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Jam Lady
Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 2573 Location: New Jersey, USA
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Slim
Joined: 05 Mar 2006 Posts: 6613 Location: New England (In the US of A)
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buzzy
Joined: 04 Jan 2011 Posts: 3708 Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011 Posts: 15998
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barb46
Joined: 04 Nov 2016 Posts: 1
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buzzy
Joined: 04 Jan 2011 Posts: 3708 Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds
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Jam Lady
Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 2573 Location: New Jersey, USA
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011 Posts: 15998
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Ty Gwyn
Joined: 22 Sep 2010 Posts: 4613 Location: Lampeter
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buzzy
Joined: 04 Jan 2011 Posts: 3708 Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds
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Posted: Sun Nov 06, 16 12:42 pm Post subject: |
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Mistress Rose wrote: |
If the grasses are perennial the advantage of a sterile hybrid is that it won't spread as easily as one producing seed, not will it cross fertilise local grasses.
Why can't excess straw from cereal crops be used instead? I know the stems are a lot harder, but chopped up fine and treated as pellets, perhaps mixed with grass or other stuff to bind, with the pressure they apply, it ought to work. That way you get two crops from one bit of land.
There was a fashion for various ways of using paper for firewood here a few years ago Jam Lady. It died a death as; 1. some newspapers (like our local one) are made of flame retardant paper, 2. it is hard work for not much return, 3. they are a brute to dry. |
When I lodged on a farm, the farmer had a bale burner built on the side of the house - this was in the late 1970s. Basically an enormous stove. He burnt 'standard ' rectanglar bales of straw in it. I think it used to heat the hot water (there were no radiators at that time in the house). I've no idea how efficient it was, but of course he had any number of bales to burn.
Henry |
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Ty Gwyn
Joined: 22 Sep 2010 Posts: 4613 Location: Lampeter
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011 Posts: 15998
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Ty Gwyn
Joined: 22 Sep 2010 Posts: 4613 Location: Lampeter
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Slim
Joined: 05 Mar 2006 Posts: 6613 Location: New England (In the US of A)
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Posted: Mon Nov 07, 16 12:31 pm Post subject: |
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Mistress Rose wrote: |
Why would woodchip become more scarce Slim? Any wood can be used for it, and it is often just left as a way of getting rid of thinnings. Do you have some rules about its use or production where you are?
If there is spare land and it doesn't need fertiliser, grass seems a good option for biofuel. What doesn't seem a good idea is taking land out of food production if the food is needed. Not much use being able to transport and cook non-existent food. |
Folks already dispute how much timber should be harvested from the woodlands here, with a fair amount designated as wilderness (I think that's the designation with no real harvesting ever taking place).
The concept of "thinnings" in the woodland is an interesting one, as I'm guessing you are perhaps describing a more intensive style of management than most of our woodlands receive. No one really coppices here that I know of. People go in to the woods to harvest valuable hardwoods, often for furniture. Some softwoods are taken for lumber, and less valuable (or just younger) hardwoods are taken for cordwood. There are some large areas that are used as pulpwood for the paper industry, though I don't think it's the thriving industry it once was, and a lot has reverted to unmanaged woodland (not sure about that one).
I was just talking to a composter that was saying wood chips have gone from pretty much free to an input with a rising cost, because of the demand for energy generation and heating. |
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011 Posts: 15998
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