Looking long(ish) term

[12bolts]

....long(ish) because at almost 50 I cant be waiting 30 years for a suitable tree.
I have recently purchased a small rural house block and have, (after the house, shed, chook run, bananas, vege patch and orchard) a left over bit for maybe some plantation hardwood.
I am talking about only 1/4 acre, maybe 1000 m2 tops. Location is Ingham Qld, just north of Townsville, kinda bordeline wet tropics, average rainfall 3-4 metres. Not as dry as Townsville in Winter, definately more humidity, but not as wet as Cairns. I am really just a hack at wood work looking at some of the projects on here:o but I do try!... hard as I can!
Any suggestions for a reasonably fast growing, desirable hardwood, probably more towards furniture, (tabletops, benchtops, maybe flooring) rather than knick knacky stuff. Cos I find its easier to sand out my mistakes:B ...rather than try to turn a bowl into a bookend...
Ground is currently grassed. Entire area surrounding is planted out with sugarcane. We are on the floodlands of the Herbert River so soil is quality black soil and silt to a depth of 1.2 metres, (thats the deepest I've dug to sink a post)

Cheers Phil

[MAI]

Hi,

I just did a woodlot design for someone in Warragul with 700m2 available. I managed to fit in trees for habitat, biodiversity, fine timber, firewood and food so a small area doesn't preclude doing something useful.

I suggest joining Australian Forest Growers. They have a number of Qld branches inlcuding some in north Qld. See AFG Branches in Queensland (http://www.afg.asn.au/branches/queensland.html)

There are some superb timber trees that grow well in your area and it sounds like you have the rainfall and soil for a very good site.

The challenge will be to select species that produce something usable for fine timber in a relatively small period

Best of luck with it



....long(ish) because at almost 50 I cant be waiting 30 years for a suitable tree.
I have recently purchased a small rural house block and have, (after the house, shed, chook run, bananas, vege patch and orchard) a left over bit for maybe some plantation hardwood.
I am talking about only 1/4 acre, maybe 1000 m2 tops. Location is Ingham Qld, just north of Townsville, kinda bordeline wet tropics, average rainfall 3-4 metres. Not as dry as Townsville in Winter, definately more humidity, but not as wet as Cairns. I am really just a hack at wood work looking at some of the projects on here:o but I do try!... hard as I can!
Any suggestions for a reasonably fast growing, desirable hardwood, probably more towards furniture, (tabletops, benchtops, maybe flooring) rather than knick knacky stuff. Cos I find its easier to sand out my mistakes:B ...rather than try to turn a bowl into a bookend...
Ground is currently grassed. Entire area surrounding is planted out with sugarcane. We are on the floodlands of the Herbert River so soil is quality black soil and silt to a depth of 1.2 metres, (thats the deepest I've dug to sink a post)

Cheers Phil