One of the things I noted early on working with landowners is that people who plant trees often have trouble cutting any of them down. I resolved many years ago that I would not be that way, and I have been whacking trees that Susan and I planted for many years. The project in this video has actual sawlogs that I am taking out, and I hope to make many of them into firewood. You plant more than 400 per acre to finish out 40 or 50. If you are growing trees you definitely need a wood stove in your home.
I have several more days to go in this planting, so, Back To The Old Grind!
Hi, Boron! I grabbed the photos from the post I mentioned in comments to stick in here. We wanted to grow our black oaks a couple inches larger, but we were losing more volume than we were growing at this point, so we did that harvest in December of 2012. Black oak is like that. It grows fast, but lives only about 2/3 of what white oak can do. It was a good time, and the weather held for us during the harvest. The last photo is the sawmill pit from 1940.
Are any of your trees (hardwoods) worth more than firewood? usable for furniture, wood paneling?
ReplyDeleteWe had a nice sale in 2012 with most of it being black oak grade and blocking logs. That was in timber that was cut off in 1940, and then grazed for several years. I did a thinning there in the mid 1980s. Here are some photos. https://truebluesam.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-visit-to-log-landing.html
ReplyDeleteThe planting that I am thinning now is still under a CRP contract, so none of the trees can be sold until that runs out. They are just coming to sawlog size now. We might have a sale there during our lifetime, but I am just happy to see them growing well now.
The area that was cut in 1940 and then again in 2012 will be ready for a white oak sale 40 to 50 years from now.
wish we had planted a few hardwoods; all we have is 10 acres of Doug fir.
ReplyDeleteYou can grow many times more per acre with Doug fir. Upland oak sites where I am will maybe do about 5-6 thousand bd ft/acre. Bottomland oaks can do around 10. You might grow 40 thousand board feet per acre with your tall trees! We have one Douglas-fir in the yard. I like to stand under it and breathe. It takes me out West!
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