Hoop Pine Plantation

[M Stevens]

I've got a mature hoop pine plantation on my property (around 1,200 trees).
I'm looking at getting around 100-200 of these trees cut down for sale but don't really know much about it.

Is there much of a market for this wood, and if so, what's the best way of selling them? I don't want to mill them myself.

Any advice (or contacts!) would be appreciated.

Cheers

[crowash]

Hi,

I'm new to the forums but have been watching for a while, I have a private native forest in NSW which means some different issues to what you are dealing with but some similarities in terms of finding markets etc..

Why are you only dropping 200? Have they not reached full size etc? You may be best starting with a Forestry Consultant (start here: ACFA - Asssociaton of Consulting Foresters of Australia (http://www.consultingforesters.org.au/))

They can give you an idea of how best to manage your stand and also which markets to target. They will always be a market but depending on the size/quality of these trees and the distance to a mill etc it may not be cost effective to cut them down.. or you may be sitting on a gold mine. A consultant will help you through this.

I can tell you now that the royalty you receive for standing timber is only a very small portion of the total value the timber will sell for once it meets its buyer. If you have the resources it can be beneficial to manage the harvesting onsite by contracting someone to fell, and a portable sawmiller, drying then sourcing buyers directly yourself. Depends on your budget , skills, expectations and time.

Also if you are picking out 200 form within your stand for thinning etc you either need an expert treefeller or a mechanical harvester as its possible to do more damage to your standing trees than its worth.

Good luck!

Ash

[MAPLEMAN]

Don't forget,the powder post borer loves the stuff,so sell the logs before you cut them down...blue stain is another issue to be considered.I probably would harvest in the cooler/drier time of year(winter) in order to avoid these problems:2tsup:

[Bob Whitworth]

It is quite a problem making some money from small areas of pine plantations. I have planted up quite a large area of my farm with Hoop Pine and have given it quite some thought as to how to make some money from these plantations. The problem is that the sawmills that cut Hoop Pine get their supply from the HP plantations and that is all that they are really interested in. With hardwood, it is different because the sawmills get much of their supply from private individuals. I have decided that I will have to purchase a mobile sawmill to harvest my HP. The mill I will have to get will have to be an expensive European sliding table mill as I don’t think that a Lucas mill is at all suitable to the smaller diameter pine logs. The other problems is that the sawmillers will only want to pay you a very small price for the logs. Just maybe you can interest a hardwood sawmill to take some large HP logs but that it out of the ordinary or maybe there is a mobile sawmiller who might be interested. Maybe when I get my sawmill, I could even be interested but that at the moment is in the indefinite future.

[SWE]

M Stevens,Bob,Crowash I have a hardwood and softwood Logging company tatewide Earthmoving S (http://www.statewideearthmoving.com.au) and are faced by the same concerns and questions you are asking by private land holders everyday.

90% of our work is on private plantations. It is possible to get a good return for private log. However it should still be worth more. From the $ grower gets and what $ coming out of a hardware some one is making alot more than they should somewhere.

I'm happy to look into some local and overseas log markets for your timber also the logistics and help you with any questions.

The industry would struggle even more if it was not for the private growers.

Matt
Statewide Earthmoving
0400 263 658