Thread: Replacment trees

Hi Himzo

If you are going plant white gums I would make sure they are well away from the house as they are inclinded to drop branches in high winds.

The other thing is because they have a lot of surface roots you will find the grass will not grow very well under them as well as the tannan coming off them in the wet times also inhibits the growth of grass as well.

They grow like weeds up my way as they tend to sucker.

The other thing is that they are usless a firewood as well as for furniture . Up here in the New England they are really the most worthless timber you could find.

If you want to plant trees for firewood I would looking at Yellow Box, Stringy Bark or even Redgum and the Redgum could be havested for furniture by your Grand Children.

If you want a fast growing gum, consider Sugar Gum. It is an amazing tree, grows like stink and is about the highest BTU firewood available in a regrowth tree. A 40 year old Sugar Gum has all the characteristics of Old Growth iornbark. It is very dense, hard and burns beautifully.
I have been making some furniture out of it and it comes up a treat. This tree is originally from South Australia but is now grown extensively throughout Victoria, especially by farmers wanting a windbreak and to later harvest it for firewood.
Look it up using google, you will find quite a bit of information about it.
Hope this helps
Suresh

This looks like a good site.

www.ffp.csiro.au/alrtig/sugargum.htm

Thanks for the replies,

Barry,
I mainly want the white gums for the Koalas, a fair bit of their habitat has been destroyed around here and I'd like to do my bit to restore the damage. The trees will be some thirty meters from the house and down the hill a bit so I'm not expecting things to fall on the house.
I've got plenty of Strigy bark on the property and will continue to nurture this as this seems to be the main Koala food in the summer.

Suresh,
Thanks for the sugar gum advice, I looked at the site that Bob posted and have decided on this species and a couple of other which got brought up in phone conversations with friend.

Bob,
great site, thanks.

The species I've decide to go with are :
White gum, red gum, sugar gum, spotted gum, tassie blue gum, and yellow box. I will probably only plant one or two of each of the white and red gum as I can't see my self harvesting these, the others will be planted two or three each year from now on.

regards,
Himzo.

mate have a look here http://www.rirdc.gov.au/reports/AFT/02-095sum.html

its a very good artile about 27 diffrent farm forresty trees. It shows maps of where the trees can be planted along with specifc cliatic data. you could also find a book on the subject, i am currently borrowing "The hardwoods of australia and their economics " by R.T baker from my uni library although it was printed in 1919 ( you might have trouble finding a copy) it has a very comprehensive detalis of about 200 diffrent timbers and also has colour photos of alot of diffrent woods.

cya
tom

Tassie Blue gums are a dead-set winner in that area. They grow quick and have great timber. These are the tree of choice in many areas in SE SA.

Trav