Willow Biofuel

OK, Oil prices are high and show no signs of ever becoming cheap again (peak oil) so I am going to plant willow this year for use as fuel (been planning for years to do it but have finally decided to actually do it!).

Is anyone else growing willow and have any tips, particurlary as to where to buy the original stock.

Macha

It isn't an area I know much about but Teagasc have been doing quite a bit of research on the topic.

I'm not sure if these guidelines are suitable for the scale you're looking at but:

http://www.teagasc.ie/publications/2011/314/WillowBestPractice.pdf

reilig

Deleted User wrote: »

OK, Oil prices are high and show no signs of ever becoming cheap again (peak oil) so I am going to plant willow this year for use as fuel (been planning for years to do it but have finally decided to actually do it!).

Is anyone else growing willow and have any tips, particurlary as to where to buy the original stock.

How much are you going to plant? Will you use them for wood chip or let them grow for much longer so that you can take logs from them?

I have been running my gasifying boiler for 2 years now on willow logs which were obtained from the coppacing of hedgerows for REPS from our farm and that of a neighbour. I find it to be good wood for burning - it has a far greater burn time than softwood, but in comparison to ash, beech or oak, it burnd fast enough. But at least I get it for free. I planted a few willow cuttings with the hope of being able to supply my own firewood a few years back and they are getting quite strong now. They tend to grow best in marshy / wet ground, but I do also have some doing ok in upland. I should be able to get useable logs from them at 8 to 10 years growth and I'll never have to replant them. (I have no more than an acre in 10 different plots that were of no use for grazing).

I will have cuttings in October/November of this year if you are interested in a bundle (a couple of hundred as opposed to a couple of thousand ).
And I won't be looking for a lot of money for them. PM me in October if you are interested.

As for planting tips, well it is essential that you spray with a glyphosate before planting. Use a quality rooting powder on the slips that you are planting. Planting is as simple as sticking the slip into the ground. Plant between November and March. The first summer will require the small maintenance of just tramping the grass and weeds down around each plant with your boot. You will have a 95%+ success rate. Its essential that the ground they are planted in doesn't become too dry in summer weather.

If you are going to use them for logs, they will need a minimum of 10 months drying before you can burn them. But the advantage to them is that after 8 to 10 years growth, they will have diameters of less than 6 inches - you will never need to split them to burn them, just saw and burn.

Amateurish

before you commit to anything look into the subsidies offered for mischantus, (planting, harvesting and transport IIRC) they may be available for willow also.

reilig

Amateurish wrote: »

before you commit to anything look into the subsidies offered for mischantus, (planting, harvesting and transport IIRC) they may be available for willow also.

They definitely are available for willow, but you must be producing the willow for commercial sale as opposed to growing it for domestic use

reilig

reilig wrote: »

How much are you going to plant? Will you use them for wood chip or let them grow for much longer so that you can take logs from them?

I have been running my gasifying boiler for 2 years now on willow logs which were obtained from the coppacing of hedgerows for REPS from our farm and that of a neighbour. I find it to be good wood for burning - it has a far greater burn time than softwood, but in comparison to ash, beech or oak, it burnd fast enough. But at least I get it for free. I planted a few willow cuttings with the hope of being able to supply my own firewood a few years back and they are getting quite strong now. They tend to grow best in marshy / wet ground, but I do also have some doing ok in upland. I should be able to get useable logs from them at 8 to 10 years growth and I'll never have to replant them. (I have no more than an acre in 10 different plots that were of no use for grazing).

I will have cuttings in October/November of this year if you are interested in a bundle (a couple of hundred as opposed to a couple of thousand ).
And I won't be looking for a lot of money for them. PM me in October if you are interested.

As for planting tips, well it is essential that you spray with a glyphosate before planting. Use a quality rooting powder on the slips that you are planting. Planting is as simple as sticking the slip into the ground. Plant between November and March. The first summer will require the small maintenance of just tramping the grass and weeds down around each plant with your boot. You will have a 95%+ success rate. Its essential that the ground they are planted in doesn't become too dry in summer weather.

If you are going to use them for logs, they will need a minimum of 10 months drying before you can burn them. But the advantage to them is that after 8 to 10 years growth, they will have diameters of less than 6 inches - you will never need to split them to burn them, just saw and burn.

Thanks reilig, just what I was looking for.

As it happens there are a few willow trees in the area, I'll be out with the pruners in November, the neighbours are OK about it.
I hope to plant about 1/2 acre of willow and do a short rotation coppicing (thinning) on half and leave the rest for logs, as you say 8-10 years should do it.

Eventually I should be getting logs from all of it

Should have started years ago, well at least it gives me time to finish building the wood burner.

reilig

Deleted User wrote: »

Thanks reilig, just what I was looking for.

As it happens there are a few willow trees in the area, I'll be out with the pruners in November, the neighbours are OK about it.
I hope to plant about 1/2 acre of willow and do a short rotation coppicing (thinning) on half and leave the rest for logs, as you say 8-10 years should do it.

Eventually I should be getting logs from all of it

Should have started years ago, well at least it gives me time to finish building the wood burner.

I was reading an article on growing willow in the Uk recently. They suggested that you plant your slips at 1.5 to 2 metre centres. They also suggested planting it over 10 years. ie. plant 1/10 of your ground every year for 10 years. Cut each slip approx 3 - 4 inches from the ground after 12 months of growth.

At year 5, start thinning out the willow that you planted in year 1, just taking out the thin and awkward stuff to leave space for the bigger logs to grow. Continue to thin until year 10. You will be able to get a good crop from what you actually planted in year 1 at this stage, but you will also have had the thinnings for your fuel from year 5 onwards IYKWIM.

After 5 years, you could be able to supply half of your firewood needs on an annual basis. After 10 years, you could be self sufficient and remain self sufficient for life and those who come after you. The article also said that a managed willow crop will produce 25% more firewood than a wild one because you will be thinning to allow space for the bogger shoots to grow faster and larger.

imakebiodiesel

If you dont want to use weed killer, spread black plastic over the ground, used silage covers are good, weigh it down with stones and plant 9 inch willow sticks every 12 inches square.. Close planting will make it a little more difficult for harvesting but will ensure good straight poles and keep weeds down.
I have about 2000 willow plants established in this way, some for basket and craft material, others for thatching spars and some for fuel.
10 years is far to long a harvesting cycle, every year for fine craft material, two years for spars and maximum 4-5 years for fuel.
If you want maximun growth for fuel then grow the most vigourous varieties. I have a grey/green variety that grows 12 feet in a year. Yes I do mean feet, not inches!

imakebiodiesel

Sorry reillig, upon rereading your postI realized you were not suggesting a 10 year harvesting cycle but in fact a five year one.

reilig

imakebiodiesel wrote: »

Sorry reillig, upon rereading your postI realized you were not suggesting a 10 year harvesting cycle but in fact a five year one.

Yes, I was advocating a 10 year planting cycle but a 5 year harvesting cycle.

I think that planting every 12 inched may not be suitable for firewood - it would be good for willow for basket or craft making as you require straight plants for it. However, the key to a bumper willow crop for firewood is the coppacing after year 1. This coppacing causes several shoots to grow from the original plant. You want the plant to spread out in multiple branches as opposed to a single plant growing straight and tall. This will give you a far greater return per original willow planted.

imakebiodiesel

2 metre spacing is used in England and Northern Ireland where machine harvesting is the norm but you can plant much closer if harvesting manually. Another advantage of close spacing is that it suppresses weeds so you dont have to spray chemicals every year as the commercial growers must do.
Close spacing forces the poles to grow straight up with no side branches, these are much easier to harvest and handle. In the end its up to yourself how close you want them to be.
You want 10 or 12 poles to grow on for fuel. For craft material you want 100 or more thin rods eventually.
Dont plant all of your willow of the same variety from the same source. This results in all of the plants being clones and therefore very susceptible to disease and fungual attack, especially rust.
Rabbits are a major pest for will, especially in the early years, you may have to fence the area off to prevent damage. If you are ever passing Lismore in co. Waterford you are welcome to come and look at my plantation. I can give you some cuttings to start you off.

I am planning to plant rows spaced about 1.5m apart, that's how wide the lawnmower is, I'll use the grass cuttings to suppress weeds, then space about 1m apart along the rows.

I have been looking around the local fields and there are hundreds of willow trees, so the plan is this Winter is to go around and take cutting at random from many different trees, What's the best month?

Some have large leaves and some small, I intend to plant both, but which is better for logs?

imakebiodiesel

For coppicing long oval leaves are thought to be better than small round ones. Small round leafed willow is sometimes called goat willow or Saugh and is not much use for anything.

imakebiodiesel

Any month with an r in it is good for planting willow

RTE Nationwide 15/07/2011 has a short story about willow production. about 17 minutes in from the start.
http://www.rte.ie/player/#!v=1104815 available for about a month.

Needler

Do you need a license to grow willow?

just a quick update:

I have started to "harvest" willow and planting it in the garden.

Fortunately, I live in a rural area and it is simply a case of walking down the road with a set of pruners and cutting rods of willow from the hedges that were coppiced in the last year or two. I am picking several different types of willow, as many different varieties as I can find (about 4 so far).

Then I use a homemade ground spiker to poke a hole in the ground that I just push the rod into.

One handful of willow rods does about 100m, so I have at least 20 or more trips to do!