Fast growing tree to produce lots of firewood!

[Martyn Amos]

bonsai tree

[corylus]

I would have thought 3m spacings were about right.

 

I am about to plant a small coppice and that seems about the suggested distance.

[normandylumberjack]

I have planted ash, as it is by far and away the fastest growing/calorific valued timber in europe. Low moisture content, coppices v. well and stores well. read the old poem "logs to burn" it says it all. birtch is heavy when felled due to moisture content, pick a piece from your log pile after a couple of years, feather weight! willow- chip it and burn it- fine. not great for anything else!

Also go for a bit of diversity, its not just a modern buzz word, its how nature intended the woods to be, plant some scots and cedars in with the ash, it will create habitat for birds, that in the spring, will feast on the bugs and catipillars munching your canopies. They will also act as nurse trees and offer wind shelter etc. dont plant too many 1/50 trees should be ok. or in small parcells.

you may also be elidgeable for some funding. ( not sure about the uk, but here the trees are part funded) Also speak to a local ag college, when I was there we planted thousands of trees, just for the experience, mostly on private land.

 

If your paying for your trees, not to mention the maintenance costs, chose a species that is worth burning. the weed trees (willow and birtch) will come on their own, take them as a bonus, dont stake your money and warmth on them!

Edited December 18, 2011 by normandylumberjack
bad grammer

[Stereo]

Problem is when you are the wrong side of 40 and you are told 15 years to the first harvest, you start doing sums........

[pgkevet]

Problem is when you are the wrong side of 40 and you are told 15 years to the first harvest, you start doing sums........

 

I'm on the wrong side of 60 and it doesn't stop me planning stuff - either for the future folk or if the worst scenario then selling a 5-10 yr planting still has added land value...or my kids get an inheritance tax free sum and somewhere to scatter old dad...

[normandylumberjack]

Problem is when you are the wrong side of 40 and you are told 15 years to the first harvest, you start doing sums........

 

Forestry isnt a fast returning bussiness Im affraid, perhaps you could plant a faster crop, on say 20% of the parcell to give you the fast fix, and then harvest the good stuff once you had a couple of rotations of the other?

 

Fast growing, by its very nature means a softer, less dense wood, and so you will need more of it to maintain the heat levels you would look for.

If your looking at willow, or worse poplar then a chipper and a gassifying boiler would see better return/ton, of these woods, as the dense nature of the chip will burn more efficiantly in this state. As logs they are not so hot.

this is why poplar is used as matchsticks, slow burn-low heat.

Good management will speed the cycle times on the coppice and initial growth. Try a poultry/ agroforestry approach? get the birds eating the bugs and competeing grasses and manureing the site at the same time, free range turkeys for next xmas?

[Stereo]

I quite like Pop as a firewood. Not much experience of Willow. It just needs treating properly once felled. Pop splits easily and is a clean wood. But it needs dry storage really.

 

I agree with the idea of leaving something to your kids (they'll probably concrete it). It's just that I want to see some return while I'm still fully active. That said, my old man is still out with the saw and he's 75 next week. I also want some useable fuel in the next say 5 years so that I'm not just pulling wood out which should be left alone.

 

I'm thinking a mix of poplar and ash. Areas in the wood which are already throwing up sycamore I think I will coppice and see how that develops once a few of the standards are out of the way.

[woodworm]

Eucalyptus. Firewood logs from 1st thinnings approx 54 months after planting . We are planting some in spring, thought we would give it a go but from the trials I have seen it looks exceptional. Euc planted 16 months ago in Thetford Forest is now 10 feet tall.

[MikeTM150]

Eucalyptus. Firewood logs from 1st thinnings approx 54 months after planting . We are planting some in spring, thought we would give it a go but from the trials I have seen it looks exceptional. Euc planted 16 months ago in Thetford Forest is now 10 feet tall.

 

what variety of euc u using to produce this, when i looked into coppice some suggested it but i could never find the right variety?

[normandylumberjack]

Euc?, struth bruce! not very native, sell your dog and buy a Dingo!

I thought farmers liked subsidies? go native- ish, well,at least Northern hemisphere:lol: