Compo
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Everything posted by Compo
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Beginning to depress myself now although it's good to see that there are people out there who understand the question even if none of us has the answer. Think I'll go and play with my trees for a while. . . .
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Wouldn't surprise me. We need to calculate viability in terms of energy in against energy return. Demand needs to fall but which politician is going to advocate population reduction or a lowering of living standards? Don't forget that with development across the World we have only scratched the surface of energy used and pollution produced. Sustainability would depend on the use of currnet account carbon rather than raiding the piggy bank of historical storage.
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Even if nuclear power was safe and there was a solution to the problem of the waste storage it would only delay the inevitable. A culture so dependent on massive and increasing energy use is not sustainable. There is nothing for nothing and the future depends on action now. That won't happen so some of us do what we do. Plants trees and try to keep the water clean.
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We own a piece of land that has a mill leat. It runs from a weir on the river and used to travel a mile or so down the valley to feed a mill that employed two hundred people in the 1800's. Free energy? The leat had to be desilted, by hand, several times a year. That's one mile long, ten yards wide and five feet deep. Imagine the cost in wages today. You can't get out what you haven't put in, nothing comes free.
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This is not a new debate. Sustainability is far more than trying to find ways of generating electricity. Unfortunately it has become a buzzword, a marketing tool. There are calculations that can be done to assess the maximum sustainable population but the answers are unpalatable in a spin driven society. It's so much easier to assume that there will be a magic answer so that we can just carry on living like kids in a sweetie shop.
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None of the so called renewable energy sources can be applied to any purposeful degree without massive environmental costs, particularly in a country so overcrowded as ours. Catweazel is right - the emphasis has to be on using less. Nuclear is too frightening to even think about. There will be an accident because people will cut corners. And just where are you going to put the waste?
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Skyhuck is right - we only fell Jan to March for firewood, stack as limbs for a season then log for the following Winter. They're in rows on pallets to let the Sun and wind at them. Once the sap's out it doesn't matter how wet they get, they'll burn on a decent fire. Kindling on the other hand. . . .
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Never mind a spaniel, shouldn't you get a husky?
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When we use a sub-contractor climber he has his own insurance, own equipment, own fuel, own transport and his own risk. The man we use is fully qualified and very experienced and we charge him out at £120.00 per day. That is also what we pay him. We are quite open about this cost with clients and have never had anyone question his value to the job as we only use him on difficult or dangerous trees. We would not pay someone at a day rate of £60.00 because it is simply not enough. If you lose a contract on price you lose it - better than taking risks or losing money.
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Cut on a five year cycle, up to 4 inch across for whips but with a rapid taper. We tend to pollard in case the sheep get in. We crop the best growth annually, leaving the others to thicken. It makes the best kindling I've ever come across and can be very productive in the right situation. Susceptible to Honey fungus and not tolerant of wind.
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We grow a lot of Willow (S. alba, S. fragilis and S.caprea) because we have riverside land and all the Willows benefit from a high moisture soil. Growth obviously varies with the season but they do reach 'log' size very quickly, particularly Crack Willow. Felled Jan-March the limbs will air dry in 18 months but you get what you pay for, quick to light and fast to burn. We use the majority of ours for kindling. Cleaves superbly and maximises return. Prefer Cherry and Ash for the fire.
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Is Elm making a comeback or is it just a fairytale?
Compo replied to David Goss's topic in Forestry and Woodland management
Smooth-leaved and English Elm are different species. We have a lot of Wych Elm (U. glabra) in our woodland, regenerating from stumps or as root suckers. It grows well until it reaches a decent size and then succumbs as the female Bark Beetle is attracted to it. The tree tends to die from the top down and can be maintained if you want to put the work in. Burns well enough too.
