Growing your own firewood

mountainy man

It's great to see this forum up and running so shiny and new.

I have a smallholding of about two acres and keep a flock of hens and grow veggies and tree and bush fruit and have an ornamental garden, been here for five years now and right from the start I've been planting trees to supply myself with wood and benifit the wildlife. When I bought the place the only trees here were sitka spruce @ aprox 40 years old, now I have aprox 300 trees planted, mainly native broadleaved species.

I plan to start planting a new area this winter its about quater of an acre ish, my goal is to get a coppice rotation going and to shelter the rest of the holding as it is a high windy place also lots of coilte plantations up here and a bit of biodiversity around the place wouldn't go amiss.

Any one else doing similar, any thoughts?

P.S. am a bit tree mad:D

reilig

mountainy man wrote: »

It's great to see this forum up and running so shiny and new.

I have a smallholding of about two acres and keep a flock of hens and grow veggies and tree and bush fruit and have an ornamental garden, been here for five years now and right from the start I've been planting trees to supply myself with wood and benifit the wildlife. When I bought the place the only trees here were sitka spruce @ aprox 40 years old, now I have aprox 300 trees planted, mainly native broadleaved species.

I plan to start planting a new area this winter its about quater of an acre ish, my goal is to get a coppice rotation going and to shelter the rest of the holding as it is a high windy place also lots of coilte plantations up here and a bit of biodiversity around the place wouldn't go amiss.

Any one else doing similar, any thoughts?

P.S. am a bit tree mad:D

I am in my third year of growing willow for my log gasifying boiler. I'm growing them from cuttings from local willow trees. I'm using a piece of cut away bogland which has been in the family for ages. I spray first with glyphosate and plant a long slip which has the advantage of being above the grass line. I let them establish and then cut them about 6 inches from the ground at the start of year 2. I'm hoping to have usable willow logs 2 to 4 inches in diameter by year 6.

I have a reasonable supply of willow logs from overgrown hedges on my own farm (125 acres) which will keep me going until my little plantation can give a return. They take a good while to dry but they burn quite well in my air controlled Gasifying boiler. (They probably burn a lot faster in a stove, range or open fire which has less air control). While willow will not burn as good as ash or beech or oak, it establishes quite quickly, and you can have a useable coppice from a single willow shoot every 5 years. It takes 15 years growth in an ash plantation before you will get any returns.

Having burned several different types of wood in my boiler over the last 2 years I have found that Ash is the best - it lights easy enough and burns for a long time. Oak is harder to light and the fire can often smoulder for a long time before it gives off heat - but when it does light, it burns for a long time. Beech is quite good too. Sika spruce burns the worst.

Out of 10

Ash = 10
Oak = 9
Beech = 8
Sika Spruce = 5
Willow = 6.5
Birch = 7

Hope that helps

St. Leibowitz

I'm planning to start planting a mix of ash and alder and willow in Jan or Feb. The aim will be to coppice them. One thing that concerns me. It looks like to fell any tree of any age, you need a felling licence. Is this just a formality, or can felling licences be withheld ?? I don't want to go to the expense of planting, and then discover that I can't get a felling licence. Just to note, I will be funding this completely myself. I'm not applying for any grants etc. I presume that that will make a difference.

mountainy man

I am also planting on cut away bog mostly but am having major problems with getting white willow to grow here i don't think its the ground but the exposure of the site. in my first year I planted hundreds of willow slips and about 95% never grew , the remaining 5% are sickly and thetallest one is no more than 6 foot and thats after four years ish.

I have had much better success with alder and what i think is lodgepole pine which seeds its self from the plantation next door, oak just sulks, ash is ok ish where the peat is thin and can get its roots into the limestone gravel below. have tried a few sweet cheshnut which seems to do very well suprisingly, beech also does well as does rowan.

I am going to experiment with goat willow coppice, the goat willow is everywhere up here so beggars cant be choosers, it grows well and strong and gets to 3 inches in 3 years so is worth trying.

sitka spruice is all i am burning at the moment and dont find it that bad so whenever i get a crop of something else hopefully i will be plesently supprised .

as regarding the felling license , I have never heard of anyone getting/needing one so can't comment on that , just sounds like a money making exercise.

yourpics

St. Leibowitz wrote: »

I'm planning to start planting a mix of ash and alder and willow in Jan or Feb. The aim will be to coppice them. One thing that concerns me. It looks like to fell any tree of any age, you need a felling licence. Is this just a formality, or can felling licences be withheld ?? I don't want to go to the expense of planting, and then discover that I can't get a felling licence. Just to note, I will be funding this completely myself. I'm not applying for any grants etc. I presume that that will make a difference.

Its reasonably straight forward to get a felling licence, the main condition of it will be to replant the same number of trees that you fell.

reilig

I wonder do you need a felling licence if you are going to coppice a tree?? In my example of the willow above, it will grow back once coppiced and should produce a useable crop every 5 years once established.

Askim

yourpics wrote: »

Its reasonably straight forward to get a felling licence, the main condition of it will be to replant the same number of trees that you fell.

when do you need a felling license, is once a tree is s certain size ? ie over 9" diameter ??

St. Leibowitz

http://www.teagasc.ie/forestry/technical_info/felling_licences.asp

""Under Section 37 of the Forestry Act, 1946, it is illegal to uproot any tree over ten years old or to cut down any tree of any age (including trees which form part of a hedgerow), unless a Felling Notice has been lodged at the Garda Station nearest to the trees at least 21 days before felling commences.""

Goes on to give certain exceptions, none of which would really apply to us in most cases.

So, it's ILLEGAL to cut down ANY tree of ANY age essentially, unless a felling licence is obtained. The felling licence is free of charge, but my main concern is if one can be withheld. Or if a condition as stated earlier of replanting a tree for each cut down is imposed, that really doesn't suit a coppicing model. You're cutting a tree down, but not killing it, so eventually you'll run out of room for replanting. I can understand the need for a felling licence if you've received grants for planting or whatever, but when you don't receive anything, go to the expense of planting, and then have conditions imposed for harvesting, it doesn't seem right. It looks like a formality, but I don't want to take anything for granted. I called the Teagasc Forestry Advisor for my locality to discuss, but he was on leave. I'll put a call in tomorrow, and if he's still on leave, call an advisor for another region. I just want to know if a licence can be refused, and for what, and if conditions are imposed, what they can be.

I know people have been felling trees for firewood since the start of time without licences, and many are unaware that they even need a licence. Where I am, I could probably do what I want, and never come to anyones attention, but that's not really the point of my question. I'd like to do things legally from the start. But as usual, if you try to do things right, apply for a licence, then have it refused or conditions imposed, you've just raised your head above the parapet and have it marked. You're on the "official radar".

blue5000

Hi OP, Ash would be my no 1 choice for coppice, if it's a good site, on a poor (wet, peaty) site Alder would be my first choice. If the trees are within (I think) 50 feet of a house you won't need a felling licence, but I'm open to correction on it.

St. Leibowitz

blue5000 wrote: »

Hi OP, Ash would be my no 1 choice for coppice, if it's a good site, on a poor (wet, peaty) site Alder would be my first choice. If the trees are within (I think) 50 feet of a house you won't need a felling licence, but I'm open to correction on it.

Exemptions are (from the link above):

The requirement for a felling licence for the uprooting or cutting down of trees does not apply where:

• The tree in question is a hazel, apple, plum, damson, pear, or cherry tree grown for the value of its fruit or any ozier;
• The tree in question is less than 100 feet from a dwelling other than a wall or temporary structure;
• The tree in question is standing in a County or other Borough or an urban district (that is, within the boundaries of a town council, or city council area).

Other exceptions apply in the case of local authority road construction, road safety and electricity supply operations.

William Powell

St. Leibowitz wrote: »

Exemptions are (from the link above):


The requirement for a felling licence for the uprooting or cutting down of trees does not apply where:

• The tree in question is a hazel, apple, plum, damson, pear, or cherry tree grown for the value of its fruit or any ozier;
• The tree in question is less than 100 feet from a dwelling other than a wall or temporary structure;
• The tree in question is standing in a County or other Borough or an urban district (that is, within the boundaries of a town council, or city council area).

Other exceptions apply in the case of local authority road construction, road safety and electricity supply operations.

Ozier? Is that an Irish spelling as I'd spell it osier as in willow.

But should add I grow a few hundred willow as coppiced shelter belts. I treat our field more like a garden so have planted the willow in staggard rows through meter wide "mypex" type black woven matting. I've used about 15 different spp and the unnamed ones bought for biomas are certinaly the tallest fastest growing, the better ones made 8ft or more this year from being cut back to a foot high (would be 3 year old this year planted from 6-9inch "sets")

jinghong

Everyone, get yourself a copy of John Seymore's guide to self sufficiency. It is the bible for smallholders.

He recommends ash too, coppicing after 10 yrs


[MOD] A seperate thread had been created for discussing this book/author (John Seymore's guide to self sufficiency), please keep this thread on the subject of home-grown firewood. [/MOD]

slowburner

Here's a well known ditty on the subject.[FONT=Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial]
[/FONT]

Logs to burn, logs to burn,
Logs to save the coal a turn,
Here's a word to make you wise,
When you hear the woodsman cry.

Beechwood fires burn bright and clear, Hornbeam blazes too,
If the logs are kept a year, to season through and through.

Oaken logs will warm you well, if they're old and dry,
Larch logs of pinewood smell but the sparks will fly.

Pine is good and so is Yew for warmth through wintry days,
The Poplar and the Willow too, they take too long to blaze.

Birch logs will burn too fast, Alder scarce at all,
Chestnut logs are good to last, cut them in the fall.

Holly logs will burn like wax, you should burn them green,
Elm logs like smouldering flax, no flames with them are seen.

Pear logs and Apple logs, they will scent your room,
Cherry logs, across the dogs, they smell like flowers in bloom.

Ash logs, so smooth and gray, burn them green or old,
Buy up all that come your way they're worth their weight in gold.

I chatted with WP on this subject over in woodcraft before this very welcome forum was born
This traditional view of the merits of each timber should be taken with a large pinch of salt. Everyone agrees that Ash is the best wood of all to burn but unlike the composer, I find Birch to be an excellent firewood. And burn Holly green - no way, unless you want to make creosote.
And burn Hornbeam or Yew - nope - far too valuable as timber.
Willow is magical in my opinion - maybe the ultimate in renewable energy?

reilig

slowburner wrote: »

Here's a well known ditty on the subject.[FONT=Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial]
[/FONT]I chatted with WP on this subject over in woodcraft before this very welcome forum was born
This traditional view of the merits of each timber should be taken with a large pinch of salt. Everyone agrees that Ash is the best wood of all to burn but unlike the composer, I find Birch to be an excellent firewood. And burn Holly green - no way, unless you want to make creosote.
And burn Hornbeam or Yew - nope - far too valuable as timber.
Willow is magical in my opinion - maybe the ultimate in renewable energy?

I find that birch sometimes has a tendency to over-dry and it becomes light and soft like cardboard where it burns out very fast. However, if you can get birch at 15% to 25% moisture, it is a good fuel.

slowburner

reilig wrote: »

I find that birch sometimes has a tendency to over-dry and it becomes light and soft like cardboard where it burns out very fast. However, if you can get birch at 15% to 25% moisture, it is a good fuel.

I use Birch quite a bit for wood turning. I sort of like to champion its use because this might take pressure off other native hardwoods. When dry it's actually a surprisingly hard wood, much harder than is common knowledge. It sounds to me as if your Birch is suffering in some way if it is going soft and cardboardy. It is very susceptible to rot and fungi and needs plenty of air circulating to season it. I suspect that this difficulty in seasoning is one of the reasons that it is just not available as timber, apart from one of the plies in top class plywood.
Could it be that your birch was stored in a pile where air didn't circulate freely? Other woods don't suffer from being stored this way.

MOC1972

How do you guys rate laurel they are heavy when cut but I have not put any in the stove yet will be next year.
It grows fast in differant soils types.

William Powell

MOC1972 wrote: »

How do you guys rate laurel they are heavy when cut but I have not put any in the stove yet will be next year.
It grows fast in differant soils types.

I'd say good on parts

The wood is very hard and burns very well, kept me warm most of one winter a few years back. I've had logs of it 9inches in diameter from cutting back old hedges but I don't think you'd get anything like as much burning wood as you would from something with more upright growth. Once you have taken all the leaves and twiggy bits off you don't have much wood left.

Edit>I'm thinking of old over grown laurel hadges here but I can remember taking away 4-5 trailer loads of leaves and twigs piled up as high as they'd go for only half a trailers worth of logs.

slowburner

Laurel is a great wood to burn and is no loss to the biodiversity of the countryside either. Are they officially listed as an invasive species yet?
I had to rejuvenate a hedge of it last spring and was lucky to get a fair amount of burning out of it.
The rest of it I shredded, which I probably shouldn't have - it contains cyanide :eek:
See here for more interesting info on poisonous plants;
http://www.thepoisongarden.co.uk/atoz/prunus_laurocerasus.htm

greenfingers89

mountainy man wrote: »

I am also planting on cut away bog mostly but am having major problems with getting white willow to grow here

95% never grew ,

I have had much better success with alder and what i think is lodgepole pine which seeds its self from the plantation next door, oak just sulks, ash is ok ish where the peat is thin and can get its roots into the limestone gravel below. have tried a few sweet cheshnut which seems to do very well suprisingly, beech also does well as does rowan.

birch is your best bet on bog, would benefit from drainage, it should definitly do better than willow, alder tends to suffer from exposure and recently has been proven to suffer severe die back on sites which have stagnant water

strongly reccommend a single application of ground rock phosphate at a rate of 250kg per hectare(100kg/acre) within the next few weeks if possible....if its quite a poor peat id follow this application up with an application of 18 6 12 in early april at about half the rate

regards

greenfingers89

St. Leibowitz wrote: »

I don't want to go to the expense of planting, and then discover that I can't get a felling licence. Just to note, I will be funding this completely myself. I'm not applying for any grants etc. I presume that that will make a difference.

doesnt make any difference whether or not you get a grant to plant the trees, felling licence still applies, as mentioned

however it was mentioned that you need to replant a tree for every tree you fell, this is not really true where you have an area of trees, i.e if you clear 1000 trees off 2 acres of ground you only have to replant the two acres of ground with reasonable spacing i.e you would get away with planting 500 trees

also when you are coppicing willow you generally arnt felling trees over 10 years or greater than 7cm DBH, either way when your coppicing anything you wont be required to replant, you'll just have to allow the new growth(this is an accepted substitute for replanting)

greenfingers89

William Powell wrote: »

Ozier? I've used about 15 different spp

very good idea to reduce the risk of a disease wipeout

yourpics

greenfingers89 wrote: »

doesnt make any difference whether or not you get a grant to plant the trees, felling licence still applies, as mentioned

however it was mentioned that you need to replant a tree for every tree you fell, this is not really true where you have an area of trees, i.e if you clear 1000 trees off 2 acres of ground you only have to replant the two acres of ground with reasonable spacing i.e you would get away with planting 500 trees

also when you are coppicing willow you generally arnt felling trees over 10 years or greater than 7cm DBH, either way when your coppicing anything you wont be required to replant, you'll just have to allow the new growth(this is an accepted substitute for replanting)

1000 trees on 2 acres?

I would recommend 1000 for every one acre

mountainy man

greenfingers89 wrote: »

birch is your best bet on bog, would benefit from drainage, it should definitly do better than willow, alder tends to suffer from exposure and recently has been proven to suffer severe die back on sites which have stagnant water

strongly reccommend a single application of ground rock phosphate at a rate of 250kg per hectare(100kg/acre) within the next few weeks if possible....if its quite a poor peat id follow this application up with an application of 18 6 12 in early april at about half the rate

regards

Hi, have tried some birch and the silver birch really struggle but the downy birch does fine well so far anyway, don't have many consistantly wet areas so am not going to do any drainage also dont want to affect the native flora and fauna too much.

I am not a fan of artificial fertilisers, I dont see them as necessary and they are unsustainable, prefer to use manure, compost and home made liquid fertilisers such as comfrey or nettle or even blood ,fish and bone. This makes me sound like a bit of a hippy but I don't care:D.
What is ground rock phosphate btw?

slowburner

mountainy man wrote: »

Hi, have tried some birch and the silver birch really struggle but the downy birch does fine well so far anyway, don't have many consistantly wet areas so am not going to do any drainage also dont want to affect the native flora and fauna too much.

I am not a fan of artificial fertilisers, I dont see them as necessary and they are unsustainable, prefer to use manure, compost and home made liquid fertilisers such as comfrey or nettle or even blood ,fish and bone. This makes me sound like a bit of a hippy but I don't care:D.
What is ground rock phosphate btw?

Have you tried Alder? They fix nitrogen in the soil.

William Powell

mountainy man wrote: »

... have tried a few sweet cheshnut which seems to do very well suprisingly, beech also does well as does rowan.

Have you done a pH test of the "soil" your planting in because I'd associate sweet chestnut with alkaline soils over chalk same to a lesser extent beech.

greenfingers89

yourpics wrote: »

1000 trees on 2 acres?

I would recommend 1000 for every one acre

just giving an example, im fully aware that planting rate under grant schemes is way higher....and for willow coppice id put approx 3000 on an acre if it was fertile ground

William Powell

greenfingers89 wrote: »

basically its a powder fertiliser about 12% phosphate, slow release, probably what the peat is deficient....you could try google seaweed fertiliser as there are a few operators in the country using these seaweed based compounds as alternatives to the oil based fertilisers you arn't a fan of

Thought rock phosphate was what it says on the tin, rock with phospate in it, dug out of the ground ground up, not otherwise processed and used by organic gardens and farmers.

greenfingers89

William Powell wrote: »

Thought rock phosphate was what it says on the tin, rock with phospate in it, dug out of the ground ground up, not otherwise processed and used by organic gardens and farmers.

cant disagree with that, didnt mean to give the impression that grp was one of the oil based fertilisers

slowburner

William Powell wrote: »

Have you done a pH test of the "soil" your planting in because I'd associate sweet chestnut with alkaline soils over chalk same to a lesser extent beech.

I've sweet chestnuts growing strong here and the pH is ridiculously low - damn nearly enough to burn you. Beechs don't do half as well though - they are prima donnas.

William Powell

slowburner wrote: »

I've sweet chestnuts growing strong here and the pH is ridiculously low - damn nearly enough to burn you. Beechs don't do half as well though - they are prima donnas.

I had 3 (Castaena Sativa) on the estate where I worked in the UK that were huge, 20ft or more around the base on acidic Bagshot Sand so can't say they only grow in alkaline conditions but all the UK Gardens I can think of where they have really large specimins are over chalk and the large areas of chestnut coppices I know of are all on chalk.

But as a spp its another good one to add to the list for firewood as it coppices very well. The coppice wood if left long enough makes good durable fence posts and used in the UK split to make chestnut fenceing

Interesting tree as when you see it in growing well on old estates you think the trees must be very old but you won't find many over 150years, its just a very fast grower when its happy.

slowburner

Couldn't agree more. A much under utilised tree in this country, I think. Fast growing, durable, coppices well, splits well (cleft chestnut paling) and a fruit. What more could you ask for from a tree?
I think it is more commonly called Spanish Chestnut in this neck of the woods.

mountainy man

William Powell wrote: »

Have you done a pH test of the "soil" your planting in because I'd associate sweet chestnut with alkaline soils over chalk same to a lesser extent beech.

No I've never done a test, but I recon it varies wildly across my 2 acres, I have areas of deep peat, lime stone outcrops ,thin peat over lyeing clay and a kinda degraded limestone gravel, this is a karst area with many deep pot holes and the cavers come regularly to play in them! I have a bit of exposed limestone pavement in my yard .

The reason that I planted the few sweet chestnut is that I read a book by Ben Law called The woodland way, an excelent book , he's the chap who built the cruck frame house that was on grand designs a few years ago. He manages a sweet cheshnut wood in west sussex,eng by coppice. I can highly recomend it.

I am delighted that they are doing so well. and the hares don't touch em:)

greenfingers89

mountainy man wrote: »

I am delighted that they are doing so well. and the hares don't touch em:)

im genuinly surprised that the sweet chesnut are doing well in peat in sligo, is your site exposed? have you actually got many hares in the area or just a very rare siting?

mountainy man

greenfingers89 wrote: »

im genuinly surprised that the sweet chesnut are doing well in peat in sligo, is your site exposed? have you actually got many hares in the area or just a very rare siting?

They are doing fine in the areas of thin peat over the gravely clay stuff (about a foot of peat), some others are between the alders so mabey they are benefiting from the improving influence of the alders, only have 5 so far btw. yes very exposed , Pic below shows view to the north , the only shelter is a coilte plantation of lodgepole pine and spruce to the east of me.

Loads of hares around here, in may/june my cat keeps bringing me leverets as presents , I see them in the garden all the time, everything has a rabbit guard on it, also red squirel, pine marten and red deer although no probs with them too timid to come too near the house.

Chicken Run

slowburner wrote: »

Have you tried Alder? They fix nitrogen in the soil.

and the deer don't seem to eat them as much as they eat the ash saplings :rolleyes:

We have mixed woodland which we can't deer-fence...deer trashed much of the ash so we replanted with alder which is flying.

yourpics

How about everyone posts details of their plantation, size, species, age etc, maybe include a photo!

slowburner

Chicken Run wrote: »

and the deer don't seem to eat them as much as they eat the ash saplings :rolleyes:

We have mixed woodland which we can't deer-fence...deer trashed much of the ash so we replanted with alder which is flying.

That's good to know. They don't gnaw Willow or Birch as much either. There's an awful lot of the beggars around atm.

greenfingers89

slowburner wrote: »

They don't gnaw Willow or Birch as much either.

I've had a few wipeouts of birch due to deer damage

slowburner

Really, I always heard that Birch bark was unpalatable to deer and they don't seem to touch them here. Cherries have been devastated though, even mature specimens. The height that the deer can get up to amazes me.

greenfingers89

yes my understanding is the same with the bark issue, where i have problems is plantations 1,2 and 3 years of age that the leaves are stripped off

slowburner

Venison for dinner, anyone?

William Powell

Can I throw Larch into the mix? We used to grow European Larch in the UK on very poor soil it did great and while you can't coppice it the resultant timber is good for gate posts, fence pots and burns fine in a stove. The big advantage I have found with larch is that it has "soil building properties" because the needles tend to build up a rich soil improving mulch to a much greater extent than any other tree I know.

greenfingers89

William Powell wrote: »

Can I throw Larch into the mix?

wouldn't trust any larch these days, id wait a few years to see if the disease in jap larch makes its way into hybrid and european or if the jap can build up a resistance

slowburner

greenfingers89 wrote: »

wouldn't trust any larch these days, id wait a few years to see if the disease in jap larch makes its way into hybrid and european or if the jap can build up a resistance

What is this disease and does it affect 'native' Larch?

galwayhillbilly

I have stone walls that have about 1.5 x 1.5m of an embankment, probably due to shortage of stone at the time they were being built. I was thinking of planting willow along this. I have a number of questions

Does willow work well in a solid fuel range or do you really need a gasification boiler?

If it is a hedgerow do you really need a felling licence to prune/coppice your hedge?

Do you need to protect willow from sheep?

The wall I intend planting the willow along has been earmarked for tradtional stone wall maintenance under AEOS, can I still plant a willow hedge along it, or does this infringe the traditional stone wall aspect of the boundary?

I have a small stand of ash trees in an old sandpit/quarry some of them are quite mature, i want to coppice them but I am not sure if mature ash trees are suitable for coppice, basically I want to cut it all down so that I can start again with some plantings and some coppice so that everything is more evenly spaced with similar growth rates, the mature ash trees have blocked off a lot of light and only a limited no of trees are growing around them, plus I want to level the sandpit to make it safer, I don't know what was in the sandpit /quarry it could be an open cast mine for all I know, there doesnt seem to be much evidence of sand but you never know, whatever it was, it supports the growth of Ash trees. suggestions welcome.

slowburner

galwayhillbilly wrote: »

I have stone walls that have about 1.5 x 1.5m of an embankment, probably due to shortage of stone at the time they were being built. I was thinking of planting willow along this. I have a number of questions

Does willow work well in a solid fuel range or do you really need a gasification boiler?

If it is a hedgerow do you really need a felling licence to prune/coppice your hedge?

Do you need to protect willow from sheep?

The wall I intend planting the willow along has been earmarked for tradtional stone wall maintenance under AEOS, can I still plant a willow hedge along it, or does this infringe the traditional stone wall aspect of the boundary?

I have a small stand of ash trees in an old sandpit/quarry some of them are quite mature, i want to coppice them but I am not sure if mature ash trees are suitable for coppice, basically I want to cut it all down so that I can start again with some plantings and some coppice so that everything is more evenly spaced with similar growth rates, the mature ash trees have blocked off a lot of light and only a limited no of trees are growing around them, plus I want to level the sandpit to make it safer, I don't know what was in the sandpit /quarry it could be an open cast mine for all I know, there doesnt seem to be much evidence of sand but you never know, whatever it was, it supports the growth of Ash trees. suggestions welcome.

Should you not get the pit checked out for heritage reasons before you level it?

galwayhillbilly

I possibly should but a) I can't afford an archeologist, b) It is not marked on any map as a monument c)There is no folklore attached to it so the likelihood is that it was just used by local farmers for either sand, stone or clay d) it isnt safe for tractors or kids
By levelling it I can possibly find out what it was used for and find out if it can be economically exploited by yours truly

greenfingers89

slowburner wrote: »

What is this disease and does it affect 'native' Larch?

no such thing as native larch....are you thinking of european larch maybe? the disease is due to the pest that is rhododendron, phytophtera romorum (mightnt be correct spelling) i think is the strain causing the problems....at this moment in time its only in japanese larch, which has led to the department taking it off the approved species list for grant aid. however, more worryingly, sitka spruce in close proximity to diseased jap larch has been found with the infection....lets just hope it doesnt spread into other sitka plantations!

reilig

I wouldn't recommend willow for a range because there isn't enough air control. With teh gasifier, the boiler allows the willow to burn at full tilt until the whole boiler reaches 72 degrees. Then its starts to control the amount air that enters the boiler. This allows for a longer burn. A range or a stove just doesn't have enough control over the air.

Sheep will nip at new grown willow at this time of year when grass gets scarce. But willow is hardy and will always regrow.

Thinning out the larger trees from the sandpit might be a better option for you. You could remove some of the bigger and mature trees which might be blocking the light and this would allow more space for the smaller trees to grow.

Hope that helps.

galwayhillbilly wrote: »

I have stone walls that have about 1.5 x 1.5m of an embankment, probably due to shortage of stone at the time they were being built. I was thinking of planting willow along this. I have a number of questions

Does willow work well in a solid fuel range or do you really need a gasification boiler?

If it is a hedgerow do you really need a felling licence to prune/coppice your hedge?

Do you need to protect willow from sheep?

The wall I intend planting the willow along has been earmarked for tradtional stone wall maintenance under AEOS, can I still plant a willow hedge along it, or does this infringe the traditional stone wall aspect of the boundary?

I have a small stand of ash trees in an old sandpit/quarry some of them are quite mature, i want to coppice them but I am not sure if mature ash trees are suitable for coppice, basically I want to cut it all down so that I can start again with some plantings and some coppice so that everything is more evenly spaced with similar growth rates, the mature ash trees have blocked off a lot of light and only a limited no of trees are growing around them, plus I want to level the sandpit to make it safer, I don't know what was in the sandpit /quarry it could be an open cast mine for all I know, there doesnt seem to be much evidence of sand but you never know, whatever it was, it supports the growth of Ash trees. suggestions welcome.

greenfingers89

galwayhillbilly wrote: »

Does willow work well in a solid fuel range or do you really need a gasification boiler?

If it is a hedgerow do you really need a felling licence to prune/coppice your hedge?

Do you need to protect willow from sheep?

The wall I intend planting the willow along has been earmarked for tradtional stone wall does this infringe the traditional stone wall aspect of the boundary?

I am not sure if mature ash trees are suitable for coppice.

1. willow will be a poor burner in a range and defnetly wouldn't be many peoples first choice

2. technically you should have a felling licence for any tree over 10 years of age however farmers in particular are always incouraged to coppice trees on a sustainable basis. as far as i know it doesnt mean they are exempt from getting a felling licence (although i'd be truly amazed if anyone questioned you, many people will tell you you don't need one for coppice, the "unwritten rule" generally is if you are cutting a dead, dangerous or diseased tree work away..or if you are coppicing trees for your own firewood supply work away) having said all that a felling licence is free, can be got from your local garda station and lasts for 5 years so if i were you i wouldn't get hung up on do i/don't i need one. just get it anyway if you want piece of mind

3. for the first tree years you probably will need to protect willow from the sheep, if they are nipped at all they will just fork and you'll end up with 20 stems not worth harvesting i.e a glorified bush.....this leads me to suggest you plant ash or spanish chesnut because you'll need to protect them all anyway but willow (although faster to grow) would be the worst quality firewood....i've seen a few great examples of sheep grazing in ash plantations BUT!!!! the farmer only lightly grazed the area with lambs AND!!! he took them out before the grass got too tight

4. not sure about doing harm to the stone wall, check this with your planner and if he gives the go ahead for you to plant make sure you get that on paper just to cover your arse

5. mature ash trees are fine to coppice just make sure you get a nice clean cut and cut it at a slant to avoid water sitting on the stump...after 1 or 2 years id thin out the shoots that grow from the stump and keep no more than 5 stems, avoid felling all these stems at the same time and eventually you will end up with a regular supply of firewood as apposed to a bulk amount every now and again

galwayhillbilly

Thanks reilig and greenfingers89, I like the idea of a gasification boiler but I don't think I'll have the cash for a few years, Having said that, it will take 5 years for the willow to mature so no harm in planning ahead.

Didnt have a planner for AEOS wasnt obliged to get one, is there anyone else I can get the advice in writing from?, dept official or some such?

Re the ash trees reilig thats what I thought too, cut the mature trees, plant some new trees at reccomended spacings from existing trees and hopefully have a fairly evenly maturing little plantation which will keep me from fuel poverty in my pension years
As an aside Has anyone any experience of planting trees in pasture, whereby the trees are well spaced out and you dont lose any major amount of land your animals graze in between and in some cases you can take a cut of hay or silage if done properly, I remember reading about it in 'the furrow' magazine about 20 years ago but never heard of anyone who had actually done it in Ireland