Exactly, that too. I was under the impression that the OP would possibly grow trees for firewood and would probably put some effort into planting correctly. Using a setting like Dave mentioned was not a good example of how fast an Ash tree would grow for this purpose.
Lawn trees don't face this trial.
I have a 5 year old Live Oak in my back yard with a trunk that is 5" in diameter. The tree came up naturally in a crowded spot. Crowded by a fence, shrubs, and 12' tall bushes on the other side of the fence. Plus the Live Oak is coming up under an old Mulberry tree. Since it came up from a seed 5 years ago it grew straight up. Last fall I took the Mulberry tree out so that the Live oak can begin spreading out. The lowest limb is about
10' from the ground and the tree stands about 20 tall.
Hybrid popular is fast growing, but as others have mentioned, its a lousy firewood. Its a little hard to get started, and burns quickly when it does, and does not leave any decent coals.
I've still got most of 2 populars in my woodpile that were planted by my dad. They were 25 years old or so when they were cut down (they were starting to drop limbs and look like crap). They were mature much earlier than that though.
Left out a comma. TOIEG (There's one in every group.) However, if you do find a hybrid -- post a picture of the wood..
I thought he said he wanted fast growing hardwood. For Hard wood those trees DO grow fast. :-) Couple hundred years and you have great trees -- now take western red cedar - that takes a while to reach maturity -- few hundred years or so (a couple of millenia or so and it's reasonably large). Now that is slowooooowwww.
They burn terribly. Those stems are hollow and the quality of the wood makes them very poor firewood. They are, however, fast growing under the right conditions, very strong and you you need posts or beams for a construction project . . .
--RC (who currently grows three species in his back yard.)
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad
Mon, Feb 7, 2005, 5:55pm (EST+5) snipped-for-privacy@swbell.net (SteveW) claims: 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?
What's your definition of "good quality", and, "short amount of time"? Depending how you define "short time", you could grow a redwood, then probably only one would be needed. Or, maybe not.
I've read that where mesquite grows, one acre will provide all the firewood you need.
But, if you really want to know. Check nurseries. There's lots of fast growing trees. There's even one type with "berries" that can be gathered for fuel. And/or check with a local college forestry program. That's what I'd do. Then i'd ask my mother. Then I'd ask here.
JOAT Intellectual brilliance is no guarantee against being dead wrong.
Actually, he said he wanted good quality firewood "in a short amount of time". The only way that's gonna happen is to cut down a tree that's already been growing for a long amount of time. By human standards, anyway -- as I pointed out to the OP, thirty years is a short time, to a tree.
-- 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?
I know nothing about Chinese Tallow, but what you found is that talking about wood and wood stoves is about the same as the arguments you get when talking about Ford, Chevy, GMC, and Dodge. Much of what people tell you is highly biased and may be based on one rather exceptional experience.
The only thing that is important is that the wood be dry and some take a long time to dry.
Whoa. Let's not exaggerate too much. I lived where there were western red cedar. They are relatively fast growing and require lots of moisture. Don't believe I ever saw a 200 year old one except in a reserve. A 2-foot diameter cedar on our place was usually at most 80 years old and likely much younger and would have a lot of rot. Since the place was logged in the 30's, most of the large trees I saw had to be no more than 60 years old. Damn few trees (individuals) of any kind (and certainly not Western Red Cedar) live a couple of millenia.
Depends on where you live. Around here (Pacific Northwest) Alder and Bigleaf Maple grow relatively quickly. Birch is wonderful for firewood and Poplar is the nastiest wood I've ever split. Brian, in Cedar
I was sorta under the impression that the wood would not be very good for burning also. This tree is consider a nuisance. It is pretty in the fall as it's leaves turn brilliant colors. This tree came up naturally and was
30" across at the base, about 35 feet tall and was about 10 years old.
Mesquite grows wild in Southern and central Texas. It grows very slooooooow and is a desert tree. Quite scraggy and usually looks like a bush when relative young. It is best used for cooking. You can find pieces of it big enough to build with but it is pretty expensive. I doubt you would want to use it in a fire place. It does burn well and is considered the hardest domestic wood in the US.
And one acre might provide all the firewood you need once -- it won't do so continiously. Mesquite is slow growing and has a very large root syste, so the trees (bushes) usually don't grow thickly.
Darned good thing as that stuff has thorns!
--RC
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad
Some ideas, probably not the best firewood, but it does burn and the trees grow fast:
Fast growing: Chinese elm if it will survive the beetles (there are some beetle-resistant trees out there). Quality of firewood is in the eye of the beholder -- seems to burn reasonably well.
Cottonwood: grows fast, burns pretty fast, doesn't split, so much as "slabs off" when breaking down larger trunks.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ The absence of accidents does not mean the presence of safety
Not really. Dry poplar is still lousy firewood. It burns too fast to be satisfactory in most situations. Most lighter weight, faster growing hardwoods are like that. Softwoods...well, I don't know of any that make a satisfactory firewood, at least none that grow in the U.S. south, or as far north as upstate NY. Pines are too resinous, creating chimney creosote problems even when dry. And, like poplar, they burn too fast.
At the other end, sycamore is difficult to dry in log form, but also burns too fast.
The old faithfuls are around for a reason: they burn readily when dry, they produce little (comparatively) ash, and they burn at a reasonable speed, allowing a fire to be banked for the night, or for one load of wood during a cold day to provide heat for four to six hours.
Most of the oaks work very well, as do hickory and pecan, beech, birch, black gum, sweet gum (cross grain), elm (if you like splitting crossgrained woods), locust, the ashes, maple (preferably hard), Kentucky coffee tree, hackberry, persimmon, sassafras and walnut and cherry (trimmings only, please).
My experience is only a bit biased. I heated entirely with wood for nearly 20, from south Central Virginia to upstate NY and back and I wrote two books on the subject back then. I didn't try everything, of course, because 20+ years ago, there were western woods--mesquite for one--that hadn't made it east in large enough quantities to have scraps of burning size. But I've burned those listed above, and I can't think of a one of them that offers fast growing and good burning. Pin oak comes closest, but, as someone else noted, it is not great firewood. I've found it satisfactory, but I find others much better.
Charlie Self "I think we agree, the past is over." George W. Bush
Those of us who have nothing but spruce, pine and poplars to burn find it absolutely disgusting and/or heartbreaking that you would even consider burning any of those.
Those of us that either have burned woodstoves in the past or still do, might take exception with that comment George. Unlike the Ford and Chevy debate, wood does indeed have certain very identifiable properties when it comes to it use as firewood. Some burns fast with low heat output, some the opposite, and this is characteristic of the tree, not an individual experience. No one is going to get the BTU's and the longevity and the coals out of a nice chunk of pine that can be gotten out of a piece of maple. It's just not a subjective thing. While you last statement is true for most woods (ash being just one example of the exception), there is indeed more to the matter than whether the wood is dry. At least if you're interested in really getting heat from the stuff..
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