I know this is a timber thread but if you have land and are looking for a good firewood tree then look into Black Locust. Fast growing, slow burning with low smoke (can be prone to spitting though), it improves the soil quality by fixing nitrogen deficiency and it can be coppiced. In the states (origin country) it has pest problems, not sure if those pests are here. You may be able to combat them by also planting potent smelling plants for distraction or have a pond system to see if froggies will hunt them. Can be poisonous particularly to horses, but also humans (if uncooked [seeds]) and all plant eaters. Tried to find out about trees which may be usefull for growing unfenced with cattle, but all I could find were certain ways to herd and zone them so the cattle won't eat them. Also growing saplings in tyres, possibly with a thorny mulch will deter small ground feeders like rabbits, so will a dog
This is a really interesting topic. For a while now I have been interested in purchasing some acreage, but I am not at a stage in my life where I can/want to go and live on it myself. Of course, holding the land will cost money, so there is a need for it to at the very least create enough value on its own to justify keeping it... putting some trees on it, maybe a mix of hardwoods and quick growing firewood could be the answer. All it would the take is a few weekends a year with a chainsaw to go and 'harvest' some firewood and pile it to dry in a shed and otherwise just wait for the hardwoods to mature I know from experience that it can be far from cheap to purchase firewood... and making a pile of it is the hard part, it basically sells itself after that.
one thing to watch for though is whether or not your allowed to cut down those firewood trees after theyve grown. the laws regulating private property logging are getting tougher and tougher so its something to look while considering something like this.
You still need to prune the hardwood branches to a certain level to ensure a long smooth trunk suitable for sawlogs. The firewood idea is good. You need to plant densely, originally, to ensure the trees compete with each other to grow tall. Most plans I've heard of bank on thinning the trees for whatever profit those trees will generate. And the thinning is intensive, two sudden mass removals of the weaker/cheaper trees. If instead you can thin progressively and save money by replacing your heating/cooking/bbq with firewood, maybe you'll be ahead that way.
Great thread and another angle to think about with property investing. I liked the story about a couple that bought land and planted so that in two generations their grandchildren could harvest hardwood. I also like the idea of using a variety of woods some soft some hard and try to use long term sustainable approaches that would improve the land. I have no time for vegan tree hugging layabouts who live in trendy city suburbs and their pseudo religious belief of the carbon/global warming fairy floss. In my lifetime I have witnessed the total destruction of the greatest fish spawning grounds in the world the grand fishing banks off New foundland on Canada's east coast. This occurred under the stewardship of the left leaning Canadian Liberal party in the 1960's and 1970's. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse_of_the_Atlantic_northwest_cod_fishery Incredibly the Minister for fisheries was bribed by the European fishing industry to go in and fish in the spawning grounds. It was like putting a pedophile in charge of all the kindergardens under a government mandate Kind Regards non recourse
wouldnt cutting off the branches cause it to... i cant think of the word atm even though i work in a sawmill. but wouldnt it cause it to have punks... maybe, inside the log when you cut it into timber. im probably wrong about it. also my father reckons that the closer trees grow together the taller and straighter theyll be, cause if theyve got space theyll branch out compared to if there all close together then theyll be growing up higher before branching out.
I've heard a number of times of people planting timber for their descendants to harvest. Trouble is ensuring that the property stays in the family long enough to benefit. Think about the future exotics that there's very little stock of today, like walnuts and other fruit trees. It's in our future plans as a family.
Im surprised no one has mentioned the Paulownia tree. Its one you can harvest in around 10 years & use the leaves for stock feed . http://www.mftree.com/benefits.html
Now for the dampener. My mates property has a 10 acre pine plantation on it and he reckons it's next to worthless. Not viable to get a plantation of that size harvested, nobody interested. Still I think I'd still like to own it, even if you cut them down yourself, get a portable mill in and then just advertise the timer for sale. I've also done a bit of work logging and logging contractors are the dodgiest bunch I've ever come across. Always going broke, owing money all over the place, not paying workers, not paying for timber. The idea behind timber plantations is great but I'd dread the day I had to try and get it harvested. C
True! However, consider growing trees that produce nuts and timber. If you grew walnut and...knew what you were doing you could produce clear wood and nuts. Even if things turned turtle, any old wood would be worth heaps. I have no idea where you live mate but if you gave a clue I could give you an honest opinion. H PS If you are over 30 forget it! Walnut take for............ever to grow!
Ive seen some great homemade portable mills & saws. The most memorable one i seen was a walk behind style with an 860 Ducati engine in it It would charge through a 20' log in a couple of minutes when it was sharp . Another fixed double blade one was run off a hyundai that myself & a mate made when we were building his house we mounted in the wall of his work shed with the windscreen as a window of the shed. we cut the entire front off behind the drivers seat took off the panels & ran his generator & mill off the front axles with chains & sprockets for the saw & belts & pulleys for the generator It even had the radio , air con & heater still functional so we could sit in the seats inside his shed with the air con or heater depending on the season on & the stereo on & also had all the 12V lighting , speakers etc in his shed Just had a couple of marine batteries & extra alternator hooked up to charge them ..
I'm no expert, just going on what I've read - I imagine most timbers have different characteristics and you're probably right for many timbers. Found this the other day just after I mentioned the blackwood couple, was good to see other people had the same idea. Relevant is down in the section: "Once established Blackwood must be managed" http://www.agroforestry.net.au/main.asp?_=Blackwood
Good to know! Theres a downside to everything. I actually can't recall how large a property it was that the couple I described had planted. One positive for him was he was already in the logging industry and was probably banking on his descendants having similar interests in an area rich with forestry and forestry experience.
I think this is a fantastic topic, it really has me thinking. I don't post much on this forum but this got my interest! As a 21 YO, time is on my side! I have looked at a few of the timber varieties listed above and I'm thinking Quality over Quantity could be the way to go. Over the past week i have been looking at land for sale around the Swansea area in TAS or other 'cheap' regions like Bathurst in NSW. My initial idea is to setup a Family Trust (or Unit Trust) with my brother and sister (sheeple) and establish 50+ acres of eg. Black Walnut for timber when we are all 50-60 YO. My goal would be have this all up and running by 25 YO so 4 years away, which would be funded by selling a portion of my stack (Silver Up - Median Property Value down). Quite a nice prospect! I also have decent career and will be looking to start my own business ventures in a few years time. I can't see myself ever struggling for cash, but rather planning for a prosperous and interesting lifestyle. Would be great to hear some of your thoughts about how i could approach or optimize this idea. With <4 years of planning i should be able to develop the most efficient and optimal plan. Thanks
a member called "bush fire" will register and put to an end to the activity of stacking so we would need a "water cannon" member ready.
id imagine pine wouldnt be worth much considering that all that sort of shit is sold at bunnings and whatnot so they must be getting it cheap from somewhere. plus its a softwood so thats the first thing white ants/termites are gonna go for, though they will eventually go for hardwoods too. i dont understand why people are using treated pine to build houses with these days. sure the white ants wont get into it because its treated but i imagine if it gets wet itll rot eventually, and what happens in the event of a house fire? treated pine smoke is poisonous so in a house fire wouldnt your house fill up with that and poison you before you have a chance to get out? also maybe just planting normal types of trees like blackbutt and whatnot for sawmilling purposes, though i guess youd need a fair bit of acreage for that. also like i mentioned before watch out for laws regarding cutting it down again eventually because private property logging laws are completely different compared to laws regulating cutting down logs from the forestry. Private property logging you have to leave x amount of trees in x amount of area and all sorts of shit like that, whereas with forestry logging they just completely obliterate the entire area under the guise that itll grow back better if its cleared. also you gotta watch out for who you get to log your place. some contractors might come and demolish the lot of it and screw you over. what my family does is go to a place and take the older/bigger trees first and leave the younger smaller trees to grow so that in 5 or so years we're able to return and relog the place again. we've been doing that to one property for 30 years now i think, though termites have started to set in on some of the trees. sorry for the ramble.
