From widow-maker to rain-maker
Incredible as it may sound, there are trees that ‘know’ when times are about to get tough. Perhaps they feel it deep down in their roots, in the very pith of their heartwood for they take drastic and dramatic action. Anticipating that a drought is about to break on the land, there is a genus of trees, 800 species strong at last count, who will drop their branches. They ‘take a voluntary pruning’ – just like those lizards who lose their tails when stressed or threatened. ‘Forecasting’ their inability to maintain the full tree in good productive health, they reduce their size by dropping branches. These are the Eucalypts, the so called widow-makers, because if you happen to be that unlucky chap or lady walking under the tree when it drops its bough … well, that’s the end of you ! The maligning of these trees does not end there however, having evolved their life-cycles on the flood-plains and riverbanks of Australia’s great rivers, Eucalypts are hydrophilic or water-loving trees. If transported and grown outside of their endemic ranges in large enough concentrations, Eucalypts will seek out ground water and drink it all up at a rate of many, many litres per tree per day. Governments around the world have introduced a ‘water tax’ on exotic or non-indigenous species of trees like Eucalypts. Fortunately, these Wallabies are excellent tax-payers no matter whose country they find themselves in, and believe me they are international travellers of note.
Why, if they are an annually taxable commodity from seedling to maturity, would an investor make a business out of Eucalypts ? Here are a couple of the good reasons I could find : Eucalyptus Oil retails for around R1 450 per litreCertain species of Eucalyptus, Red River Gum for example (E.camaldulensis), sells for between R7 500 and R10 000 per cubic metre.Bags of woodchips and small logs are used for firewood and sell for an average price of R15 per 10kg bagLeaves and bark of the trees make excellent mulch and can sell for R20 per dm³Sawdust, used in mouldings and briquettes, sells for R20
Almost every gram of biomass produced by the Eucalypt can be monetized ! An immediate response to this is : Yes, but how long does one have to wait for the tree to grow to maturity ? Despite being a hardwood, at about 900 kg/m³, most Eucalypt species can be felled for their timber in 8 to 10 years. Other hardwoods, Beech Trees for example require at least 20 years before being logged.
An adult tree of 40 metres could generate the following volumes :
Oil – 5 litres at R1 450/l = R 7 250 (through its life)
Timber – 5-8 m³ at R 8 500 /m³ = R 50 000
Woodchips – 50kgs = R 75
Sawdust – 50kgs = R 100
Leaves and bark – 50kgs (through its life) = R 300
One mature Red River Eucalypt can generate a conservative, theoretical gross income of very close to R 60 000 – PBIT – profit before interest and tax ! Yesterday’s widow-makers have grown into today’s rain-makers.
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