Alder or Ash for firewood

eamon11

Hello Folks,

I am planting 12 acres of ash but have since decreased this to 11 acres of ash and 1 acre of alder. The alder, if its divided into 1/4 acre plots, will have no impact on grant or premiums for the ash, hence that choice.

The reason is for some quick firewood as I think alder grows faster than ash?

Maybe someone can clarify this for me?

Thanks a lot in advance,

eamon

muirsin

The alder is of little benefit for firewood even though it is fast growing and will tolerate wet land.Sycamore is fast growing and excellent for firewood

ford2600

Alder will grow very quick in wet land. Very low density and doesn't burn right! If land is wet, willow is your only man, grows quick, easy to dry and good firewood. Stick in a few Alder for the bugs and bees though.
In relation to ash it is very site specific, on my ash there is huge variety throughout the site with growth rates. Make sure site is suitable, a frosty site can be problematic with ash. Lovely wood once established

eamon11 wrote: »

Hello Folks,

I am planting 12 acres of ash but have since decreased this to 11 acres of ash and 1 acre of alder. The alder, if its divided into 1/4 acre plots, will have no impact on grant or premiums for the ash, hence that choice.

The reason is for some quick firewood as I think alder grows faster than ash?

Maybe someone can clarify this for me?

Thanks a lot in advance,

eamon

eamon11

tks lads,

the land is pretty good land. Has been used for a good crop of hay/silage up till now. Not wet land, rather high if anything. Cheers muirsin. I will look inmto your idea of sycamore.

Eamon

ootbitb

eamon11 wrote: »

tks lads,

the land is pretty good land. Has been used for a good crop of hay/silage up till now. Not wet land, rather high if anything. Cheers muirsin. I will look inmto your idea of sycamore.

Eamon

Alder doesn't like it dry. Grows like a weed here beside a river with roots in the water.

I am short of firewood and intend cutting some alder this week for burning next April/May as it seems to dry out quickly under cover. Burns well enough when mixed with other hardwood. Very quick grower in wet soil.

eamon11

which grows faster, ash or sycamore? sycamore I suppose but is there a big growth difference?

ford2600

Wouldn't think there is much in it.

I thinned my ash for first time at about 11/12 yrs old.

Light wood, for most part no splitting required. The need to thin varied throughout the crop, depending on growth rates.

With 11 acres, you'll be trying to get rid of wood in 12 yrs time.

I've removed 35% of trees at this stage, trees now 17 years old.

Ash grows quick. Watch the late frost, which burns early buds and forks tree. I f you don't correct it, it will all be firewood!

While your planting, put a mix in the spare acre, willow, birch, holly, whatever is growing local will grow. It'll be a lovely acre in 20 years time

eamon11 wrote: »

which grows faster, ash or sycamore? sycamore I suppose but is there a big growth difference?

f2

Wondering how did the alder turn out as firewood, thinking of planting some

CJhaughey

I have burnt a good bit of Alder in the last few years.
I buy it from a local guy who cut some big Alders down, these were 14" 16" DBH and once split and seasoned burnt well in my stove.
I think a lot of the problems are because Alder isn't dried properly and consequently doesn't burn well.
In my experience, most woods once seasoned properly with low enough MC will burn and burn well.

Rovi

f2 wrote: »

Wondering how did the alder turn out as firewood, thinking of planting some

We've been burning alder in a stove on and off for the last couple of winters, and it's perfectly fine.
Fresh alder cut during the growing season is quite wet, so it needs to be dried well.
Dry alder is relatively less dense that sycamore/beech/ash/etc, so it'll burn up quicker under the same conditions. We'd close down the vents on the stove when burning alder, and there's plenty of heat and burn-time to be got out of it, but in an uncontrolled open fire, it'd blaze up and be gone pretty quick.

In the right conditions (damp/wet ground) it grows at a terrific rate.