Alternatives to Ash

pachanco

If Chalara Fraxinea takes hold of the ash crop, what is the most suitable type of tree/trees to replace them with? It would need to be a good firewood tree with potential for coppicing also. Are there any good viable alternatives?

I've planted a few alder around the place this year, but I'm led to believe that they need fairly wet ground, which I don't have an abundance of. Are there any other trees that I should be considering for future planting.

Thanks pachanco

Oldtree

I have continued to plant out my own ash but in reduced numbers.
I have tried a few lines of my own sycamore, but a lot of them got damaged by the winds we get here when they budburst.
I have also tried 3 varities of willow (1 local and 1 yellow bark and 1 purple bark) which are all doing fine. Rooting cuttings are doing very well as are unrooted 3 foot cuttings. 1 foot unrooted cuttings are not doing so well as the grass overcame them and the slugs had a feast (I dont weedkiller or rooting hormone).

crackcrack30

oak on good ground......u'd be surprised at the growth rate.

pachanco

I have 25 native oak trees sitting in pots waiting to be planted, I was expecting them to be very slow growing so that's good news. I also have 25 larch trees in pots. I bought them bare root last winter and potted them in 4 litre pots.

I'm kind of in limbo waiting to see what happens with these ash trees before deciding where to plant them. I'll hopefully plant them out in late autumn this year.

I've a few of my own ash saplings that I picked in the garden that I've put in pots also, kind of feels like I'm wasting my time with them but I guess there is no point giving up just yet. It's fairly disheartening all the same.

I must look into willow also as possible replacement.

Thanks

Tollygunge

pachanco wrote: »

If Chalara Fraxinea takes hold of the ash crop, what is the most suitable type of tree/trees to replace them with? It would need to be a good firewood tree with potential for coppicing also. Are there any good viable alternatives?

I've planted a few alder around the place this year, but I'm led to believe that they need fairly wet ground, which I don't have an abundance of. Are there any other trees that I should be considering for future planting.

Thanks pachanco

Sweet Chestnut is a fine tree; rapid growth, great timber, coppices easily. Prefers acid soils though, which limits its capability to replace ash. But overall I could never understand why a lot more of it hasn't been planted.See characteristics here

Although sweet chestnut blight has been detected in England, there seems to be a chance it could be eradicated, see here. Ireland has a protected status zone for the disease which means controls are in place regarding the importing of infected material.

periodictable

Tried sweet chestnut in years ago but problem was branch snap in high winds which are quite regular.
I do have a few Nothofagus obliqua and N. procera but they require shelter, will grow in gleyed soils provided there is drainage provided, give tremendous fall color, rapid growth and host more insects than common beech. The drawback is that they may be frost tender, so you need to source seed from BFC seedlots. I think they coppice.
California redwoods and sequoias have rapid growth and look good, and the sempervirens coppices.
Acer rubrum not site demanding, fast grower and a spectacular fall color.
Italian alder beautiful tree, rapid growth. Tilia is another overlooked tree, quite rapid growth and good food source for insects.

crackcrack30

I forgot about the eculyptis (site dependant of course)

Oldtree

forgot to mention that i stuck in a few grey alder in a damp spot to see how they get on.

pachanco

Thanks for all the replies, I'm spoiled for choice now. I'll have to get my soil tested and see how acidic my soil is to decipher if the sweet chestnut will be a suitable candidate. The only place I came across sweet chestnut before was watching grand designs, where your man built the house in woodland from sweet chestnut. He seemed to be making all sorts of things out it, so it would be useful tree to have around the place. I've a fair bit of shelter here with existing ash trees and conifers.

Eucalyptus looks like a nice tree also, I'll have to try a few and see how they get on, the land here can get a bit wet in winter in parts. Acer rubrum(Maple) looks good too, certainly as a few specimen trees, not sure I'd want to be cutting them down for firewood though, I do have one maple tree in the garden already that is growing well. I tend to avoid trees as soon as I hear they are susceptible to frost. I'll make a list from the suggestions for the next time I'm in the nursery and see what's available and suitable for my site conditions.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

What would be the main hardwood trees grown commercially in Ireland? I always assumed that it was mainly ash. I guess we may start to see more diversification into different varieties in commercial forestry in years to come if ash dieback takes hold, which in my eyes wouldn't be a bad thing at all.

pachanco

One of the links above doesn't appear to be working correctly.

Here is the website address

Sweet chestnut blight eradication

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-8s5qbf

wayoutwest

I once knew someone that was growing Turkey Oak for firewood - much faster growing than other types of oak - not sure about the best conditions for growing. Has anyone had any experience of growing/burning Turkey Oak?

periodictable

Have several areas of Turkey oak-very fast grower, 1m/yr. In windy areas expect branch/leading shoot snap.
There is debate about the effect of a gall wasp which needs Q.cerris to complete its life cycle, and which causes reduced viability of the acorn of Q.robur, although the evidence seems to suggest it is not quite as severe as it was expected to be.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andricus_quercuscalicis.
I have no experience yet of burning the timber.

pachanco

A bit more info. here with regards to burning/ usefulness of turkey oak.

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/firewood-forum/13852-turkey-oak-bad-firewood.html

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/firewood-forum/13852-turkey-oak-bad-firewood.html