I wonder if anyone has ever planted a woodlot of locust? Hedge? Ironwood? If there was ever a ten year old who loved firewood, maybe he could convince his dad to plant a woodlot of such and by time he's 70, he'd have some good firewood of decent size, lol. Even lumber. It's a shame it takes so long! I dunno, 60 years might not be long enough growing time! It's a shame sweetgum is not a good firewood, that stuff grows like weeds, and big!
If im not mistaken dont they grow Southern yellow pine (ive heard you call it lodgepole pine) in sustainable forests? The growth rate on that stuff is amazing. Check out the end of a PT 4x4 at a big box store and see what i mean. Black locust grows pretty fast. I was surprised by its growth rings on the stuff i cut two months ago. You gonna plant some seedlings for the hoarding grand kids Yawner ?
Im planning on planting some trees this spring. Mainly some sort of apple, and pear for deer. But will plant some oaks as well. I joked with my kids that they'll have some nice trees when they go to sell the place.
Try sawtooth oaks for the deer. My buddy planted some and they are like a deer magnet. He just got a bunch of persimmon trees from Wal-Mart on clearance in the fall and planted them for the deer too.
“Society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” ― Unknown Black Locust is pretty specific to wet areas, stream sides, swampy areas etc. The Hornbeams are pretty slow growing but a worthy inclusion for diversity if nothing else. I think it was here that someone had a long story about Hackberry or some similar fast growing tree? Something about railroad ties? I've tried to replant what has been lost on my small property over the years & always try to take food for wildlife into consideration. Walnut, White Oak, Beech, Hickory, hard Maples. Have and love both species of Hornbeams but they never attain any great size, at least not in the conditions on my property. I collected a bunch of seeds from my Hop Hornbeam this year if you want some.
Plant ‘em I say! Many trees grow a lot faster than people realize, especially when you give them regular water and some fertilizer. I had some trees I never watered and they seemed to never grow. Then I started watering them weekly and they took off. This picture is of an elm I planted only a year ago from a bird poop. I watered it very often over the last year and now it’s taller than me. I don’t have a “before” picture but last year at this time it’s trunk was like a pencil and it was about 12” high.
That's the quote I was trying to think of the other day... My Dad had always preached, leave it better than you found it, and I've tried to practice that all my life. He taught me a lot and he was always my #1 Hero. I had planted some Pin Oak trees when I was 10 at Dad's place. He's gone now, but when I drive by there, they look pretty nice. They're about 18-22" DBH. That was 50 years ago. It's surprising how fast some trees grow under the correct conditions. Silver Maple trees grow pretty fast in wet conditions and if space fairly close grow into pretty tall straight sticks that I would think would be firewood worthy in 30 years or so. It's watching them that first 15 years when they are just getting going is the hard part... LOL Let me know if you would like some Honey Locust pods with seeds... Of course I'm not gonna run em through a digestive tract for ya... LOL And anyone from the club here is more than welcome to come in late Sept thru Oct to pick up Black Walnuts, we have a few...
My parents planted a locust tree by the house about 10 years ago. Started life about 6-8' tall and 2-3" at the base. My guess is it's 16-20' tall now and all of 12" at the base. Trees in the right conditions will surprise you. My wood lot has a lot of wet lands on it and the previous owner told me her husband had it logged off back in the 70's. Now I have a ton of soft maples that have grown off the stumps. I have clusters anywhere from 3 - 10 trees off one stump, all good size fire wood. Mother nature will surprise you!
This is what is called “coppicing”. You cut the main trunk and let it regrow. The regrowth occurs much faster because the growth comes from a mature, well established root system. Coppicing - Wikipedia
Timberdog Thank's for the bit of knowledge! I've always wonder why you see the clusters off the stumps like that. What I have been doing is going around the clusters and cutting the largest "shoot" off the stump to help let the smaller shoots grow. I have one cluster I have been working off of that has 10 good sized ( 8-14") tree's coming off of it. There's a ton of firewood in one tree. I have a few Ash tree's like this but mainly its the Maple's that really multiply.
We had an incredible acorn crop this year. I collected bucketsful of acorns from willow oaks, water oaks and red oaks. I am going to collect some white oak acorns, too, just haven't been out to do it. That is, if the deer have not eaten them all. I also collected dogwood seeds. I have a bunch of hophornbeam trees, need to get some of those seeds. Mulberry, persimmon, hickory also. These are trees I have considered attempting to grow and other trees will come to mind. Couple of years ago, I planted some Dunstan chestnut saplings (Dunstan Chestnut Trees), deer going to love those. They are about ten feet tall now. Typically, I only nurture native trees but made an exception on those chestnuts. Interesting tree, got wiped out long time ago but they are trying to help them come back. I think I determined that chestnuts grew here long ago.
Interesting, I'm no expert but I would think you'd cut the smaller ones and let the tallest one(s) prosper.
White oak acorns ( if viable) sprout and root when they drop in the Fall. They do not transplant well. They don't like growing in pots either. The tap root needs to grow straight down like a carrot or it won't grow well. Red oak acorns need a period of cold dormancy before they will sprout. Minimally approximating what they would receive naturally locally.
Been considering introducing the concept of coppicing since another thread a few weeks ago. It's been a favorite forestry method of the English Bodgers for centuries. Several good youtube videos out there. Supposedly can rotationally harvest on, I think, a 15 year cycle quite effectively. Works better with some trees than others and I think the Maples are hard to beat for that.
