Eucalyptus Firewood

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Mick F
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Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by Mick F »

We planted a eucalyptus sapling about 20years ago, little knowing how fast and high it would grow.
Looking back, I should have cut it down ............ but procrastinated.

About four years ago, I considered felling it, but by then it was 2ft in diameter and goodness knows how tall. I've searched through our photographs to see if there's a recent shot of it, but no sadly.

I'd had enough of this damned tree, and as it was far too big for me to safely bring down with any confidence, so looked up ways to kill it. I figured on letting it die or at least stopping it growing.

To that end, I stripped the bark off it all the way round about 2ft off the ground, and about a foot wide strip. I left it six months but it didn't seem to look fazed by this maltreatment at all. Next, I drilled half inch holes into the stripped area, and syringed Roundup into the holes.

A year later it showed definite signs of distress, and maybe a year after that, I could see that it was dead. :D

Then, we had the storms and the high winds in mid February, and one morning it was down! Never heard a thing during the night other than the wind and rain, but down it came. It landed across the wire fence into next-door's but as it's very rural and woodlandy here, the was no damage other than to an ash and an oak. The fence was knackered anyway.

I set about clearing the tree. I took all the thinner branches off with the croppers and shredded them in our electric shredder.

The rest of the tree is work in progress and it makes good firewood. Remember the tree was dead, and probably had been despite not looking like it for a couple of years or more.

There are two things that have surprised me about eucalyptus wood. No, gobsmacked me.
1. It's very heavy. Far heavier than oak. It cuts easily and splits with the log splitter easily too, but it's damed heavy!
2. The grain is very coarse. I suppose it would be considering how fast it grew. The individual rings are going on half an inch apart.

Just been cutting some of it into logs. One barrow-load done and ready to bring in, then perhaps another two loads. There must be a hundred loads yet to do! :D :D
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I'm going back outside shortly ......... just having a cuppa ............ and I'll take some more photos.
Mick F. Cornwall
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by rjb »

Too late now but you should have planted a copse when you moved in. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. :lol:
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Mick F
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by Mick F »

Bonefishblues wrote:Looks like you're on to a winner:
https://wildwoodfuel.co.uk/why-eucalypt ... ing%20fuel.
Thanks!
Now I know!

rjb wrote:Too late now but you should have planted a copse when you moved in. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. :lol:
Funny you say this. I was riding last week and went past a huge copse of the stuff, and I wondered why people would even think about planting the damed things!

Brought inthe rest of the wood I've just logged - gosh it's heavy stuff! - and then went outside the back to photo more of the (fallen and cut) tree.
The stump is split and dead but 2ft in diameter.
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Mick F. Cornwall
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by simonineaston »

Anyone who spots a grumpy-looking Koala in the vicinity of the Tamar valley will now know why... ;-)
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by peetee »

Eucalyptus is an amazing tree. It has flammable sap that vastly increases the destructive power of wild fires. It also has seeds that are impervious to fire thereby giving them a head start in the reforestation of a scorched landscape.
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Mick F
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by Mick F »

Hopefully the seeds on the branches I shredded won't germinate! :shock: :shock:
If they do, they'll be swiftly sprayed with Roundup.

All the shreddings I produce from clearing bushes and hedges etc get thrown into the undergrowth for mulching down.
I used to light bonfires for stuff like that, but a shredder is quicker, cleaner and far far easier.
This one is mine, but bought locally.
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Mick F. Cornwall
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by Mick F »

simonineaston wrote:Anyone who spots a grumpy-looking Koala in the vicinity of the Tamar valley will now know why... ;-)
We have lots of bamboo for the pandas. :lol:
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by Ben@Forest »

Around a decade or so ago eucalyptus looked like a surefire winner for biomass production. It grows quickly and has great calorific value, some species are also unpalatable to deer so avoids being damaged by browsing. What mainly seemed to kill it off (literally) was the winter of 2010/11; it wiped out plantations which owners were assured had been planted with 'hardy' species.

We had -19C here and fields of it just up the road were all killed off; I also know plantations on the E Yorks coast (where temps must have been higher) were also largely hammered. After that interest seemed to disappear, it's interesting that in the SW there's still some interest.

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Mick F
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by Mick F »

Yes, there's one locally here, the one I referred to earlier.
Looking on Google Streetview it isn't there as the photos are too early. If I go that way again, I'll check it out and maybe take a photo.
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by Paulatic »

Ben@Forest wrote:What mainly seemed to kill it off (literally) was the winter of 2010/11;

Yes, a neighbour had one 20-30 feet that winter killed it.
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by Pebble »

Sounds like a particular cruel way to kill the tree, a slow and lingering death is not good. I would of thought a quick felling with a sharp chainsaw would have been a far kinder end to its little life..


I think various types of Eucalyptus (Gum Trees) can be as heavy as Oak. But I do think they can hold a lot of water, weigh some before storing (write the weight on with a marker pen) then report back next Feb when you come to burn it. May be as much of a third of it could be water.
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Mick F
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by Mick F »

Our's was far too big for me to cut down safely. The base was wider than my chainsaw is long. Also, it hadn't grown straight up but had a lean of maybe 10deg, so there would have been a great strain on it.

The wood is much heavier than even wet oak. Our eucalyptus is dry now as the tree has been dead for at least a couple of years, so we're already burning it.

We don't have the space undercover to store wood for years, it would mean my cutting trees for weeks maybe months to build up a store. Anything freshly cut is left in lengths of a few months and then logged up as and when required. This eucalyptus doesn't need storing. I'll be carrying a few lengths (if I can lift them) from the fell site to the front later this morning, and I'll cut them up maybe next week. The wider pieces, I'll split with my splitting axe .......... but that's damned hard work!
Mick F. Cornwall
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by Mick F »

Here's a photo from the top of our woods of a dead birch that snapped off in January.
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Re: Eucalyptus Firewood

Post by pwa »

I pollard our Eucalyptus once every five years, at a height of about three and a half metres. Like the French do with lime trees on avenues. It grows back bushy. The wood burns nicely when dry, though I do use longer poles as infill stakes in our back hedge. I split the wood when it is newly cut as it becomes like iron after drying. The tree was here when we moved in and if I had been the one choosing I would have gone for a smaller tree species needing little or no maintenance, but you start from where you are, not where you would like to be. Removing it, roots and all, would be a hell of a job and very disruptive, and any replacement tree would take a decade to fill the gap, so we make the best of the imperfect tree we have.
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