I remember about 9 years ago I got a truck load of poplar for almost free. It was dry and stored in a garage for many years. I call it poplar but I think its quaking aspen. Not sure if its the same or not. I was blown away at how much ash I had in my firebox. Keep in mind that I burn almost exclusively softwoods mostly doug fir and larch so Im used to very low amounts of ash. I should start writing down how infrequently I scoop out my ash. I wasnt overly impressed with it but it did create some good heat. It didnt leave a lasting impression on me and see lots of it laying on the forest floor around here. Not many people around here burn it but if I had lots of it on my land or better woods were hard to come by you bet I would burn it.
I had around 2 full cords of Aspen split and stacked from free bucked logs that my neighbor dropped off in 2021 when I had nothing better to do outside during COVID than split and stack free wood. It took probably only 6 months to season. It's great for starting/restarting your fire, but still a pain to haul much inside the house when you're getting half the BTU's of most hardwoods out of it. I still have over a face cord left.
And then some. I think it might when have black walnut beat as far as ash production. I won't go out of my way for poplar, but if it's easy to get and big enough of a score, then yes I'll take it.
The soul and environment will change things, but the tree is the same, despite different names. In the wine industry, it's called. "Terroir" IMHO that term shouldn't be just for grapes, but all plants. Just like some get clinkers from burning elm, and some people don't. I get clinkers from box elder, just not as substantial as I get with elm.
I'll take BE or soft maple over poplar/ Aspen any day. The soft maples are a good few million BTU's per cord better than the poplars, and it's noticable when burnt.
We have a good amount of poplar here on the property, I cut it and burn it for shoulder season wood and mix in with the red oak. They get tops broken and blown over from storms, and I clean them up for firewood. When our property was logged there were some poplars that were over 32” DBH and the logger didn’t have a market for them. He called several older guys in the business and somehow found a buyer from out of state to come get them. I’ve got a couple trees saved that are that size to cut and make lumber with.
I burn a fair amount of Big Tooth Aspen in my EPA stove.. Maybe 20% of my total wood use. It serves a purpose for me, being the lowest BTU wood available in my area and is a good complement to all the oak and hickory that I burn. - Dries in 6 months - Great for starting fires, burns with a big flame and quick to light - Great for shoulder wood when you don’t want a long burn - Burns down coals in the morning and gives really quick heat.. big advantage with the Ideal Steel stove that makes a lot of coals…. - They tend to break durning windstorms (crummy tree in my opinion) so I don’t mind harvesting them for my wood piles… - I like to split it on the smaller side for all the above reasons
I don’t have short drying time with the aspen I have. After the first summer it tested at 33 per so I left it another summer and didn’t use a MM but it didn’t really want to burn well so the next fall I tried it and it was great. It must produce quadruple the ash that fir n lodgepole make. I only use what is on our acreage- no point in traveling anywhere else for it. I live beside a forest and can get sawmill rejected logs anyway. BTW I only count how many summers anything has dried for.
Sean do you have drying times like I do? I have a friend I grew up with on the prairies and he said growing up they had one summer dried poplar as the main source. As an adult he got caught with a warm winter and a couple cords (chords) left over. He said that did it for him. Minimum 2 summer dry time from now on.
Quaking Aspen along with a little Jack pine mixed in is pretty much all I’ve burned the last couple years. My property is loaded with them so I’ve been thinning them out to help the smaller Oak, Maple and Birch grow. My soil is very sandy and I think that contributes to slower denser growth. I have no problem with overnight burns and can get easy 12 hour reloads during shoulder seasons. I like to leave rounds of Aspen stacked around my property then bring in what I need to refill the woodshed as needed every Spring. Things will be changing next year since I’ve been ordering loggers cords of Oak and Maple but I’ll still burn the Aspen durning shoulder seasons.
