New Zealand farm foresters have the opportunity to grow hardwood rather than import it, a forestry researcher says. Source: Stuff NZ
Speciality Wood Products program manager Marco Lausberg said New Zealand had the chance to grow its own trees, rather than relying heavily on imported hardwood, such as kwila for decking or other hardwoods for furniture.
“Our plan is can we get a species that is grown locally and matches them?” he said.
Speciality Wood products is part of Future Forest Research which is an investment company paid partly by the Government, and partly by commercial and farm foresters.
He said most of the money went into radiata pine research, New Zealand’s largest tree crop, but some projects were researching alternative species.
Mr Lausberg said hardwood was sought after by New Zealand customers and the world wanted timber that had less or no treatment.
“Anti-chemical use is increasing, Japan has been very strong on it. They are keen to see a naturally durable timber,” he said.
“The US is going the same way – they want something we don’t have to pump chemicals in to.”
Customers were wary of any posts that had been treated. Pine posts worked, but they were all treated to make them durable, he said.
“Europe has banned many of the solvents we still use here. We use a solvent to carry the preservative into the wood. Then it evaporates so it is not in the wood,” he said.
“Methyl bromide is great at doing the job, but it is a nasty chemical and people are scared of it. I think we are only going to see more and more demand for natural products.”
Mr Lausberg said some vineyards were using hardwood posts, but most of them had treated pine posts to hold vines up.
“If you look at the science there is very little chemical leached. But it is partly perception and partly customer demand,” he said.
Steel framing was being promoted for framing buildings because it was straight and did not rot.”
Mr Lausberg said builders were also seeking wood options that were straight and did not warp over time. He said some builders were using laminated veneer (LVL) with eucalyptus, which remained straight because it was laminated.
MrLausberg said the other point researchers had to take into account along with timber quality was tree sterility.
“It came up in a Christchurch workshop last week. People around Queenstown were not keen to see any more douglas fir planted because of the wilding douglas fir plants which have spread from previous plantings,” he said.
“So you might find a tree, with great timber, but if the local people aren’t happy and you have to tackle that. So sterility came out as quite a high priority in our breeding program.”
