Tree Growth in a warm climate

Rob Keeble

Member
Messages
12,633
Location
GTA Ontario Canada
Thought the wood harvesters here might be interested to see why i like SPF even though you consider it construction material.

So take a look at a cross cut of a piece of South African pine. This is part of an old very basic desk i cut the top off for one of my sons.

Saw the section and thought evidence would speak for itself.

Annual rings on SA pine with scale.jpg

Its as soft as you can get, not at all indigenous, sucks the rivers dry as a result of having been planted in high elevations, is being eradicated under the working for water program of the SA dept of Water Affairs, and is pretty all round useless as timber. It is used in roof trusses and other bits and pieces, however you can now understand why houses are built out of brick down there.
Alos when it is used in trusses you can imagine how much more is used as a result and it aint got to stand up to snow loads.:D Warps if you just look at it and has knots coming out of everywhere. Big use is the pulp and paper industry where its been grown in man made forests.
Also acidifies a piece of ground where its been planted to the point where nothing grows afterwards. All round pest not the only one down there. :)



So next time you in the borg, tip your hat to that SPF on the shelf. Its at least usable and pretty strong.See my workbench:D;)


European man also imported black wattle back in the growth days. The bark was used back in the day in the tanning industry. Trouble now is its not and this tree grows like grass even in very dry places. Oh the list goes on...:(
 
Top