Tamarix aphylla firewood ?

SpiralAcacia · Mar 24, 2012

I wonder, does anybody here burns this for firewood? s. Tamarix aphylla.

trees of north america.net :
"Athel tamarisk is sometimes found associated with the following species:
screwbean mesquite (Prosopis pubescens), big saltbrush (Atriplex
lentiformis), arrow-weed (Pluchea sericea), western honey mesquite
(Prosopis glandulosa torreyana), desert saltbrush (Atriplex polycarpa),
pickleweed (Allenrolfea occidentalis), and saltgrass (Distichlis
spicata)"

I found a thread about this tree here on AS but I guess this here is a better forum to ask about firewood than Arborist 101...
Here's a pic I found there:

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu112/Melodywriter/Random%20Pix/Trees/IMG_3509.jpg (That's not me in the pic)

Here it is synonym for crappiest firewood, dries slow, doesn't like to burn but smolder unhappily, lots of ash and stinks.
Even the beduin won't touch it. I mean road builders were taking down tons of it around here and they just sat there (Both Tamarix and beduins that is).
But then I find quite a few pieces on the web about it being firewood crop in India and Africa.
Is it the beduins don't know the very few trees they have here - which will surprise me greatly - or some species mix-up..?

Got any experience with that?

SA

bert0168 · Mar 24, 2012

Can't help you with that one, I don't live in the area where it grows.

But I gotta think that if the locals won't touch it even when it's free, then it's probably not worth it.

ft. churchill · Mar 24, 2012

We have it here in the Western United States where it is considered a noxious invasive species. Yours is monster sized compared to what we have here, as ours only get 2" to 3" around. Never hear of anyone burning it as firewood.

SpiralAcacia · Mar 24, 2012

View attachment 230571

400yo t.aphylla in the Pura Reserve, a biggy...

SA

mikereynolds · Mar 25, 2012

There's a lot of that crap in my area

It smells like burning plastic when burned, and it is popular among the roadside peddelers because it is cheep and usually free and no one wants it. It has open grain and looks like oak to the untrained eye and the roadside peddlers usually call it "desert oak" As I wrote in my website...if you don't like your neighbors...burn this stuff but you can't buy it from me!

SpiralAcacia · Mar 25, 2012

"Desert Oak" - cool

mikereynolds said:
It smells like burning plastic when burned, and it is popular among the roadside peddelers because it is cheep and usually free and no one wants it. It has open grain and looks like oak to the untrained eye and the roadside peddlers usually call it "desert oak" As I wrote in my website...if you don't like your neighbors...burn this stuff but you can't buy it from me!

Got a good sound to it. :hmm3grin2orange:

Seems I'm not going to be too surprised with that stuff...

Thanks for the info!

SA