No Plan - Can You Get There?

  • 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.
  • Super Cedar firestarters 30% discount Use code Hearth2024 Click here
Status
Not open for further replies.
cobble said:
JD - Popple is harvested that way as that is how to get best regeneration.

Yeah, I guess I understand that to a degree. Where I live in New York, it is very rare to completely clear-cut. Most woods are well mixed, and when logged, are selectively cut.
When I lived in the Northeast Kingdom of northern Vermont, it was pretty much the same. Clear cutting was pretty much frowned upon.

The area where I own land in northern Michigan was - just a few years ago - a mix of "popple", soft maple, hard maple, white birch, cedar, red pine, etc. Some of the maples were pretty good sized. These are the lands that were recently completely stripped - every stick of every tree cut down. Now, maybe that's good for mono-cropping and growing poplars to sell to OSB mills, and also maybe good for temporary cover or grouse, et. al. Not good as I see it though. I've never regarded any sort of mono-cropping being good in the long run - regardless if for trees, vegetables, etc. As I understsand it though, the entire history of Michigan has been one of clear cutting. I suspect, due to that, some of the original diversity is gone in most woods.
Also - here around our mixed woods, we have grouse all over the place - so I guess our type of woods is also good for them.

I fully admit, I don't know much about tree growth in northern MI except for a few things I've read recently. The soil in the areas there that I own is pretty sandy and quite different then here in NY.
 
My dad and I have never had a problem burning the NY native poplar... When they blow over we cut them up and burn them... Seasons out well in about 6 months. Makes nice hot fires, been getting ~6 hour burns out of the stuff we cut back from the March ice storm..

No complaints here..
 
moshiersr said:
My dad and I have never had a problem burning the NY native poplar... When they blow over we cut them up and burn them... Seasons out well in about 6 months. Makes nice hot fires, been getting ~6 hour burns out of the stuff we cut back from the March ice storm..

No complaints here..

As I've stated many times, there are regional differences, and Horseheads is 150 miles from my area. Also, as others have stated, not all Poplar is the same, and I have no idea exactly what species of wood you are referring to.

That being said, just about all wood called Poplar has around 1/2 the heat energy per pound of the best hardwoods in this area. So, my question is - if with the same effort (cutting, trucking, splitting, stacking, etc.) regardless of the type of wood, why would anyone chose a wood with only half the heat value - unless they have no choice? The context of all my statements is - I have a choice. The wood-lots in my area have good hardwood tops laying in the woods, all over the place, rotting as it is.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.