also know as the Tree of Heaven, also know as the "ghetto Palm" by my plant ID professor in college. Anyone know if it's any good for burning? I had to clear out an area n front of the house and had to take down about a dozen, 2-5" trees. Thinking maybe shoulder wood???? Fire starter???
We live and learn. I had wondered what that plant was. Looks something like Sumac but isn't. It is a invasive weed.
Really light wood. Almost white with seemingly no grain. Lousy firewood. When it's dry it's very light.
Pound for pound it's the same as any other wood. Trouble is its so light that compared to a piece of oak of the same size it will seem like it weighs an ounce. Other things going against it are that it has a horrible stench when wet. And its moisture content when green is over 100% so it weighs quite a bit at first. It does dry fast though.
I've burned it. It has its uses. It dries fast so it is good for the person who needs to get something going while working on a long term plan. It is light weight so you need a lot by volume. Based on personal experiences I would rate it close to pine. Some of them stink like rotting peanut butter until dry so I'd choose pine over Ailanthus given the choice.
The area you cut is going to sprout thousands of suckers from the root system in the ground. I also have a thick stand of these awful trees and held off removing them as I don't feel like waging chemical and manual warfare on the new army of baby trees. If you have not already applied Brush B Gone to the sapwood of the stumps, go do that. I am usually against chemical use, but these devils of trees need it. The new sprouts must be pulled or cut regularly, or you will have new trees in no time. They grow insanely fast. Another trick is to fill like a mustard sweeze bottle, or glue bottle with Brush B Gone and put a drop on the cut surface of every sucker you remove. Good luck!
Not only do they send out suckers like crazy but they make a million seeds. I trying to exterminate them (they are an invasive chinese species with no discernible environmental benefit here) but there are a few on the neighbors land so I am basically never going to win. But I can at least hold the line.
Had a lot of that stuff in WV where I grew up. We called it Heaven wood. Honestly, who the heck named that tree? It stinks and burns poorly as I recall.
I read it is called Tree Of Heaven for how fast and tall it grows. It is said to be reaching towards the Heavens... I agree on the stench factor, the leaves smell like cat pizz and nastiness. I decided for now to keep ours and used four to anchor a tree fort in between. Kinda like a dock in the trees, the kids love it lol.
Yeah, take as big a legnth as you can, and put it on your shoulder and throw it on the purn pile Weed tree.
Never burned it. However, it's a very successful invasive around here. If you want to see some short term results to make you feel like you are doing something, then the "hack and squirt" method of poisoning them will work, somewhat...
I think the same way. Very invasive.... I had one, cant just cut it down. Suckers like crazy, but the suckers can be pulled or sprayed. I injected mine, pulled the suckers, with a watchfull eye on any that were still coming up. This tree is a big problem. Not good for firewood either, but be more concerned about them being invasive. State ODNR in Ohio told are extremely concerned and recommend chemical kill treatments.
The only real cure is to let the natives grow up and shade them out. It takes 10-30 yrs., but it is a very permanent solution. We've got a small stand that is just now dying out as our native tulip trees are finally overtopping them.
I had one in my backyard that topped out over my oak trees. It outgrew them. Had it taken down this past spring, then about late July those root suckers started appearing everywhere and a lot further away from the tree than I would have expected. They send roots out far.
