invest plant trees, to burn in 20 years

[Prometeo]

This is an area where trees, or grain, o barley, they do not grow luxuriant, for this I want to convert into the forest, but yeah i really need something that could grow, I'm sure that in any case it won't take over, I put some today, We will see

 

[EbS-P]

I believe it! Trouble is, it is so prolific and successful that it is wiping out the native flora in my area. Direct correlation between it's appetite for carbon, to its success over other species. No thanks! The tulip poplar is probably as effective and plays very nicely with the other natives.

I don't want to be part of creating a Norway maple monoculture in my area. But, to each their own. If you could see what it's doing to the woods around here, and how chitty the woods look when the Norway's take over, I don't think you'd be so enthusiastic.

I’d take the maple over the tulip poplar for firewood. Lumber I’d take the poplar. Faster growing.

 

[Prometeo]

very nice! I wanted to do something similar with an elm, but it's not as wide as yours. The carpenter told me that I should cut it and let it dry for at least 3 years before dividing it into planks, but I don't dare cut it anyway!

 

[thewoodlands]

hello everyone and happy 2023. I have land which I have earmarked for trees. I have elms, oaks, and small locust trees. I would like to continue planting varieties to be cut in 20-25 years, that are good growing, hardy, and good btus ratio. I'm near the river humidity is always present, exposure, quite good which trees do you recommend?
thanks

We're planting 10 spruce we're buying through our county, not for firewood but we're replacing a bunch of dead white pine that will hopefully give us or someone else privacy once they get tall enough.

 

[Prometeo]

whatever goal it is always gratifying to see trees grow, personally planted

 

[Prometeo]

always looking for ideal plants, it seems that tree ash is also a good choice, good heat, quite good duration, and little ash, do you confirm? Because it should also be very adaptable to any terrain

 

[Ashful]

always looking for ideal plants, it seems that tree ash is also a good choice, good heat, quite good duration, and little ash, do you confirm? Because it should also be very adaptable to any terrain

Ash was a great tree to plant or to own, around here. But I say "was" rather than "is" because the invasion of Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) has been destroying most of the Ash trees in North America. If it has not already invaded Europe, I suspect it is only a matter of time.

You'll find countless references to "EAB" on this forum. Many of us have been burning almost exclusively ash over the last few years, just trying to keep up with the deadfall.

 

[Prometeo]

Ash was a great tree to plant or to own, around here. But I say "was" rather than "is" because the invasion of Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) has been destroying most of the Ash trees in North America. If it has not already invaded Europe, I suspect it is only a matter of time.

You'll find countless references to "EAB" on this forum. Many of us have been burning almost exclusively ash over the last few years, just trying to keep up with the deadfall.

I seem to have read that ash had replaced diseased elms, to end up in the same way, absurd. Yes, now that I'm looking, in Switzerland they complain about this problem, but here in Italy also, anyway I have to put someone, if it grows and starts to get sick it will be one more reason to cut it!

 

[Prometeo]

invasive tree

 

[Jedi]

I did! I started with 42 Norway Spruce on the neighboring side of the property line, before that lot sold to the new owner. Then I layered in two staggered rows of Leyland Cypress (fast growing, but short lived), fronted by two rows of hemlock, under an existing canopy of mixed walnut, maple, ash, and cherry. In front of that, I placed oaks, elms, birch, redbud, and a half dozen fruit-bearing trees. In areas where there were no walnuts, I sub'd more Norway Spruce instead of Leylands (Norways don't like walnut), and I sub'd a row of green giant Arborvitae in areas where neither of those would work.

At time of planting, all evergreens were 8 - 12 feet (2.4 - 3.7 meter) tall, and the deciduous trees were all 10 - 14 feet (3.0 - 4.3 meter) tall, which was done in phases 2013 - 2020. This "garden" built between my yard and the newly-built house behind me varies from 40 to 100 feet (12 to 30 meter) deep, over a 300 foot (90 meter) section of our property line.

After that, I scattered another dozen oaks, elms, and hawthorns around the yard, in areas left open by things taken down by hurricanes Irene and Sandy. This was a residential yard project, albeit a rather large residential yard, not a wood lot.

Please post pictures of your yard. Sounds nice.

 

[Ashful]

Please post pictures of your yard. Sounds nice.

It was, until a week ago! An excavator was here all day digging a pool and trenches, and now I have a mountain of dirt as big as the house sitting in the middle of the back yard.

Here are some older photos.

 

[Prometeo]

I saw this composition of pine trees in a park, it was nice

 

[Jedi]

It was, until a week ago! An excavator was here all day digging a pool and trenches, and now I have a mountain of dirt as big as the house sitting in the middle of the back yard.

Here are some older photos.

View attachment 313203View attachment 313204View attachment 313205

The Force is strong here

 

[Prometeo]

coppicing progress, some good, others a little less, still promising🌳

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I think there's huge promise in coppacing! I don't know of any really dense woods that do it, but the stuff I know grows fast, thickly, and you wouldn't have to go far to get it!

 

[Prometeo]

I think there's huge promise in coppacing! I don't know of any really dense woods that do it, but the stuff I know grows fast, thickly, and you wouldn't have to go far to get it!

decidedly, exploiting deep roots only takes time to generate, quite quickly, new firewood, While, growing small trees and consequently poorly branched roots requires time and work

 

[EbS-P]

I think there's huge promise in coppacing! I don't know of any really dense woods that do it, but the stuff I know grows fast, thickly, and you wouldn't have to go far to get it!

If your goal is low quality biomass sure. But it is probably more difficult to harvest. If it was commercially profitable it would be more widely used.

 

[Prometeo]

If your goal is low quality biomass sure. But it is probably more difficult to harvest. If it was commercially profitable it would be more widely used.

yes, this is true, but for wood to burn, it's much faster, coppicing, compared to new plants I put in.

 

[Prometeo]

I think a good investment could also be walnut, it grows quickly, the wood shouldn't be bad and I could eat a few nuts over the years 🍋

 

[Ashful]

I think a good investment could also be walnut, it grows quickly, the wood shouldn't be bad and I could eat a few nuts over the years 🍋

I have probably close to 100 walnut trees, most of them in my yard surrounded by lawn and gardens, so I guess I'm probably as qualified as anyone to speak about them. They are great trees in some ways, but they're also unique among other trees that grow in our area:

1. They can drop a LOT of walnuts. Duh... no surprise. But some of them will truly blow your mind, whereas others of similar size and age only ever shed a light load.
2. Walnuts are very difficult to rake up manually, if you have more than one "heavy" tree. The home I owned prior to this one had only one walnut tree, but it could drop a few hundred pounds of walnuts per week, in its heaviest few weeks. Even with just that one tree, I would break probably one heavy rake per year.
3. Tow-behind or walk-behind walnut pickers are available, and recommended, if you have several Walnut trees. You can get homeowner-grade ones for under $1000, or commercial-grade ones above $3000. I have broken enough homeowner-grade ones, that I should probably buy a commercial unit, but they're heavy and hard to store.
4. They get their leaves after almost every other tree, in spring. This isn't necessarily bad, if you want things under them to get more spring light.
5. They lose their leaves before every other tree, starting in late summer.
6. Their firewood is easy to split and dries fast, but has very low BTU content.
7. Many things will not grow under or near walnut trees, due to a chemical they put into the soil. We call this chemical Juglone in the USA, but it probably has a different name in Italy.
8. They litter a lot of branches and deadwood onto your lawn below. Not the worst tree I've ever seen, but they do create a lot of sticks to pick up after every big storm.
9. Walnut rinds stain everything, and it's permanent. In fact, they used to make furniture stain out of that juice. If a walnut falls on the ground and lays long enough to start to rot (3-4 days), then you step on it, you'll be tracking stain onto your car's floor mats or your entry rug.

My heaviest walnut harvest was 2021, in which I was getting more than 1/3 yard per day of walnuts. If I used them or sold them, I guess that'd have been good, but since I just look for places to bury them or make them go away, it was a nightmare year. Mowing the lawn each Saturday became an all-day (sometimes two-day!) event, as I was picking up more than 2.3 cubic yards (~2 cubic meters) of walnuts before I could even start mowing. Other years are much lighter, more like 1.3 - 1.6 cubic yards per week.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

And I bet you had a really healthy red squirrel population.

 

[Prometeo]

I have probably close to 100 walnut trees, most of them in my yard surrounded by lawn and gardens, so I guess I'm probably as qualified as anyone to speak about them. They are great trees in some ways, but they're also unique among other trees that grow in our area:

1. They can drop a LOT of walnuts. Duh... no surprise. But some of them will truly blow your mind, whereas others of similar size and age only ever shed a light load.
2. Walnuts are very difficult to rake up manually, if you have more than one "heavy" tree. The home I owned prior to this one had only one walnut tree, but it could drop a few hundred pounds of walnuts per week, in its heaviest few weeks. Even with just that one tree, I would break probably one heavy rake per year.
3. Tow-behind or walk-behind walnut pickers are available, and recommended, if you have several Walnut trees. You can get homeowner-grade ones for under $1000, or commercial-grade ones above $3000. I have broken enough homeowner-grade ones, that I should probably buy a commercial unit, but they're heavy and hard to store.
4. They get their leaves after almost every other tree, in spring. This isn't necessarily bad, if you want things under them to get more spring light.
5. They lose their leaves before every other tree, starting in late summer.
6. Their firewood is easy to split and dries fast, but has very low BTU content.
7. Many things will not grow under or near walnut trees, due to a chemical they put into the soil. We call this chemical Juglone in the USA, but it probably has a different name in Italy.
8. They litter a lot of branches and deadwood onto your lawn below. Not the worst tree I've ever seen, but they do create a lot of sticks to pick up after every big storm.
9. Walnut rinds stain everything, and it's permanent. In fact, they used to make furniture stain out of that juice. If a walnut falls on the ground and lays long enough to start to rot (3-4 days), then you step on it, you'll be tracking stain onto your car's floor mats or your entry rug.

My heaviest walnut harvest was 2021, in which I was getting more than 1/3 yard per day of walnuts. If I used them or sold them, I guess that'd have been good, but since I just look for places to bury them or make them go away, it was a nightmare year. Mowing the lawn each Saturday became an all-day (sometimes two-day!) event, as I was picking up more than 2.3 cubic yards (~2 cubic meters) of walnuts before I could even start mowing. Other years are much lighter, more like 1.3 - 1.6 cubic yards per week.

thanks for the valuable information, I'll probably put 6 in the forest area approximately 200 meters from home, for this reason I'm not too worried about the mess they'll make, Until a few years ago my mother made a "nocino" liqueur with walnut peels, and perhaps with the fruits too, I'm not sure. I selected " juglans regia " which grows well here, the fruit is large. The additional advantage these trees should not be very susceptible to diseases. Your plants after how many years did they bear fruit?

 

[Ashful]

And I bet you had a really healthy red squirrel population.

Gray squirrels here, but yeah… I find walnut shells scattered on every available horizontal surface, in winter.

Your plants after how many years did they bear fruit?

We have Black Walnut here, which may be different from the English Walnut that may be more prevalent in Europe. Our walnuts are bigger, because… America.

In any case, they’re usually starting to produce a decent crop of smaller nuts by about 15 years. Most of my trees are more like 60-100 years old.