Specialty and Native Timbers

[MelAU]

Hi,
We own a 32 ha property at Captain Creek (near Bundaberg) in Queensland. We are researching potential trees to plant on our property on a commercial basis. The property already has a large collection of large native Australian hardwood and rainforest trees that are doing well. Our property is in a mixed vegetation zone of white and sub-dominant. I spoke to the Dept of Natural Resources and told I need to stick with the common eucalyptus species in the sub-dominant zone, and we plan to plant Red Gums, Mahogany etc. We have approximately 5ha at the front of the property in the white zone. The soil is really dark and rich, near a creek, and we have been receiving higher than average rainfall lately. We plan to plant speciality timbers at the front on a long term basis (25-30 years), but we are not sure on which ones to choose and what the current market is for specialty timber. Should we stick to Australian native timbers?

Any advice if appreciated.

Thanks
Melissa

[TTIT]

I'll put my order in now :2tsup:. You're in the natural, possibly even endemic area for Norfolk Island Hibiscus which is a little known but beautiful native timber. It is a dream to work with hand or power tools and sands and finishes real nice too. It's biggest appeal to the specialty market is its color - very white - finishes like bone or ivory. I'll take as much as you can grow if I'm still around in 15 years or so :shrug:
The tree can handle salt and frost but not drought. Non-invasive root system, fast growing, doesn't spread too wide - they make great street trees - should be more of 'em!

[matildasmate]

Here's a few pic's of my wa karri's , I will be putting some sort of cypress in next , white ant's hate the heartwood , the sapwood is a different story though , good in the ground 15-20 year's , fantastic out of the ground , some of the old shearing shed's have weather board's 90 year's or more old and still going strong , beutifull timber also , cypress is also the prefered timber for log house building . Cheer's MM

[RufflyRustic]

Whilst Cypress is a great timber in the right application, be very careful planting it. It is considered a woody weed in QLD, grows very quickly, self seeds and if left unmanaged, will take over and destroy the land it's on, i.e. nothing else will grow there while the cypress is there.

I'm not sure exactly which type of cypress, so best check with the authorities first.

____________

Walnut
Rosewood

I'd love to say camphor laurel, but I'd have to refer myself to my own paragraph above:doh:.

cheers
Wendy

[matildasmate]

Whilst Cypress is a great timber in the right application, be very careful planting it. It is considered a woody weed in QLD, grows very quickly, self seeds and if left unmanaged, will take over and destroy the land it's on, i.e. nothing else will grow there while the cypress is there.

I'm not sure exactly which type of cypress, so best check with the authorities first.

____________

Walnut
Rosewood

I'd love to say camphor laurel, but I'd have to refer myself to my own paragraph above:doh:.

cheers
Wendy
Hi Wendy I live in an area where we have thousands of acre's of pine plantation's growing and some cypress , farmer's around here generally use them as wind break's around there house's also along fence line's for stock , there pretty easy to control , they will grow any where and yes your right they do self seed , as for unmanaged , well almost any plantation not managed corectly will turn to crap , pruning , thinining etc. As to invasive , that generally come's down to poor management and control , there are many native specie's that are native to other part's of Australia , that when planted in other part's of Australia where these plant's are not indigenous , if poorly managed become a weed . Under the South Australian Native vegitation act , a plant is only cosidered indigenous to your area if it grow's within 50ks of your area and with all the change's occurring all the time , due to competition for water , global warming and change's to Native vegitation act , I believe some time down the track , all government's will stop us cutting down all the indigenous tree's we plant on our property's , in our state currently we can fell anything we plant , but to cover myself , to have some certainty in the future I plant non indigenous tree's to my area , but native to Australia . As to the authorities , never check with those clown's , well not around here anyway , they will only tell you what suit's them . Cheer's MM

[damian]

Hm. I'm in Brisbane so not as familiar with bundy as around here. There are a number of cabinet timbers indigneous to qld that ahve been logged to commercial extinction and are worth good $ now. Red cedar (not western red cedar which is USA) is worth a bomb but is suceptable to tip moth. White cedar gets attacked by a caterpillar but survives. Qld white beech grew all up the state and is worth good money but don't know about pests...Hoop pine is easy and worth something. Silky oak isn't worth as much but grows like a weed and is trouble free. I think they are pretty standing also.

I'd get me to a library, there are whole books written on australian cabinet timbers and others on growing native trees.

Cut down those gum trees. They are a weed, drop branches and burn explosively.

[Clinton1]

I hope that fellow from Gympie area sees this thread... Bob Whitworth (http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=39224)? I think he is the man that has the red cedars and other trees growing on his farm.
Hopefully someone remembers his user name.... haven't seen him on the board for a little while.

Anyway, he'd have a few good ideas.

Other than that, drop into the older sawmills in Bundy and have a chat to the old blokes that work there, and the old carpenters/cabinetmakers.

They will tell you the 'good stuff' and where it grew and so forth. E.g. Bundy used to have a lot of "Swamp Mahogany" (local name only) that has fantastic figure.

Have fun... I'm a little envious! :wink:

[MelAU]

Thanks for the advice. I have choosen a few varieties for trees for the front area of the property: silver quandong, blackwood, silky oak, spotted gum, white beech. I am still researching the best trees for our area.

Regards
Melissa

[derekh]

Melissa

I suggest giving Private Forestry Southern Queensland a call - http://www.privateforestrysthnqld.com.au/. I've just completed their 5 day Native Forest Management workshop and thought it was great value. If you going to do it as a commercial venture then I suggest getting Sean Ryan or Paul Daly from PFSQ involved. Get the right information from the guys who do for a living.

cheers
Derek