In article , "SteveW" wrote:
I need to find a type of tree to plant that will give me good quality
firewood in a short amount of time. Someone mentioned Poplar to me. Does
anyone have any recommendations?

Principal recommendation: abandon the idea, on two grounds.

First, the best firewood comes from slow-growing trees such as oaks,
hickories, and sugar maples. The wood of fast-growing trees is inherently less
dense, and hence does not make as good firewood, as the wood of slow-growing
trees. Poplar specifically is not good firewood; it burns rapidly, and has
little fuel value.

Second, and more important, you will not get a reasonable *quantity* of
firewood "in a short amount of time" from *any* tree that you plant. That just
doesn't happen. Not by _human_ standards, anyway. Thirty years *is* "a short
amount of time" _to_a_tree_.

Secondary recommendation: there are ways of getting cheap firewood, as long
as you're willing to work for it. If your city or state government removes a
tree, you may be able to get the wood just by asking for it (as long as you're
able to haul it away). If you have a chainsaw, you could offer to cut up
fallen trees (or limbs) for your neighbors after a storm, in exchange for the
wood. In some states, you can get firewood *very* cheaply in state-owned
forests. Here in Indiana, for example, the state sells logging rights to
commercial timber harvesters. The commercial guys are usually interested only
in the first 30-40' of trunk, and they leave the rest on the ground. After
they're done, Joe Citizen can come in and take whatever he wants for three
bucks a pickup truck load.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?