Biomass producing trees for droughty, mid-Western sites

I am blessed to have a reader who goes by the handle of "Lucas". He is a top-notch researcher and he somehow picked up enough crumbs to figure out my email address. We swap emails on a regular basis.

I mentioned to him that Southern Belle and Handsome Hombre had their eyes on a piece of property and might be interested in planting trees as a hedge against heating costs. That is, planting trees as a future source of firewood. Then I asked "What species will produce the most biomass per acre per year in Michigan?"

Yesterday he sent me a peer-reviewed study written by researchers from North Carolina State University. The authors investigated three classes of trees and their ability to produce biomass when soil-moisure is a limiting factor.

That applies to many sites in Michigan. Over the course of the growing season, it is not uncommon for the evaporation rate to exceed the rate of rainfall by 4"-to-8".

The units are counter-intuitive. Larger values means LESS biomass grown per unit of precipitation.

 The authors divided tree species by the kind of wood they deposited.

Some species like maple and poplar have "diffuse" or indistinct growth-rings. Other species like Oak and Black Locust have very distinct rings. And then there are the conifers like tracheid pores which I think means "cigar shaped".

This is meaningful to me because some of the species that are grown in temperate plantations for biomass include

• Hybrid Poplar (Diffuse)
• Willow (Diffuse)
• European Alder (Diffuse)
• Dawn Redwood (Tracheid)
• Norway Spruce (Tracheid)
• Black Locust (Ring)
• Oak, Red Oak clade (Ring)

Researchers often provide optimum conditions to determine what a species or hybrid is capable of. Under those conditions, hybrid poplar is almost always the clear winner.

Under "real world" conditions where drought is a regular occurence, a mix of Oak, Black Locust, Wild Black Cherry and Pecans might be a better choice.

The successful farmer is the one who selects stock that works for him rather than vice versa.

Thanks Lucas!