Planning a Firewood Coppice

[woodyguy]

Four year rotation with hybrid poplar will give you log sized timber, or longer if you want bigger. http://www.forestry.gov.uk/PDF/fcpn7.pdf/$FILE/fcpn7.pdf is a good intro.

[john k]

Interesting reading, but I didn't see any reference to firewood or logs, or any mention of the diameter that you'd be getting on a 4 year rotation. SRC tends to be chipped for biomass.

 

Of course, even if a strict SRC system isn't what the OP wants he could still plant fast growing hybrid poplar. Assuming that's what he wants to burn. It wouldn't be everyone's choice though

[woodyguy]

Agreed not for everybody but after 3 years you've got 30-40 dry tons per hectare so 60-80 tons of firewood after 3 years, not biomass chips. Not bad!

Logging Brochure - Fast Growing Trees - Hybrid Willow and Poplar Trees - Game Cover - Bowhayes Trees Limited

[pendleton8471]

If you're after firewood then poplar and willow aren't likely to be what you want. Short Rotation Coppice in particular is a bit of a specialist niche thing.

 

Ash would have been the obvious choice, but from the species you listed sycamore would probably be your best bet (although not strictly native). In the wet areas then Alder would also be worth considering. Birch is another native option for fast growing firewood.

 

To get decent sized firewood you're probably looking at a 20 year rotation. This may not fit your definition of a short time but much less and you'll be getting sticks rather than logs.

That really useful John and I'm diffidently moving to a longer term rotation thinking now. What your thoughts on a mix of species when planting?

[john k]

Agreed not for everybody but after 3 years you've got 30-40 dry tons per hectare so 60-80 tons of firewood after 3 years, not biomass chips. Not bad!

Logging Brochure - Fast Growing Trees - Hybrid Willow and Poplar Trees - Game Cover - Bowhayes Trees Limited

 

Fair enough, that does look pretty impressive!

[john k]

That really useful John and I'm diffidently moving to a longer term rotation thinking now. What your thoughts on a mix of species when planting?

 

It rather depends on what you want, and what sort of area you're thinking of planting.

 

Single species is simplest and potentially would allow you to maximise your yield. It may not be best for biodiversity though and may not be as appealing as a mixed woodland. You'd also have no built-in redundancy against any new pathogens (who knows what will get hit next!).

 

Planting a mixture would obviously give you more variety with the benefits that this brings, but with added complexity. Coppice is traditionally single-species, which means it grows at an even rate. You would need to be careful that slower growing species don't get shaded out by the faster ones.

[woodyguy]

I don't advocate large areas of single species SRC. I've planted about 100 different species in a mix but have smallish areas of SRC single species for high yield logs. So yes most of the wood is on a 20 year rotation for logs but some 4 years. Diversity is best!

[campanula]

How about Pawlonia - faster than hybrid poplars even (I am going to plant a couple because they are so insanely fast).....

Apart from that, I am sowing sweet chestnuts, hazel, some black locust (for the rustic look), laburnum (for the flowers and the turning timber), fruit trees because the wood is lovely and the fruit and blossom is a plus - in short, if you just want firewood, them alder and poplar (not the best but is being upgraded and the yield is high). We concluded that our 5 acres was not big enough to justify growing wood just as a fuel resource and decided to look for other trees for multiple use, including the aesthetics and pleasure of growing (so we have rowans and flowering dogwoods). We are more inclined to grow woodland plants and run a small nursery rather than going solely down the firewood route.

[woodyguy]

Paulownia speciosa is good but P tomentosa not so hardy (probably ok for you in South). I'm growing both and I get a good 15 foot growth each year from annual coppicing, 25 foot from 2 years.

[renewablejohn]

One thing I would steer clear of is planting ash

 

Bit late now 7 years into our woodland grant scheme with large areas of ash. Touch wood no sign of disese yet but it may just be a matter of time.