Home grown softwood

[dickm]

The previous owner of our house planted a belt of conifers all round the garden. Some are quite decorative (noble fir, blue spruce etc.) and some are needed as windbreak, but there is a patch of much-too-closely spaced larch that need thinning. There will probably be about six trunks, up to 10 inch diameter.
Two questions - is it worth planking these when I cut them down (can't think of an immediate use, but seems a shame for them just to go on the woodburner)? And if it is, does it matter when they are cut - winter/spring/summer?
(with care, even the biggest will go on my 352)

 

[dirtydeeds]

lucky man

down here we have tree preservation orders on anything bigger than a blade of grass

"if youve got bamboo in bromley your buggered"

i cant help on the seasoning but my head tells me that traditionaly felling was done in the autum / winter my guess is that it was when the sap wasnt rising

 

[Alan Smith]

Dickm I mill quite a lot of timber for my own use and that includes larch. My experiences have been that the best stuff comes from really mature trees but even at 10" you have stuff worth milling for carpentry. Larch is quite durable so good for outdoor applications like gates/fence posts etc.

Cut in the winter as it is a deciduous tree, you'll get less sap/resin. You won't need a felling licence for this small a quantity as long as it's for your own use.

Edit to add I'm an Aberdonian by birth and most of my family still up that way, Cullen and Banff.

 

[Another Dave]

Even in your area I would check with your local council before cutting.

We are surrounded by mature trees and are having six larch, one Scots pine and a big cypres removed from the front of our house and contacted the council just to check.

I was amazed that while the ones I wanted removed were OK the trees at the rear of the house all have tree preservation orders on them!

The council were very efficient, and I had answers withing about 10 minutes of being on the phone, so well worth doing.

A friend in Bracknell, Berkshire currently has a £30,000 action against him for cutting down a tree to extend his house. :roll:

 

[dirtydeeds]

it is amazing with local councils

you have to jump through the tigtest hoops on earth to get plannng permission

then essentially you get a £30K bill to carry out the work

 

[dickm]

Now there's a thought - preservation orders. Don't think it's a problem here, as the trees are clearly too densely planted by any standard, but maybe I should check.
Last time I did something similar in Milton Keynes, I did check with the council, and the guy I spoke to didn't even know where the hamlet was that I lived in.
And the one difficult tree to fell <nearly> missed the garden shed

 

[dirtydeeds]

since when were could the words "reasonable standard" and "local authority" included in the same sentance (even north of glasgow)