Growing firewood

[blip]

On 02/06/2014 at 14:15, Marko said:

A few photos taken this morning

Interested in doing something similar.  Hows it going 4 years on?

[Marko]

There is an update on http://www.rustical.co.uk/woodstuff/growing-firewood-2018-update/

Euc is winning (on this moss ground). I have put some into a clay soil this spring to see how it performs on that.

[Marko]

Well that's the six years up of this trial. A write up is on http://www.rustical.co.uk/woodstuff/growing-firewood-year-six-update/

Spoiler alert - Euc wins for 'grow your own' firewood logs for wood burners, hybrid willow wins for branch logging / biomass for wood boilers.

[Paul in the woods]

Thanks for the update, it would also be good to see the new growth the euc manages to produce after being cut. How do you rate the euc as a firewood?

Edited February 11, 2019 by Paul in the woods

[Big J]

This is a great thread. Really sad to see the amount of ash that has been grown, as no doubt it's now dead.

 

We're going to be planting 2.2 acres with eucalyptus nitens in spring, which I intend to intesively manage to maximise yield. The field is at 110m ASL, south facing, flat and gently sloping, sandy ground, well drained.

 

I'm extremely interested to see what kind of growth rate we'll get. 10-12m at 4 years old seems doable. We'll fertilise before planting too.

[gary112]

5 minutes ago, Big J said:

This is a great thread. Really sad to see the amount of ash that has been grown, as no doubt it's now dead.

 

We're going to be planting 2.2 acres with eucalyptus nitens in spring, which I intend to intesively manage to maximise yield. The field is at 110m ASL, south facing, flat and gently sloping, sandy ground, well drained.

 

I'm extremely interested to see what kind of growth rate we'll get. 10-12m at 4 years old seems doable. We'll fertilise before planting too.

Sounds a tidy little project,be interesting to see how it goes

[Big J]

1 minute ago, gary112 said:

Sounds a tidy little project,be interesting to see how it goes

We're buying a house in spring and it has a 3.2 acre paddock with it, so it'll be a long term project for us.

 

Separately, I've got a clearfell do to in May on a site close by, but with wetter, richer soil. I'm recommending E. Nitens for that as well, as the poplar that's on it has grown huge and it'll be interesting to contrast the two sites, which are geographically close but have different conditions. That site is 6.5 acres.

[Lucan]

23 minutes ago, Big J said:

This is a great thread. Really sad to see the amount of ash that has been grown, as no doubt it's now dead.

 

We're going to be planting 2.2 acres with eucalyptus nitens in spring, which I intend to intesively manage to maximise yield. The field is at 110m ASL, south facing, flat and gently sloping, sandy ground, well drained.

 

I'm extremely interested to see what kind of growth rate we'll get. 10-12m at 4 years old seems doable. We'll fertilise before planting too.

Interesting project. If you've not already I would recommend a read of this paper: The potential for Eucalyptus as a wood fuel in the UK (Leslie et. al., 2014).

[Big J]

2 minutes ago, Lucan said:

Interesting project. If you've not already I would recommend a read of this paper: The potential for Eucalyptus as a wood fuel in the UK (Leslie et. al., 2014).

Ooh, that's expensive! But thanks for the link.

 

I've been chatting to Bryan Elliot of Devon Forestry Consultants about E. Nitens. He lives and breathes Eucalyptus, by all account.

[AHPP]

Marks Hall in Essex has a really interesting eucalyptus arboretum if you’re ever in the area.