Best selling tree growing book now available in second edition

Above: Author Rowan Reid with the second edition of his book on growing and managing trees to produce high quality timber.

A best selling Australian book about growing trees on your own land is now available in paperback. Heartwood – the art and science of growing trees for conservation and profit was originally published as a full colour hard back almost ten years ago. The second edition is a cheaper paperback with a new preface updating Rowan Reid’s journey as a tree grower and scientist growing more than 70 species on his Victorian farm for high quality timber.

Here’s an extract from the preface of the second edition in which Rowan tells you explicitly what the book can give you using the knowledge it contains.

“Our largest trees have added ten years of growth since I wrote Heartwood. In the intervening years, we have also built a new farmhouse. It took five years, although you might say 38 years if you count the time it took to grow the trees.

“Nearly all the solid timber for the new house – including the concrete formwork, frame, cladding, lining, stairs, cabinets and floors – came from fifty-five trees we’d planted ourselves: The structural frame is made up of our eucalypts and American radiata pine (Pinus radiata). For their fire resistance and natural durability, we used our Australian red ironbark (Eucalyptus sideroxylon) for decking, and American coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) for the shed doors. The exterior southern blue gum (E. globulus) cladding has an air-dried wood density well over the 750 kilograms per cubic metre required by the bushfire attack level rating (BAL 19).

“Inside there are more of our Victorian eucalypts including mountain ash (E. regnans), shining gum (E. nitens) and messmate (E. obliqua), plus some English oak (Quercus robur) and Australian blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon). We felled the trees, milled the logs on our portable bandsaw mill and dried the boards in our solar kiln. The only loads of solid timber that came in through the front gate were boards that I’d taken out myself; either eucalypt to be steam reconditioned, re-dried and profiled at a local timber processor, or some of the radiata pine to be pressure treated.

“Working with our own wood and overseeing every step from log to our finished home deepened my understanding of our trees, how we could harvest and process them, and the quality of their timber. While the full story deserves its own telling, I can at least say this: our approach, as described in Heartwood, worked:

“Almost forty years ago (in 1987), we began planting trees for conservation, shelter, beautification, and profit. Without sacrificing the forest, we have gained a home, the fuel to keep it warm, and a lasting supply of high-quality timber for our family or for sale.”

You can read more background to Rowan Reid’s research and writings on planting and managing trees for high-quality timber in this article.

Heartwood is available now in bookshops or signed copies can be obtained from the website: www.agroforestry.net.au

Image courtesy Rowan Reid