Growing trees for firewood

B

Bailenasi

Guest
We own just under a half acre of land beside our house that we hope to plant with timber this winter in order to be (semi) self-sufficient in 10 or so years time in terms of fuel (we heat our house with a solid fuel range). We are considering willow and ash. Anyone with any experience or information as regards tree type, spacing, harvesting problems etc. would love to hear it before we start. Thanks
 

Ash and willow are good choices, partic. willow as it grows so quickly. Also consider birch and hazel. You should consider using the technique called coppicing, which means that you have a continuous, renewable source of firewood. Check out some of the links on for more info.
 
think there is an EU grant going for this sort of thing, though think you may have to grow Oak - as u can see Im not too sure but worth checking out
 
Willow - this is so easy to grow. Just find a willow tree along the roadside. Cut branches off it and then cut the branches into lengths of about 12-18 inches. Stick them in the ground and in two years you will have a tree of about 7 -10 feet tall. Great if you have damp ground. If you do it now you will not see any growth (obviously) until next spring. Great wildlife value (hundreds of insects depend on willow for their food).

Ash - super tree, slower growing than willow but better quality firewood. You will often find saplings growing under the tree canopy in some of the coillte forests or along the roadside.

You cannot plant enough trees.

Mac
 
I should have added that you can buy really good trees from a company in Cork: http://www.futureforests.net/

I have absolutely no connection with them - I was a very satisfied customer last year. They post the trees out by courrier (delivery is reasonable). They come in a large plastic bag and you can get all sorts of mixes. I got hazel, rosa rugosa, cherry, wild pear etc etc etc. And the average price for bare rooted trees was really small - maybe 2 euro a piece, Cannot remember exactly the price but it is on the site.

Mac
 
Bailenasi said:
... in order to be (semi) self-sufficient in 10 or so years time in terms of fuel (we heat our house with a solid fuel range). We are considering willow and ash...
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While I admire the aspiration, I think you will have to extend your planning horizon and the area you allocate to the project.

I would suggest that a more realistic time-frame would be 20-25 years and perhaps 4 to 5 times the area for a "normal" house-holds fuel requirement.
 
>> a more realistic time-frame would be 20-25 years

Not with willow. It can grow 10 foot in a year. I would say 4 years for willow and you will start to be able to coppice for fuel. With ash I would guess 7-10 years.

Also alder grows like a rocket - not as quick as willow but damn quick all the same. I would guess 5 years will give you good wood that you can coppice.

With oak you can wait the 20 years I suppose, it is slow growing.
 
Be sure to look into growing Eucalyptus Nitens, there are trials in the UK that have had amazing results( [broken link removed] ). The success of these depends on your location, I planted a few at home(North face of a mountain) and found that the Nitens are by far the largest.
That site in the UK goes into some details but the important points to consider are:
Size of trees when bought - the most important point, they get root bound very quickly and never seem to fully recover, you can't break up the root before planting like a normal tree. If you can buy them as plugs it would be best (as they did in the UK trials) or grow from seed as I did ( http://groups.msn.com/MilliganSeedsandTrees/yourwebpage.msnw these guys are really nice and the cheapest I found).
Location - Eucalyptus don't like it too windy, some of mine have blown over
Control of weeds/grass while trees are small - another important one

Good luck
 
Chevalier said:
Be sure to look into growing Eucalyptus Nitens, there are trials in the UK that have had amazing results( [broken link removed] ).
Click to expand...

WOW, I will be buying some of them trees in the next month. That is some result. Never seen anything like it
 
Have a look out for hybrid poplar. Its supposed to be better than willow and almost as quick a grower. I assume you're going to use the timber for logs for the fire. If so then I'd say to go with the poplar. You get much better logs from it than willow.
 
Hi
Your idea for growing your own firewood is about the "greenest" thing one can do nowadays. Not only will you produce your own fuel but the wildlife benefits are immense. You need to read up on it and I strongly recommend two publications from the environmental charity, Crann. First is the ABC of Planting Trees, cost €5 and the second is Badgers, Blisters and Beeches which tells you all about planting, coppicing etc. Cost €18. Contact Crann at 01 6275075 or email them at info@crann.ie or by mail to Crann, PO box 860, Celbridge, Co Kildare. And yes, there are grants available for what you propose so phone the Forest Service for info at lo call 1890 200 223.
 
Is NZ the closest for buying those Eucalyptus nitens ? No place in Ireland or UK?
 
I bough a pack of E.niten seeds in the UK and about 5-10 weak seedlings grew. I then ordered some from the guys I mentioned above and they sent way more than I expected/paid for and got about 300+ seedlings, so I could pick the strongest and dump the weak ones.
If you are going to buy some I'd get them from Milligan seeds, postage to the front door will be a couple of euro.. If you ask they should be able to send you 1 gram of seeds, 10 grams is a huge amount.
To propagate them you will probably need an electric propagator to get a steady temperature, I got a cheap one for about €20 and it works great.
 
There is a nursery in Co. Wexford doing trials on growing Eucalyptus for fire wood / biomass. You can get their contact details on their website
 
MacTheKnife1 - The link is in post 8. They didn't have an online website when I bought mine, I just called them on the phone. It costs less than you may think to ring NZ and you can ask a question or two that way.
Good luck with the planting, I'd love to see pics if you grow some...
 
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