good aphid traps. However, I couldn't sit under the tulip tree, because of all the ants constantly dropping down onto me. They farmed their aphids up in the treetop, which kept them off my other plants. :lol:

Sat Jul 30, 2011 5:48 pm

Awesome, I would rather deal with ants than suckers ( :shock:

) Thanks so much for the response. Have a great weekend!

Sat Jul 30, 2011 6:42 pm

The tulip tree that you and I are discussing is Liriodendron tulipifera. It is a member of the magnolia family. However, many people also call Magnolia liliiflora by the name "tulip tree", which can be very confusing. That's why, if I must use a common name for it, I prefer to call Liriodendron tulipifera the "tulip poplar", even though it is not related to poplars in any way.

Even better, just use the scientific names for plants. That way, there will be no confusion.

Sat Jul 30, 2011 6:45 pm

Very true. Thanks for the info...I shall remember that

Sat Jul 30, 2011 8:26 pm

A couple of things about tulip poplar. They are very weak trees so I wouldn't plant them too close to a one story house and two they set out a lot of seeds, hence seedlings poping up all over.

Sat Jul 30, 2011 9:42 pm

bullthistle wrote:A couple of things about tulip poplar. They are very weak trees so I wouldn't plant them too close to a one story house and two they set out a lot of seeds, hence seedlings poping up all over.

Yikes, I didnt know that. Thanks for the heads up, might have to reconsider my location of choice. hmmm