Maybe the UK should plant more....

[andy cobb]

On 03/06/2020 at 09:21, Stere said:

 

What wrong with non natives if they grow well and provide useful timber.

 

I'd like more sweet chesnuts coppice plantations but maybe climate isn't viable for them in north?

You would think with the poor longevity of treated fence posts that sweet chestnut would be booming. I see a few individual specimens here in north Yorkshire but no large plantations, maybe in the future with a warming climate?

[Big J]

Na na na na na na na na nitens!

 

That's what we're mostly planting (euc. nitens). Along with a few other euc species in much smaller quantities, we'll have planted about 60k of them this spring.

 

They grow faster than anything else that grows in the UK, produces decent quality timber for chip, firewood and sawmilling and looks nice too. 

 

Should be able to get 200k planted next year, or at least that's the plan.

[nepia]

6 hours ago, G13469 said:

It used to be a lovely view driving under it with its lights on. Dunno if they still work in the winter 

Yuletide bedecking does indeed still occur

 

 

[Jack.P]

Some Poplar I’ve seen is only on 7 yr rotation.sweet chestnut is a bit overlooked though .lucky to get 10 years out of any treated softwood fencing material

[Big J]

1 hour ago, Jack.P said:

Some Poplar I’ve seen is only on 7 yr rotation.sweet chestnut is a bit overlooked though .lucky to get 10 years out of any treated softwood fencing material

I really like poplar, but it's hard to make a case for planting it in many cases because it's energy density is relatively low. Beautiful tree though, and grows like stink.

[openspaceman]

3 hours ago, andy cobb said:

You would think with the poor longevity of treated fence posts that sweet chestnut would be booming.

I always preferred sweet chestnut and my felling partner spent the rest of his time harvesting, cleaving and erecting chestnut fencing. Mind I must have cut far more softwood 5'6" stakes from softwood thinnings at 35p each than he ever made. I also wonder if the softwood got advantage from MAFF grants (essentially because of fraudulant claims for longevity). Anyway far easier to process softwood through a peeler pointer and into the pressure tank than to cleave and point chestnut. We as a society don't think things through, chestnut lasts about as long as the wire around here, softwood, poorly treated about half that time and leaves a residue of chromated copper arsenate long after its useful life, the organic copper stuff that replaced it doesn't last hardly at all.

[AHPP]

Na na na na na na na na nitens!

 

That's what we're mostly planting (euc. nitens). Along with a few other euc species in much smaller quantities, we'll have planted about 60k of them this spring.

 

They grow faster than anything else that grows in the UK, produces decent quality timber for chip, firewood and sawmilling and looks nice too. 

 

Should be able to get 200k planted next year, or at least that's the plan.

Does Nitens mill noteworthily better than other Eucalyptus? Everything I've read about Eucalyptus species is that they warp very badly.

 

[Big J]

7 hours ago, AHPP said:

Does Nitens mill noteworthily better than other Eucalyptus? Everything I've read about Eucalyptus species is that they warp very badly.

 

It's classed as a general construction timber in Australia, but I think here wouldn't make anything more than c16 grade, which is the same as sitka. 

 

 

[Stere]

Isn't it a gamble with frost?

 

Had two eucs  in garden yrs ago both got but by frost  one has coppiced other died. Trees were over 15yrs old still got them.

 

Was probable this exceptional cold spell

 

Winter of 2010–11 in Great Britain and Ireland - Wikipedia

EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

 

[AHPP]

It's classed as a general construction timber in Australia, but I think here wouldn't make anything more than c16 grade, which is the same as sitka. 
 
 

Do they grow quicker than Sitka in a plantation?