Tree planting for fuel

[bushcraftbob]

My boss has a big house and owns a couple of fields next to it. He is fed up of having to buy his firewood, and has thought about planting a section of one of the fields with coppice species, with a view to being constantly supplied with firewood in a few years.

How easy will this be? Are there many factors to take in to consideration? Neither of us have any experience in managing trees in this manner.

What would be the best specis to plant? I was thinking Ash, Hazel and Willow, as they are all relatively fast growing and good to burn?

Adjacent to the fields is a large wood (which he sadly doesnt own). And the Wood naturally contains a lot of Ash and Hazel, so am thinking the soil would be ok for these species, but not sure how happy the Willow would be there, as its not exactly a wet or marshy environment.

Does anyone know any resources or links with regards to managing a coppice for the first time?

Cheers

 

[phill_ue]

Your really good woods for burning are often slow growing species so you may not see a return for quite a few years. Birch is a pioneer species and will stabilise the ground for other species and is an OK wood for burning, but you'll get through it quickly. Not really sure what to suggest, maybe go and chop that big oak tree in Sherwood Forest down? There has to be a few weeks worth of wood in that tree!

 

[akabu]

this should help
http://www.english-gardening.com/Plants/fast_growing_tree.htm

 

[badgeringtim]

If there is adjacent ash and hazel you have the making of a perfect coppace woodland, which must be one of the most productive and best suited to management for fuel.
However it doesnt happen overnight...I believe a quicker return would be for a chipped or pellet system where having a fast growing species like willow an yields returns in around
8 years, possibly faster if you combine it with a filtering system for biomass toilet systems - might even be able to take cuttings from existing willow as they root so ridiculously easily!

 

[_scorpio_]

this should help
http://www.english-gardening.com/Plants/fast_growing_tree.htm

oh...dear... "Willows or poplars shouldn't be planted within 140 feet of a house or drains to be safe. They have very vigorous far reaching roots and are thirsty enough to make the soil expand and contract with the uptake of water so threatening foundations."

got one about 8' from the house... that will be a basket and firewood in a few years then... unless it can be moved... or bonsai-ed lol!

 

[AJB]

Hello,

I can’t advise you, but I remembered an episode of Grand Designs where a guy planted for annual fire wood coppicing. I did a bit of digging...


http://www.channel4.com/4homes/on-t...cambridgeshire-the-eco-home-08-06-06_p_1.html


I did some more digging and this is his carpentry website...

http://www.thehobbithouse.org.uk/order.php

He’ll answer your question!

 

[Steven J]

How much water does a willow need. I can grow them in my drought affected paddocks in Australia. Granted they grow much better in the creek than the paddock, but they seemingly grow anywhere. Why not grow Eucalypts. There are many species that grow in the cold. It surely must be one of the best burning woods in the world leaving long lasting and hot coals. They can be coppiced too.

Steve

 

[nevetsjc80]

Hi mate
Ash standards with hazel under coppice gives you good return on products be it fuel (although) you will need a longer rotation there for a bigger woodland. bare in mind you will have to wait until it get established too before you coppice it for any products. I am a woodman on a estate near oxford and we get our tree stock from a nursery called Nicholsons nurseries (north oxfordshire) They will give you great advice and even come out to see the land. Ask them about grants too (but be sure to read all the small print on grants).
Your other trouble maybe that the planting season in coming to an end now. We are still planting at work but thats because we are behind as the grant was nt put in in time you cant trust management lol. So we still have 1000 more trees to plant.

Feel free to ask other questions
Nicholsons website is under contrction at the mo. So i ve just found there number from work 01869340342 email: office@nicholson-nurseries.co.uk

 

[Tony]

I've looked at this a little over the years and even though you can plant species that will give you some return in say 5 years you need to look a lot longer to the future, I'm thinking 20 years to have a good system in place where you can rotate around say every 10 years on coppiced woods.

In the long run you need decent wood that's going to dry and burn well and you're not going to run out of before you've got more ready.

There's loads of people that know way more about this than i do so i'll read this thread with interest as it progresses, I do know though that it's a long term commitment and it's not cheap initially.

 

[Alexlebrit]

I was thinking of the Hobbit House guy too. I seem to remember he planted small willow saplings and harvested at the end of the season (we saw both the planting and harvesting on the show) , then bundled, dried and chipped the results for his heating.

While it wouldn't give you a nice roaring log fire, it's a very quick return.

Googling Willow and Biomass turns up lots of results.

 

[gregorach]

I'll try and remember to look up the relevant section in Patrick Whitefield's Earth Care Manual over the weekend sometime... He's got some calculations for the area required based on typical yields, IIRC.

One important question is how is it going to be used? There's a big difference between the amount of fuel required for an open fire as compared to an efficient wood burner or masonry stove.

 

[locum76]

Hi.

We just planted about 1/8 of an acre of willow on the farm in a soggy bottom of a field. There was a burst field drain and a very high water table in the patch. It won't be much of a coppice for biomass fuel but may provide enough willow whips in the future for footering about with basketry.

I gleened my planting guidelines from this document:

http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/Images/short-rotation-coppice_tcm6-4262.pdf

This will also guide you through the process in a way which should guarantee grant funding.

I think the big advantage with willow is it gives you a much quicker return and is very easy to grow.

Rob

 

[twisted firestarter]

I've heard that ash can only be coppiced a handful of times before it gives up but am not 100% sure on that, as you know hazel which can be coppiced indefinitely. I know a hurdle maker who claims the hazel harvesting cycle has mysteriously shortened from 7 years traditionally to 6 over the past few years (climate change?). It might be wise to plant several different species of tree as insurance against future diseases such as...

Emerald Ash Borer... http://www.emeraldashborer.info/

Bleeding Canker... http://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/fr/infd-6kybgv

Phytophthora ramorum... http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pramorum



.

 

[littlebiglane]

I'm confused. I know quite a few biomass/wood-chip people swear by willow but I always thought that its energy output when burned was decidely average? For instance Mors K in his book has it quite low for output and consequently down near the bottom of his league table.....but is it not the energy output from it that they are raving about but its quick growth to boiler cycle making it a good 'investment'?

 

[gregorach]

I'm confused. I know quite a few biomass/wood-chip people swear by willow but I always thought that its energy output when burned was decidely average? For instance Mors K in his book has it quite low for output and consequently down near the bottom of his league table.....but is it not the energy output from it that they are raving about but its quick growth to boiler cycle making it a good 'investment'?

Yeah - because it's so quick-growing, you will get more heat per unit area per year than you would with a more energy-dense wood. Oak has fantastic energy density, but it takes a long time to grow. Short-rotation willow coppice is usually harvested on a 4-year cycle, rather than the 6 or 7 year cycle for other coppice trees.

 

[Tony]

so, if you've got some land does that mean that willow is a good first wood to get planted in there if you're looking at a sustainable source for your heating?

 

[gregorach]

Depends on the land to some extent... But as far as I understand it, willow grown as Short Rotation Coppice is the most efficient (at least in terms of area required).

 

[locum76]

Depends on the land to some extent... But as far as I understand it, willow grown as Short Rotation Coppice is the most efficient (at least in terms of area required).

all true. the rest is down to asthetics and biodiversity really. A pure willow monoculture would be a bit dull over a large area and would only support a limited amount of species. Interplanting with slower growing trees like hazel/ ash for fuel and oak for wood and its ability to support thousand of species would make for a lovely wood.

EDIT: the farmer in me wants to add that the willow would be best grown in rows for easy harvesting.

 

[gregorach]

Just found something which may be of interest: Yield Models for Energy Coppice of Poplar and Willow.

 

[goat]

A quote from a website about restoring the caledonian forest 'Ash coppice stools seem to be able to go on producing poles almost indefinitely and an eighteen-foot-diameter stool in Suffolk has been estimated to be over a thousand years old'. Coppicing in general increases the lifespan of trees. Re the length of a coppice cycle my understanding is it all depends on what you want the material for. So coppice cycles can be anywhere approx. between 4 and 20 years or more. Most books i have read suggest willow as poor burning but Gregorach info on looking at the output of an area is interesting.