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Countryfile, 'Bracken' Fuel?


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Thanks that's a good point about it possibly giving a chance for us to catch up on tree planting and after watching it I've actually turned to the opinion of it

I think it would be better used for biomass where you could maybe dry it and burn it in biomass boilers?? Never like the idea of burning wood to dry wood

 

Could you do the same for knotweed??

 

Doubt they would like it baled, maybe bagged in some way (lessen the risk of spreading 'bits' to then grow), and so use it for all these biomass power stations going up...???

 

There's a biomass station going up in Cramlington here, but just define 'biomass'...?

 

Is it going to just be chip, pellets, or 'any' kind of 'burnable' waste??

 

Including pallets...?

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Reminds me of the thought that occurs to me every Autumn, why can't I briquette these ******* leaves?

Truth be told, leaves/bracken are completely different chemically to wood, so it would be better to compost these and use them as a mulch to feed/weed suppress firewood trees.

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The fact it "burns hotter than oak" is a bit meaningless. So does magnesium but nobody would advocate using it as a fuel in a woodburner. Having just destroyed the baffle in my Mørso from using coal (thought that would be OK in a dual fuel stove - how wrong I was!) the thought of paying a premium price for these briquettes doesn't appeal, no matter how green they appear to be.

 

Regarding the bracken regenerating after cutting. If the cut bracken is removed, what is replacing the nutrients in the soil from the previously rotting stuff or is it a case that there is so much of the damn stuff around being a nuisance that it doesn't matter?

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You got me thinking there too....

 

If you remove the bracken, and not do anything else to the land, won't the land then suffer soil erosion...??? :confused1:

 

They are not removing the bracken totally, as the rhizome will remain underground and grow new fronds next year. Harvesting it now is just removing dead material, though doing it long-term could impoverish the soil.

If the bracken were to disappear, something else would come in to replace it, like heather and grass.

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Also watching that on country file I bet the contractors went through a few blades on their disc mower and I bet the tines on the rake and Heston baler took a bit of a battering. I'm thinking of going into my own haymaking and one thing I'm sweating about I'd some of our horse fields are a bit rutty, imagine what them brake fields were like, god knows what could be hidden!

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