Fast Firewood

[SteveW]

I need to find a type of tree to plant that will give me good quality firewood in a short amount of time. Someone mentioned Poplar to me. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks

Steve

[Edwin Pawlowski]

The faster the tree grown, the less dense it is and the less quality the firewood. Most trees would take 20 to 40 years to be worthwhile. Plant now for your grandchildren.

[BobS]

How about trying rec.firewood

[Joe Wilding]

How about taking up woodworking as a hobby. In the beginning you will make plenty of firewood.

[Charlie Self]

SteveW asks:

Poplar is lousy firewood, whether hybrid, tulip or popple types. The only fast growing hardwood I know of that MIGHT make semi-decent firewood in a few years is pin oak. I've got a couple pin oaks that have grown at an incredible pace for the past 15 years. Another year or two, and they'd make decent firewood. If you expect trees to produce anything in much less time than that, you're looking at cordwood and pulpwood.

Charlie Self "I think we agree, the past is over." George W. Bush

[George]

Hybrid poplars, ash, and tamarack are all used for that purpose. Depending on the type of stove, they'll give you usable wood in 10 years. Note, however, that a pound of wood is equal in BTU to a pound of wood. Aspen .40 sg, beech .68.

[Will]

Hickory Maple, Ash. They grow relatively quickly for hardwood.

SteveW wrote:

[Leon]

Well normally I would not say that was possible but I had a Chinese Tallow removed and asked the guy taking it down to cut it into pieces 18 to 20 inches long and put them in my fire wood rack. He asked if I was going to burn it and indicated that it did not burn well in a fire place. I told him that I wanted to turn the wood. Well 8 months later winter is here and I burned it. I was pleasantly surprised that 8 to 10 inch diameter non split logs were dried enough to burn and would burn for about 2 hours each and put out quite a bit of heat. This tree is a very fast grower.

[tiredofspam]

[Doug Miller]

Principal recommendation: abandon the idea, on two grounds.

First, the best firewood comes from slow-growing trees such as oaks, hickories, and sugar maples. The wood of fast-growing trees is inherently less dense, and hence does not make as good firewood, as the wood of slow-growing trees. Poplar specifically is not good firewood; it burns rapidly, and has little fuel value.

Second, and more important, you will not get a reasonable *quantity* of firewood "in a short amount of time" from *any* tree that you plant. That just doesn't happen. Not by _human_ standards, anyway. Thirty years *is* "a short amount of time" _to_a_tree_.

Secondary recommendation: there are ways of getting cheap firewood, as long as you're willing to work for it. If your city or state government removes a tree, you may be able to get the wood just by asking for it (as long as you're able to haul it away). If you have a chainsaw, you could offer to cut up fallen trees (or limbs) for your neighbors after a storm, in exchange for the wood. In some states, you can get firewood *very* cheaply in state-owned forests. Here in Indiana, for example, the state sells logging rights to commercial timber harvesters. The commercial guys are usually interested only in the first 30-40' of trunk, and they leave the rest on the ground. After they're done, Joe Citizen can come in and take whatever he wants for three bucks a pickup truck load.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

[patrick conroy]

What zone do you live in? In my current neck'o'the woods - among the fastest growers are Aspen and Maple.

[Tom Watson]

HEAT CONTENT (million BTU/cord), 20% moisture:

Hickories 30.8-32.1 Oak: willow, swamp white 29.6-30.8 post, scarlet, swamp chestnut 28.7 chestnut, southern red, white 28.3 northern red, overcup, water 27.0 black 26.1 Locust, black 28.3 Beech 27.4 Maple, sugar 27.0 Elm, rock 27.0 Ash, white 25.7 Walnut, black 23.6 Maple, red 23.2 Sweetgum 22.3 Hackberry 22.1 Pine, yellow 21.8 Cherry, black 21.4 Elm, American 21.4 Sycamore 21.0 Yellow-poplar 18.0 Sassafras 17.5 Cottonwood 17.1 Hemlock 17.1 Willow 16.7 Pine, white 15.0

GROWERS (not in order)

1.)eastern cottonwood Cottonwood is a fast growing tree when it has adequate moisture and often grows as much as 8 feet per year.

2.)silver maple It is a tall, fast-growing tree found on the bottomlands reaching a mature height of 70 to 80 feet and a crown spread of 50 to 60 feet.

3.)green ash Average annual height growth of 12 to 18 inches can be expected under good management.

4.)black walnut This tree grows about 2 to 3 feet per year

5.) Oak, Red (Quercus rubra) A native tree with a height of 60-80+? and width of 40-50?. Leaves develop excellent fall colors from orange to red. Growth rate is rapid (fastest of all oaks).

6.) Basswood and

7.) Poplar

8.) "Quick Shade" The Imperial Carolina Imperial Carolina Poplar hybrid. On average and under normal conditions, this tree will grow six feet per year

9.) Weeping willow The willows and poplars typically grow the fastest, up to 8 feet a year, and some of the others grow anywhere from four to ten feet a year

10.)The "Red Baron" Willow Hybrid Tree Under average and normal conditions, the Red baron will grow six feet per year

11.) Willow Hybrid on average and under normal conditions, will grow six feet per year

12.)Sweetgum

13.)Sycamore

14.) Honeylocust Gleditsia triacanthos or thornless honeylocust is fast growing as a young tree and will grow 2' or more a year over a 10 year period

15.)Willow Oak

a little effort you could graph these out and find the sweet spot.

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)

(webpage)

[Dave Hinz]

Yabbut, time to grow is inversely proportional to value as firewood. It's all about how much material (not water) goes into the burnable parts. Faster growth=less weight=less BTU when burned.

[Doug Miller]

Never heard of a "hickory maple". Presumably there was supposed to be a comma in there? :-)

Anyway... hickory is *not* a particularly fast-growing tree; neither are most maple species, and the ones that *do* grow fast make poor firewood; and the same is true of ash -- it's "fast growing" only when compared to oaks.

Bottom line: the OP is not thinking realistically. *No* tree that he plants is going to grow to firewood size in a short time like he wants.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

[Dave Hinz]

I dunno, but I bet it's pretty but a bitch to work with.

Right. I've got several thousand Ash trees that are now 8 or so years old (I'd have to check). Nice & straight, but they're only 1-2 inches in diameter. My kid, or grandkids, will be able to harvest them.

Right. For me, the best way to get firewood has been to drive around with a truck, trailer, friend, and chainsaws, after ice storms. knock-knock "Hi, I see you have a tree down in your yard/across your driveway/on your car/etc. Would you like me to remove it, pile the brush by the road/in a pile, and haul away the firewood in exchange?" Works about half the places you ask.

I burned wood from a 1993 ice storm for about 6 years, without touching a single tree of my own. Also, if you let locals know you'll take down (easy) trees in exchange for the wood, you can cut all day, every day if you want.

Dave Hinz

[Fred]

The other responses are pretty much right on, you're not going to get any usefull firewood in less than 20-30 years. If you are considering poplar, just save your newspapers and burn them, about the same thing. I live in the south and trees grow fast but I wouldn't even consider trying to grow my own firewood. Most National Forest sell firewood permits, 2 cords for $20, but of course you have to cut and haul. The only species I can think of that might come close are Green Ash and Red Maple. Chinese Tallow is considered an invasive species.

Fred

[Leon]

Maybe if you water the trees they will grow faster. I watched all the Ash trees in my neighborhood being planted when the subdivision was brand new. Those trees had 1" diameter trunks and had trunks 12" in diameter 10 year later. I have a 10 year old Live Oak with a 10" diameter trunk.

[Mike Marlow]

Holy Cow Dave! 6 years on a wood pile? Where the hell did you stack this wood to protect it well enough to last 6 years? That's some longevity for a pile of firewood.

I do agree with what I snipped from your post though. There's a ton of wood out there to be had for free. Storm damage, deadfall (10 acres of woods will provide enough deadfall to provide most homes with casual use firewood every year), and best of all - follow the loggers around. Most aren't bothering with firewood much anymore because the market isn't big enough anymore to warrant the effort. Landowners don't like the tops just left out in the woods the way loggers like to do and they'll often gladly let you clean up the mess. Free firewood - don't get much better than that unless you can actually get someone else to put it up for you.

[Mike Marlow]

Yeahbut in his woods, even with a well thinned woods, the trees are still competing for nutrients and for sunlight. Lawn trees don't face this trial. Trees in the woods tend to grow taller as they search for the sun.

[Dave Balderstone]

Some of these might work, but I have no idea how they burn...

djb