Was in the woods, cutting some firewood. I picked out 2 or 3 to fell. I knew one was hickory but I wasn't sure about the other. I couldn't see the leaves as they were way up top, but the bark looked promising. I cut the tall one first in hopes the second tree would lay over the first and make for some easy cutting positions Soon as I cut the notch I discovered my worst fear. This was a huge tulip popular!.... I never ever use this "gopher wood" as it burns way to quickly for my liking. Being a nature lover, I knew it was as good as dead with my deep notch, so I couldn't just leave an injured tree like that, so I just cut, split, stacked. I feel this 3 hours of cutting and loading was almost a waste of time, but I think everyone needs at least one cord of popular. They do make good kindling. Easy to split, but such a waste of fuel in my opinion.. I thought I would just share. Off to get the hickory in a couple days!
Mis-identification of a tree.
- Thread starter redmanlcs
- Start date
-
Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.
We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.
We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Where I live we regularly see -30c temps. In fact this last winter was one of the coldest and longest on record. 80% of my firewood is poplar and me and my family were toasty warm all winter.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
True, it still burns warm, but it disappears awfully fast. I once burned a full cord of wood in one stove in 8 days. It was poplar.
Burn 80% popular? wow!... Me and my wife ran into a stack of popular, (I used to just stack whatever wood we cut together in the stacks) um.. ran into a stack of popular during a very cold night and we set our alarm clocks to sound every 20 min. We took turns loading the stove. Every 20 min our stove would be begging for more wood. Our stove was running pretty much wide open throttle, we decided then to keep popular at a minimum. Popular to me is great during the shoulder seasons when you just need a small fire to warm the room, when its gets down into the 40's. With the way I identify trees, I'm sure we will have enough popular, even tho I don't ever seek them out. If you can get by with it kudos to you mate, I sure can't get by with it.. I'm happy with Oak, Hickory, and Beech. Thast about all we have around here that is decent enough to burn.
Been there, done that . . . I'm better at leaf identification and thought the tree I was cutting was an ash . . . turned out to be basswood.
redmanics you did the respectable thing taking the injured poplar tree.
I once paid for a grapple load of "Hardwood" that contained one giant stinking 48" diameter Cottonwood tree. I spent more on gas for the splitter and chainsaw than it was worth and I learned a lesson when ordering grapple loads.
I once paid for a grapple load of "Hardwood" that contained one giant stinking 48" diameter Cottonwood tree. I spent more on gas for the splitter and chainsaw than it was worth and I learned a lesson when ordering grapple loads.
