[SustainableTompkins] Poplars for fuel

[Joel and Sarah Gagnon]

I have used poplar and other low-density hardwoods as fuel and can share my 
limited experience.

They burn cleanly, once dry, but they don't burn long because of their low 
density. A pound of dry wood has the same fuel value whether it is oak or 
willow, but the oak packs a lot more heat into a unit volume. I use poplar, 
box elder, willow, pine, hemlock, spruce, sumac and fungally-compromised 
normally denser woods to heat in the swing seasons when all you need is a 
quick shot of heat to take the chill out of the house in the morning. To 
use them when the heat demand is greater requires frequent feeding of the 
fire. Being lighter, though, they are easier to handle.

One problem with growing poplar for fuel is that it is rabbit candy. I 
don't think it coppices or root sprouts either, so it needs to be replanted 
every time it is harvested. I like a locust stand for firewood (Black 
Locust, Robinia pseudoacacia). They grow quickly, are dense, have multiple 
uses (fence posts and rot-resistant lumber) and both coppice (grow back 
from the stumps) and root sprout. The light shade they cast allows 
understory cropping of things like blackberries and raspberries.

Joel

At 08:16 AM 9/15/06 -0400, you wrote:
>The recent posting of an article about the genome of the black
>cottonwood (a kind of poplar) raises a question about poplars in
>general.
>
>It's been suggested to me that a person who heats with wood might
>be wise to plant a stand of fast-growing poplars.  Apparently you
>can get seeds or seedlings (I'm not clear on which) locally, I
>think from CU or from County Extension, for about 25 dollars a
>thousand.
>
>On the other hand, I've also heard that poplar wood is not the
>greatest for heating.  I'm talking about just cutting them up and
>feeding the billets to a fireplace insert, not cellulosic
>conversion or anything like that.
>
>Does anyone have experience with growing poplars for fuel in this
>area, or pointers to the advisability of this approach in our
>growing region?  Given their rate of growth, it sounds like a
>great idea, but I haven't heard of a lot of people around here
>doing this.
>
>Jon
>
>
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