[Crops 101] How To Sow & Harvest Poplar

Welcome to your next “Crops 101” lesson of the Farming Simulator Academy! This time, we show you how to plant and harvest poplar.

What Is Special About Poplar?

• Poplar can be harvested all year round and does not wither.
• After harvesting, poplar grows back, so you usually do not have to plant it again.
• Harvesting poplar produces wood chips.
• You can harvest poplar with a harvester or use a special baler.
• You do not need to plow or cultivate the field before initially planting poplar. After the third harvest, however, you need to plow to avoid a yield penalty.

What You Need For Poplar

Poplar requires some specialized equipment for planting and harvesting. You can choose between two different harvesting methods depending on whether you want loose wood chips or bales.

• Tractor: Used to operate the planter, fertilizer spreader, and other attachments.
• Tree planter: Plants poplar and needs to be filled with poplar saplings. Suitable planters can be found under “Forestry Equipment”. You can buy poplar saplings under “Pallets”.
• Fertilizer spreader: Recommended to increase your yield. Some spreaders can also apply lime.
• Harvester: Use a harvester with a suitable poplar header for loose wood chips. Alternatively you can use a special baler and a bumper on your tractor to create bales. The baler setup is usually the cheaper option.
• Trailer: Transports your harvest to a selling point. The equipment you need depends on whether you harvest loose wood chips or bales.

Let’s Get To Work!

If seasonal growth is enabled, you can plant poplar between March and August.

Step 1: Applying lime

Check the field information box before you start. If the field needs lime, fill a compatible fertilizer spreader with lime and cover the entire area. If no lime is required, you can continue directly with planting.

Step 2: Planting poplar

Attach the tree planter to your tractor and fill it with poplar saplings. Drive to one side of the field, lower and activate the planter, and plant the poplar row by row until the entire area is covered.

Want to know more about seeding and planting?

Step 3: Fertilizing

Fill your fertilizer spreader with solid fertilizer, activate it on the field, and cover the entire area. Fertilizing increases the yield of your poplar. For full fertilization, apply fertilizer a second time after the poplar has advanced by one growth stage. There has to be a growth stage between both applications.

Find out more about fertilizer and the different ways to apply it.

Step 4: Harvesting poplar

Poplar does not wither, so you can harvest it whenever you are ready. There are two different ways to collect your harvest:

• With a baler: Attach the baler and the required bumper to your tractor. Lower and activate the machine, then drive along the rows. The harvested poplar is pressed directly into bales, which are unloaded onto the field, so you have to collect them afterwards.
• With a harvester: Attach the suitable poplar header, lower and activate it, and start harvesting the rows. The poplar is turned into loose wood chips, which need to be collected in a compatible trailer.

Step 5: Selling poplar

If you produced bales, collect them with a suitable bale loader. If you harvested loose wood chips, transport them with your trailer instead.

Check the prices screen to find a selling point offering a good price and deliver your harvest there. Wood chips cannot be stored in a regular silo. If you want to wait before selling, you can keep them in a trailer or on the ground, while poplar bales can simply be stored until you need them.

Step 6: Preparing for the next harvest

You do not have to plant poplar again after every harvest. Leave the plants on the field and wait for them to grow back. After the third harvest, plow the field to avoid a yield penalty. Plowing removes the existing poplar, so you need to plant new saplings afterwards and start a new cycle.

Our soil-working tutorial explains plowing in more detail.

Well Done!

Congratulations! You now know the basics of planting and harvesting poplar in Farming Simulator. When you're ready, continue with the next Farming Simulator Academy lesson!