I have the opportunity to get some ghost gum that has just been cut
My question is how long do I leave  it before I can  use it

Not sure Gromet, but have a look here  :)

http://www.aussiecampovenforum.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1439167780/31#31

We recently got a combustion fireplace  put in and just assumed that you can put any dry (dead) wood in it. In reality,  most wood needs  at least a year to dry right out and be ready to burn. Then for it to burn well and produce decent coals, it needs to be a dense type of hard wood like ironbark or the likes. I wake up to no hot coals, even when i load it up,and have to relight it every morning. I'll have to bite the bullet and buy a load of quality hard wood i think.

My Masport slow combustion stove booklet says two years minimum drying time for hardwood and from experience this is pretty right. I cut, split and store it under cover to dry out properly.

Rob.

Yep, have to agree any sort of wood needs to be pretty dry. But having said that, wet dry wood (is that an oxymoron?) can also generate a lot of heat, I think by virtue of the steam adding oxygen to the combustion.

When it comes to coals, most smooth bark eucalypts are pretty low density with a fast burning low ash content.
A good mix is white/yellow/grey box, stringybark/messmate. These can usually be depended on to give you a coals bed for a kick start in the morning.

In my experience, ironbark and river redgum are pretty good for burning grates out! :(
mikel

I know I mentioned it years ago, but I nearly ruined a great curry using river red gum coals. Way hotter than anything I had used previously. Never used it again.

Aart

I'm still learning the different types of wood and what burns the best.  We have the nectre n60 fireplace and its a beauty. I've since learned that i certainly needed better quality wood to get the most out of it. Money well spent.

TBF wrote on Oct 3^rd, 2015 at 10:36pm:

I know I mentioned it years ago, but I nearly ruined a great curry using river red gum coals. Way hotter than anything I had used previously. Never used it again. Aart

Recently we spent a total of about 6 days camping along the Murray.  Only wood available for the little Ozpig was red gum branches and yep, I agree on that as I had trouble keeping the heat down to slow simmer a couple of curries and an oxtail stew.

I haven't thought about drying wood as I normally only use pallet off cuts and 4x2 off cuts that I find on my travels.

But had a look on the net after looking at this post.

https://bettaburnfirewood.com.au/wood-moisture-content-seasoning/