Converting Land from Poplar Tree Bioenergy Planting to Cropland: An Example

Many landowners ask about the process and costs for returning land to crop production after trees are cut for biomass. A field on the Squaw Creek bottom, Story County, Iowa was planted to hybrid poplar trees in spring 2000. The trees were planted in rows with a 10-ft spacing. The trees were cut in spring 2010. The resulting field was four acres, and this is the account of the first corn crop in 2011 on the area.

Second Year Performance of Honeycrisp on 31 Dwarfing Rootstocks in the Iowa Planting of the NC-140 2010 Regional Apple Rootstock Trial

To evaluate the adaptability and performance of new and promising apple rootstocks in the dwarfing size-control category, a NC-140 regional rootstock trial was established in 2010 at 12 sites in the United States (CO, IA, IL, IN, MA, MI, MN, NJ, NY, OH, UT, WI), two sites in Canada (BC, NS), and one site in Mexico (CHIH) with Honeycrisp serving as the test cultivar. The Iowa planting, located at the ISU Horticulture Research Station, includes 31 rootstocks with new selections from the Cornell-Geneva breeding program (G, CG.), Russia (Bud), Germany (PiAu), and Japan (Supp), with M.26, M.9 Pajam 2, and M.9 T337 serving as industry standards. Tissue cultured propagated (TC) rootstocks of G.41, G.202, and G.935 were included for comparison with normal (N) stool bed propagated rootstocks. This report summarizes the tree-growth characteristics of the Iowa planting during the 2011 growing season.