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Post by mountaindweller on Jul 30, 2012 23:12:37 GMT -5
Our chicken run has not enough shade and I want to grow some very fast growing trees, to provide more shade until the fruit trees are up. These trees could be choppiced and used as organic matter for other areas. In another area, I need a very fast growing windbreak, but these must be evergreen shrubs/trees.
For the windbreak I tried clumping bamboo, and while these are supposed to grow very fast in warmer climate, it made maybe a meter or so in the first 1 1/2 years.
Acacias are supposed to grow fast, but after two years I think they mainly gained height but did not thicken really up.
I want to grow Paulownia tomentosa - Empress Tree in the chicken run.
Are there other very fast growers?
Besides the windbreak it is biomass what we need for our garden.
I do not want anything gum or pine because of the fire hazard.
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Post by Drahkk on Jul 31, 2012 0:47:55 GMT -5
You're in Australia, right? These look promising: www.aussiewillow.com/ I've also seen Eucalyptus kitsoniana and Acacia decurrens mentioned as fast growing evergreen windbreak trees. MB |
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Post by steev on Jul 31, 2012 0:48:24 GMT -5
As I recall, you are somewhere in Australia; I don't really have a grasp of your max/min temps or available water. What height do you need, how fast, and for what time period, that is to say, until they could be ripped out?
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Post by mountaindweller on Jul 31, 2012 1:58:29 GMT -5
I must write more clearly, a gum tree is an Eucalyptus tree and they are the worst thing in a bush fire and we get bush fires here. The height doesn't really matter, chicken are small and the sheep is there only overnight.
Drahkk, the Aussie Willow sounds really good, unfortunately they don't tell what tree it is, is it a willow at all? Willows are banned as a weed here anyway. But maybe it is no willow.
We get up to -5°C (five under freezing) but only occasionally at night and there is enough water because we're fill on swamp.
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Post by raymondo on Jul 31, 2012 5:08:47 GMT -5
Chamaecytisus palmensis (Tagasaste) is fast growing, but no faster that many acacias. What acacias did you plant? If you are looking for dense growth try Acacia melanoxylon (Blackwood). It grows around here and makes a good screen. It can get quite tall. Acacia rubida (Red-stemmed wattle) grows very rapidly (3m in two years) but has an open canopy. You can keep chopping it though for rough mulch and it will grow more densely. Robinia pseudoacacia (Robinia) is also fast growing but has a tendency to sucker.
If you'd like some seeds of either of the two acacias PM me.
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edwin
gardener
Posts: 141
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Post by edwin on Jul 31, 2012 8:28:03 GMT -5
Hemp is one of the faster growing biomasses known, producing up to 25 tonnes of dry matter per hectare per year. ;D en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemp |
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Post by steev on Jul 31, 2012 10:48:37 GMT -5
Albizia?
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Jul 31, 2012 11:31:46 GMT -5
The fastest growing trees i have ever seen are the Black Walnuts. (Juglans nigra)
Choke cherry trees grow pretty fast too, but they are closer to a giant bush than a tree.
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Post by richardw on Jul 31, 2012 15:04:42 GMT -5
Chamaecytisus palmensis (Tagasaste) is fast growing, but no faster that many acacias. What acacias did you plant? If you are looking for dense growth try Acacia melanoxylon (Blackwood). It grows around here and makes a good screen. It can get quite tall. Acacia rubida (Red-stemmed wattle) grows very rapidly (3m in two years) but has an open canopy. You can keep chopping it though for rough mulch and it will grow more densely. Robinia pseudoacacia (Robinia) is also fast growing but has a tendency to sucker. If you'd like some seeds of either of the two acacias PM me. Yes i would think that Chamaecytisus palmensis would be one of the more suitable trees for the job,but as for Acacia melanoxylon&Acacia rubida would they be more of a fire hazard type tree ??. |
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Post by mountaindweller on Jul 31, 2012 20:49:19 GMT -5
I had some Tagasaste last year, it was too wet and too cold and our sheep said yummy and ate it (sheep can be clever when it comes to food). But there is no reason giving it another trial. Ray, I wanted to keep the bushcare ladies happy and bought their stuff, the acacias were A. longifolia. I planted two apricot trees there too, because they are said to grow fast and like poop. I mulched them with stones to prevent the chicken from scratching, but I must build a prison around too against that sheep.
With hemp we would have too many unwanted visitors.
I look into albitzia if it grows fast. Walnut trees like good drainage, and we have two grafted ones, but these at least don't grow that fast so far.
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Post by steev on Jul 31, 2012 21:52:13 GMT -5
Walnut trees will tend to discourage other plants; I'd not want to grow them for biomass.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jul 31, 2012 22:07:40 GMT -5
Walnut trees will tend to discourage other plants; I'd not want to grow them for biomass. I love putting walnut leaves under the grapes, and mulching the raspberries with them. Don't have to worry much about weeds that way. Hmmm. Maybe I aughta mulch the asparagus bed with walnut leaves. |
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Post by rowan on Jul 31, 2012 23:43:06 GMT -5
How about a clumping bamboo. Fast growing as well as useful, and the clumping ones are not a pest. Not sure if you can get it here, but please don't plant Kudzu - the stories of its pest nature are frightening, check this site: www.kudzuworld.com/Kudzu/index.EN.aspx |
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Post by 12540dumont on Aug 1, 2012 1:55:53 GMT -5
Last year I fooled around with Hibiscus cannabinus (Kenaf) for the chickens. It made fast growing shade. I planted them in rows with sunflowers as well on the outside. They made a tolerable windbreak as well. At the end of the season, you chop them down and use them for bedding (or fabric). However, it's an annual. There are ones without the marijuana leaves. That's the one I grew. Tons of biomass. In some places in Africa, they actually bundle the stems and use them for firewood. The blue house in back, is part of the traveling chicken road show. Note the electric sheep fence.... Anyway, I'd grow this again. Remember it must be planted early. Attachments:
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Post by Drahkk on Aug 1, 2012 2:14:15 GMT -5
Kudzu doesn't need a trellis, it needs a parking lot. Just plant it in one square inch of brick hard, bone dry soil and pave the surrounding 40 miles. Fertilize twice a week with a mixture of agent orange, lye, and used motor oil, and you'll have a thriving jungle within the month.
MB
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