Fuels characteristics of woods-run whole tree southern pine chips

We designed a controlled experiment to assess the characteristics of operationally harvested wood chips across a variety of stand ages, species and soil types in the coastal plain of Georgia. A whole tree chipping crew harvested ten stands, five loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) and five slash pine (Pinus. elliotti), in the coastal plain of Georgia. Seven samples of chips were taken from each tract during harvesting from trees dispersed across the sites. Five samples were taken from whole-tree chips directly from the outfeed of the chipper, one sample represented chips made from trees pulled through a chain-flail delimber, and the final sample was from chips collected at the mill site during the off-loading of the truck. Bark represented 10–14% of the total sample weight, while foliage represented around 1.5% on average. Small but significant differences were present between the moisture (3%) and energy content (1%) of samples from the two species. Method of sample collection had a significant impact on the size distribution and composition of samples collected. Foliage levels in the sample had a substantial impact on the nutrient composition, while bark levels had a lesser impact.

► We examine field-run whole-tree chip samples of two species of southern pine.
► We compare energy, ash, nutrient, moisture, bark, and foliage contents.
► Ash content increased with increasing foliage content and with decreasing age.
► Small differences in energy and moisture content were present between species.