New Acres scheme

100 percent.

Can 100% see a ban on cutting timber coming in down the line... Greens may build it into legislation before they end their term as they won't see another government term for another generation..

Funny thing is, in glas with the Grove of trees option, trees had to be no more than 1 metre from one & other.

Their prone to changing their conclusions on these things over the years.

I'm putting in a shelter belt between the house and some cut-over bog we have. After much research I'm going with a Alder, Common Birch and Aspen combo

Good value to be had via Future Forests based in Cork - deliver nationwide over the sowing season and all native stock

It's carbon neutral. What is stored goes back and is stored for the next growing cycle. Of fuels we use, it's the best, only bested by wind, hydro and solar pv. Some of these are questionable with the carbon inputs during the construction phase.

During world war 2 Norway and Sweden relied on timber greatly even have stored huge amounts of wood in the squares of large cities, these would make a stack of 10000 bales of silage look small.

Currently heat the house here for the past 10 years with a log gasification boiler. A wheelbarrow a day does all the heat and hot water in the middle of the day. Most of it is gathered as windfell and the odd tree that has to be taken down for safety purposes.

How we dry timber and how we burn it is the key to getting the most heat out of every log

I mentioned it to a gov TD a few years ago, he said anything grant aided, construction and furniture only, no firewood. All about storing carbon.

Similar to above have a bit of lean to off the back of the garage. Approx 30*14ft. Open side is north facing. About 12ft*14ft stacked to about 6ft high is enough for the year. Nothing fancy just time to dry it out and try to be a year ahead is the key. Fill onside and work from the other is the key.

For the gasification boiler every thing is cut to 20 inches or shorter. Spilt rough and ready. If it will fit in the door of the boiler it will do. Most of timber is gathered and dropped in corner of the farmyard. Cut away in quiet times. A saw horse with loads of depth for braches. Leave a tipper trailer into a shed and when full tip it at garage and just throw it in.

The gasification boiler is like a stove but burns down into a second chamber, this reburns the gas off the timber to approx 1100-1300c heating a water jacket. Since you can't control this heat or use it immediately it is dumped into a buffer tank. These are the equivalent of batteries to store your hot water. When ever the house calls for heat, it pumps from the buffer tank. If you want heat this evening you are using the heat from yesterday's burn. The key is to key the buffers temp up/ charged

Typical routine in the winter for me is I light a small fire in the bottom of the boiler with a bit of kindling and a fire light. The boiler has fan to help the draft. Fill the barrow with timber, put a bit in and make sure fire is going, top up close the door and walk away. Top up anytime with the remaining timber in a 3-6 hr window. I light it in the evening when going foddering. Less than 5 mins in total from lighting, getting the barrow of wood and tipping up. Find it good, but will find it better this year😉😉😉

Agreed, I was genuinely interested in this stuff until I heard the "top secret" ingredients bit.

Major whiff of homoeopathy off that.

Yea, very good points. The wife and I discussed it and came to the conclusion that for €50 we'd buy a small packet and test it on a acre. If it works then great and, if not, well sure, we get to go out **** all now anyway with the kids around so worth the gamble for €50 plus we can tell ye all it's shite and to stay away from it!

Definitely, pure snake oil salesman type. It would be also easy to prey on people desperate to cut the fert bill these days too.

A mag lick bucket a fortnight,

Quick clean of the of the gasification chamber daily. 30 secs. A clean every 2 months of the boiler of soot. Approx 10 mins. Clean the chimney annually

Cost was 6k about 10 yrs ago. A grand to the plumber and a grand in gunbarrel pipe and fittings. Was done as part to a new build

Mix of dry willow and ash is a good mix. Alder is good. Any of the spruce are good. Slower burn out of the likes of oak and beech. Key is have it dry below 20%

Boiler has the same footprint as a typical outdoor oil boiler, just about a 300-450 mm higher. The biggest space is needed for the buffer tank.

If you had an oiler boiler out in a shed it could work handy as you could tee into the piping going to the house

What American politician said u can put lipstick on a pig but its still a pig

Are these weeds not a sign of a significant soil imbalance, hence the score hit?