Wrong type of trees

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Wrong type of trees

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Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Fri Feb 05, 16 6:30 pm Post subject: Wrong type of trees
Not all trees are good trees

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46235
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Feb 05, 16 9:12 pm Post subject:
my instinctive feeling is that this aspect is at most a very minor factor.(as in the numbers mentioned) as the article has no detailed references with numbers it is difficult to know if it is based in reality or if it is dubious opinion.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15985

Posted: Sat Feb 06, 16 8:32 am Post subject:

I rather suspect that conifers grown for pulp in particular don't store carbon for as long as something like an oak tree, which may be rather more to the point. If you cut a conifer at about 40 years and use it for pulp, which will probably be decaying itself within a year or so, the carbon dioxide is released and has only been held for about 40 years. If you cut an oak tree at 150 years, that carbon dioxide has been stored for that time, and most of it won't be released for another hundred years or even a lot longer as the oak is used mainly for construction.

It would be very difficult to calculate the way that the timber was used and how soon it decayed, but think this might have more to do with the heat levels than the colour. More pulp is now being made with waste wood now and in the UK we are planting more deciduous than conifers as conifers are definitely less acceptable to the Forestry Commission.

Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sat Feb 06, 16 8:45 am Post subject:
It's a shame the FC are planting so many conifers themselves if it's not acceptable to them. I thought this was an old story, conifers absorbing more heat than broadleaves which adds to global warming.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15985

Posted: Sat Feb 06, 16 8:50 am Post subject:
Not sure if they are so much these days Treacodactyl. I really don't know in Scotland and the north of England, but here in the south we are being told that grants are going to be more likely for hardwood plantings.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sat Feb 06, 16 8:57 am Post subject:
They've been replanting round me with conifers and seeing how they work is rather galling considering how they want private woodland owners to work.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15985

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 16 9:08 am Post subject:

I don't know where you are Treacodactyl, so couldn't say, but it might be more suitable for conifers. The also have a duty to try to smooth out the inconsistencies in the market, which makes it possible for us still to have a chipboard and other industries. One of the things the government departments trying to save money by cutting the FC don't worry about. I mean, we can always import either the chips or the chipboard can't we. They never worry about loss of jobs.

Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 16 12:47 pm Post subject:

Mistress Rose wrote:

The area seems to be particularly unsuitable for conifers judging by the amount of windblow. It's a very wet area and should be scrubby culm, hence the large amount of drainage the FC install.

Having done a management plan for mine I just can't see how the FC can justify what they do on their own land. As for timber, I was wondering what use there will be for it in 60 years time, I can't see much used in print, the timber is very poor quality so not used in building etc.

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 16 1:35 pm Post subject:
I found this programme about New England interesting. According to that settlers destroyed the pine forest that was there previously and then moved on, leaving the broadleaves, mainly oak & maple, to outcompete the conifers leaving what we see today.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46235
Location: yes

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 16 3:25 pm Post subject:
there is a hypothesis that quite a bit of the amazon basin"primary"forest is actually secondary on top of human created black earth soils from pre historic agriculture.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 16 10:22 pm Post subject:
Try living in the 'national forest' I think they spent all the money on signs and there wasn't any left for tree. There certainly don't seem to be many, of any variety.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15985

Posted: Mon Feb 08, 16 7:57 am Post subject:

They claim to have planted a million now I think. Trouble is, planting isn't the same as raising them.

Windblow is less of a problem if you don't cut any Tre. I think there is some thinning needed in the early years, but then they are cut in blocks. I am not into conifers myself, as we have very few, and do natural regeneration in our wood, so it tends to be self perpetuating hardwoods.

Interesting about New England and the Amazon. I know that there are old farms hidden in the New England forests, but didn't know there is a theory they were mainly conifers. Can't see why the conifers would have been cut in preference really, because the settlers were probably from Britain, so would have expected to build their houses of hardwoods, and used them for tools and carts.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Mon Feb 08, 16 9:11 am Post subject:
I think the site I'm thinking about is completely inappropriate, especially if they actually follow their own guidance about resilience. Looking at the weather today, with gusts over 70mph, I wonder what the trees will have to cope with in 50 years time?

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