managing woodland

[yorkwils]

Paul

Hmmm your figures imply running your chipper for around 100 - 180 hours a year , wonder how long it will do that for ?

I agree. Even though it's great to be outside in the sun chipping wood, I don't think 100 hours would be so much fun. Probably worth hiring/borrowing a larger chipper for a day and doing it all at once - I'll find out when I get to that stage.

Took me 15 years to escape the grind and get out to the country, never looked back since. Good luck with your escape!

Regards, Guy

[Ancient Brewer]

.... I am still not so sure what to do with my 3 acres of planted willows, poplar,alder  

-Shredder it into paper bags and burn it ?
-Let it grow bigger and make logs ?
-Shredder it  with leaves and make a compost heap  for heating without burning ?
- Sell the willows for basket making and buy firewod   (lazy billi   )

I guess time will tell  


Billi

You are lucky you have no neighbours. I have been burning poplar this winter and it stinks despite being dry. The smoke has a nasty chemical like taint. If I had land to plant a coppice a would avoid pplar for something nicer smelling.

I have 3 tonnes of free ash acquirred earlier this year - the tenants will be burning it though....

[billi]

Hi

I have not tried burning the Popular , will see

i was under the impression willow and popular are one of the main plants planted for woodchip and pellet production

So would be handy for us to get a wood chip gasifier   

Billi

[dhaslam]

Eucalyptus seems to be quite a suitable species.    They are  prone to very severe frost  but will grow again from the stem.  Looks like  serious woodland after four or five years.     I had a 40'  one at the last house grown  in about 25 years.     

http://www.primabio.co.uk/bm_trials.htm

[charlieb]

I think most of the quick growing species - willows, poplars, have a high water content (and need a lot of water for that matter) so you'll have to concentrate on drying them, and avoiding rot if it's chips.    Elder's definitely not a good firewood for logs, though it will burn if you dry it for ages.

I'd personally tend to plant native species for firewood plantations.  Our bugs and birds know how to deal with them, so the biodiversity benefit is likely to be higher in this country.  Bili's planting looks a nice mix for wet ground over there.  Interested if you could find a proper buyer for willow baskets Bili - I'm looking into planting SRC if/when I take over farm, and it would be nice to have a secondary market.

[Baz]

Lime is another wet and smelly wood to avoid. I had some pollardings (is that a legit word) off my neighbour and regretted it.
One thought is that while it's green it's photosynthesising, so perennial grass should be the best but I expect some university has measured solar > cellulose conversion efficiency.
Willow or grass can be goatverted (now that's not a real word) into methane, milk, and stew.

[billi]

Interested if you could find a proper buyer for willow baskets Bili

Have not tried it    perhaps i should sell cuttings  http://www.ekmpowershop2.com/ekmps/shops/jprenvironment/osier-salix-viminalis---100-cuttings-71-p.asp

Any offers 

Billi

[Stevie D]

Bit late in the season now - maybe next year lol...

[djh]

"goatverted"

Well done  That gets zero hits in google - I've forgotten the name for such a word! Excellent word.

Yes perennial grass - bamboo or miscanthus - popular suspects in the biomass world, I believe

[Justme]

Interested if you could find a proper buyer for willow baskets Bili

Have not tried it    perhaps i should sell cuttings  http://www.ekmpowershop2.com/ekmps/shops/jprenvironment/osier-salix-viminalis---100-cuttings-71-p.asp

Any offers 

Billi

Shop around. Last time I looked you could get 1000 (might have been 500 I am getting old so the memory is going lol) for about £90.

[Contadino]

Seems to be a little bit the wrong way round. You should grow the trees which are most suited to the site. These will will give the best response to conditions and then you can manage that for fuelwood, as well as other requirements whatever they may be. As regards the value of different trees, the heat energy in different trees is related to their density, ie a conifer(spruce) may grow fast but may only have a density of 400kg/m3, wheras oak which grows slower will have a density of 750kg/m3. Incidentally birch has a density of 650kg/m3.
The relative "merits" of different species are more dependent on their moisture contents when placed in the stove, i would venture than, on each spp burning characteristics. That said, conifers, are more reactive, and good for a quick fire, with denser hardwoods, good for prolonged heat.

Alan

That's exactly the right answer.  So based on the OP, I'd be inclined to bolster the number of beech and sycamore trees.  Sycamore can be copiced.  I'm afraid I don't know about beech.

[Baz]

If you have suitable land consider the occasional walnut, yew, and box tree so that there is some decent joinery timber for the next generation.

[Ancient Brewer]

Hi

I have not tried burning the Popular , will see

i was under the impression willow and popular are one of the main plants planted for woodchip and pellet production

So would be handy for us to get a wood chip gasifier   

Billi

Horrid bitter smoke & odour. Not a problem out in the wilds but I live in a suburban area and wood stove smoke has a nasty habit of grounding - I suppose because it is relatively cool. My very efficient danish stove is 80% efficient.

Its also really light wood - so what appears to be a lot of wood isnt really

I think if / when I get a patch of land I think I will go for other wood - sycamore, ash, birch, and hazel

[Ancient Brewer]

Seems to be a little bit the wrong way round. You should grow the trees which are most suited to the site. These will will give the best response to conditions and then you can manage that for fuelwood, as well as other requirements whatever they may be. As regards the value of different trees, the heat energy in different trees is related to their density, ie a conifer(spruce) may grow fast but may only have a density of 400kg/m3, wheras oak which grows slower will have a density of 750kg/m3. Incidentally birch has a density of 650kg/m3.
The relative "merits" of different species are more dependent on their moisture contents when placed in the stove, i would venture than, on each spp burning characteristics. That said, conifers, are more reactive, and good for a quick fire, with denser hardwoods, good for prolonged heat.

Alan

That's exactly the right answer.  So based on the OP, I'd be inclined to bolster the number of beech and sycamore trees.  Sycamore can be copiced.  I'm afraid I don't know about beech.

From what I recall Beech does not like being coppiced. Better off sticking with Ash / Hornbeam / Oak if you want to cpooice long rotation species

From what I have seen in practice Birch seems to be the best all round coppice wood. Grows fast, relatively dense, easy to grow, not too sappy.

[Ancient Brewer]

Eucalyptus seems to be quite a suitable species.    They are  prone to very severe frost  but will grow again from the stem.  Looks like  serious woodland after four or five years.     I had a 40'  one at the last house grown  in about 25 years.     

http://www.primabio.co.uk/bm_trials.htm

Cheers for that link. After 5 years an annual increment of approx 16 tonnes / ha is good. I wonder how they managed this winter as Eucalypts are vulnerable to frost.

Also I do wonder at the sustainability of large scale planting. One the reasons Australia has problem with drought is that the soils are water repellant - a legeacy of millenia of eucalypt oil accumulating in soils.