Know what kind of trees these are?

[sherab]

Hey folks! I am busy carving out my spot in my woods for my cabin and I'd like to get to know my trees. The first one below I believe is White Poplar. At least that's what my neighbor says. My particular concern is that they seem to fall over if you so much as look a that them the wrong way but I think it's probably more due to the fact that roots don't go down that far in central NY.


The second I am really stumped on. It's smooth and reminds me of alien skin.


Any ideas?

[youngins]

Do you have any close ups of the leaves that grow on it?

[benevolance]

looks like poplar in the first and they are prone to falling everywhere...I would cut it down if near anything of value to eliminate the risk of it damaging something you value

Second one could be a number of trees...I have seen maple with the smooth skin that has a green hue to it...Ditto Oak

need to see the leaves or better pictures of the tree itself

[John_M]

The first one looks like a poplar and the second one looks like a beech.

It is much easier to determine a tree species if you look at the leaves as opposed to just the bark.  Any leaf pictures if the second one?

[outhouse]

The first picture looks like a Birch, but I'm not sure if it's just a combination of the lighting and angle. I haven't devoted enough time to learn trees yet, but vaguely Sycamore and Beech come to mind. Looks like a Maple or Maples next to it. Which one though...I think there are probably a hundred different Maples. Scratch the Sycamore, I just glanced at a photo of the common peely smooth bark. Here's a couple links that came up.  http://forestry.about.com/od/thecompletetree/Identify_Your_Trees.htm    http://www.butler.edu/herbarium/treeid/idchart.html   Good luck.

[optionguru]

Just to back everyone up, If it's Poplar get rid of it.  I have had 6 big poplars fall over near my apartment building.  All it took was a few decent gusts during a Nor'Easter here in NH.  I was very fortunate that they all fell the right away (away from the building).  If you cut them and plan to burn them in your woodstove be very careful they are well seasoned.  Poplar tends to put off a lot of creosote in your chimney.

Peter

[benevolance]

If you do burn the poplar...It makes amazing kindling... Split it small let it dry...Perfect for getting the fire going

We try to set our poplar aside and use it for kindling.........

Poplar get tall fast but they are not sturdy at all and very prone to getting "wind shook and toppling in gusty weather....

The beech on my dad's land back east has gnarled bark very rough... The second tree has a green hue and smooth bark...Which is why I said oak or maple...Several types of oak and Maple have smooth bark...

we really are going to need to see better pictures and some leaves...