On Feb 6, 1:37*pm, andrew wrote:
Andy Dingley wrote:
Not logs though. The point about biomass willow is that it's either
coppiced (best) or whips. No-one is growing willow logs for fuel.

Apart from asrc plus some trials with eucalyptus and short rotation
softwoods I don't think anyone plants trees commercially for fuel in UK.
You'll note from watching treework on roadsides that it's still cheaper to
chip it to waste rather than haul it off, the economics of biomass demand
large scale harvesting to keep the costs down to about 1/10 those of old
fashioned ( my sort) forestry.

Sawlogs and then industrial wood (chipboard but no longer pulp in this
country) are the intended markest then forestry residues are sold as fuel
but even so I'd guess the planned products subsidise the biomass fuel
harvesting.

There was a large estate near Reading that grew cricket bat willows, a
premium crop on a short rotation, and they did use the logs for heating the
main house.

Generally willow is awkward because it's a b****r to chip.

ASRC has problems in a small boiler too as the *extra mineral ash from the
large bark/bud percentage coupled with extraneous soil inclusions cause
havoc from clinker in one installation I dealt with.

One almost never plants willow or poplar as whips commercially, setts are
used often in a hole dibbed in the ground and backfilled with sand.

AJH

There are hundreds of acres of willow growing in fields just down the
road from our house.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_forestry
On wet ground it's the most commonly grown timber for this purpose.