Thread: saw wood in florida

hi guys

just got back from my vacation in Clrearwater, fla. it was nice down there. one thing was all was on my mind what do you guys do with all that wood, palm tree wood that is, does it burn like hard wood, is there a market for it like fire wood,is there a fire wood market at all since it never gets cold.

Lawmart
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nobody uses firewood down here since it's above 60 degrees 95% of the year. most homes don'e even have fireplaces. i've lived in FL all my life and the only time i ever see firewood being used is at the campgrounds for fun.

what do tree companies do with it? we have to haul it away in chunks or chips. we have to charge a couple hundred bucks for this and it's built into the customer's price. a tree removal's debris can easily add $500 to the price.

palm tree wood is full of water. it rots and stinks within a couple of weeks.

So its not even good as wood chips,

if so then do you have to keep the chips seperate from hardwood chips.

sorry for the basic questions , but it never accured to me be for this.

Lawmart
play safe

Originally Posted by lawmart

So its not even good as wood chips,

if so then do you have to keep the chips seperate from hardwood chips.

sorry for the basic questions , but it never accured to me be for this.

Lawmart
play safe

problem is you have to separate the leaves and twigs from the rest of the good chipping wood. and that's if you're lucky enough to find a company willing to buy it from you. residents buy their mulch from Home Depot or Walmart. if you go into the tree business down here, you are forced to buy a dump truck with chipper, otherwise you'll be spending way too much of your time finding ways t get rid of piles of branches.

interesting, in 12 years of doing this work this year i had to pay to dump rotten wood willow, it was to rotten to chip it keep on clogging the chipper,
most of the time i dump at soil re conditioners, or farmer that want it for there horses or home owner for the flower beds

and all the other species u can think of...I 've sat in palms in a down pour and didnt get wet till it stopped raining.the only use would be outta tiki huts.
Very pretty trees when maintained.But IMO nasty when left for years.

There is a firewood market in Florida, but in N. Florida, not South. I sell several cords a year, except during 2004, I didn't even try that year, since there was so much free wood for the taking after Jeanne and Frances passed through Gainesville. Such a lot of tree damage from a measly 71mph tropical storm. I'd hate to see what a real hurricane would do....

A real hurricane would make you alot of money.. I think.

Sometimes customers ask us to stack some oak logs, or maple wood. Rarely though. Mostly it goes out to the landfill and is chipped up to put back over the huge trash mound.

Groundie, whereabouts are you from man? In Gainesville, I think most tree debris go to the landfill or Wood resource Recovery, boith charge a small fee. I usually sell wood faster than I can split it if we have anormal opr colder than fall/winter. Almost no orders after Jan. 1st. Its really the JD slushfund. I've debated about getting into the business a little more. That would entail getting at least an occupational license and liability insurance and maybe working witha real pro for a while to learn the ropes so to speak. I have been cutting awhile but I have A LOT to learn about tree work. As far as a real hurricane...well I'd rather not amke the money than go through that again....power was out at my place for 4 hot miserable days during and after Frances...and we were the lucky ones with GRU. The boys at Clay electric couldn't get everybody back online for about 3 weeks...then Jeanne came througha nd undid a lot of their work.

power was out at my place for 4 hot miserable days during and after Frances

I was out 8 what a nightmare.Im watchin ppl get theres back on daily knowin im goin home to none.Couldnt get a hotel fer the first 6.Pumpin 12-16 hour days with no air was brutal.Not to mention the lack of ice due to the power issue.

Originally Posted by lawmart

hi guys

just got back from my vacation in Clrearwater, fla. it was nice down there. one thing was all was on my mind what do you guys do with all that wood, palm tree wood that is, does it burn like hard wood, is there a market for it like fire wood,is there a fire wood market at all since it never gets cold.

Lawmart
playsafe

Hi lawmart, 85% of our business is trimming palms. We use a couple of Bandit 280 hd's to chip the wood or frawns. We give the mulch away as coconut mulch has a treamendous amount of nutrients in it. Granted it is much harder to spread than hardwood and does not look as pretty...still, it is loaded with nutrients.

In the end, most tree chips up here end up being at the dump or given away fro free. They are an excellent light mulch for stuff like daylilys and other plants where nutrient enrichment and weed cointrol is desirable, but where you also don't want to choke the plants with something heavy like pine bark.

hey 12edneck when i was there the first day i was driving back to the house we rented, i was supposed to go blow up a dingy that i bought for the kids , but saw a tree guy, well you now i had to stop and talk to the a brother in arms.

He was in clear water on the south side of "Gulf to Bay" main street across from a school catholic and a city park that has alot of construction being done to it. he drives a ford explorer and has a vermeer 625 painted red with a ford F-350.
nice guy, small out fit him and one guy or lately he said his wife was on the jobs. saw some other companies but (doing some work on that "hurricane " high school, one Saturday)with the wife and kids in the van it was hard to stop and talk to the guys.

Lawmart
Play safe

Hey there JD, I live in the Cocoa area. It gets cold here for about two months tops. This one year it was only cold for like two weeks. I don't see too many wood stoves either except for decoration. I grew up on a tree farm in New Hampshire. We used to have to load a barn full of cord wood just to make it through the winter. It was for survival. Anyways, long time ago.
Loosing power in the summer is miserable. We didn't loose power for too long after Francis or Jeane. Alot of people did though. Sorry to hear about the 8 days there dude. Alot of people I know went out and spent the money for a generator this year. The season is just getting started. Hopefully no more Katrinas.