From what I read on the fieplace forum softwood pellets give more BTU than hardwood pellets.

Thanks rjoh878646 for the response. Do you know if softwood creates more ash and is more of a pain to deal with than hardwood? That's what I keep hearing.

Traditionally, hardwood has been the preferred fuel in wood stoves and open hearth fireplaces because it naturally has a lower moisture content, is a denser fuel, burns longer, and has hotter coals.
Softwood fuel in wood stoves and open hearth fireplaces is known for burning hotter initially, easy to light, having more pitch or sap, more sparks and sound as it burns, but burns up more quickly.
The pelletizing process takes away many of these differences.
After wood chips are ground into sawdust, they are dried to a consistent moisture level. The sawdust is then compressed into pellets at a common density, about 40lbs per cubic foot. It doesn't matter if the sawdust came from a softwood species, hardwood species, or a blend, they are all compressed to the same density.
Q: What is better Hardwood Pellets or Softwood Pellets?
A: Most people jump to the conclusion that "we have always burned hardwood in our woodstove and or open hearth fireplace so hardwood must be better" - Not true with pellets.
The first and most important thing to remember is that you are buying pellets by weight NOT volume. A cord (volume) of dry hardwood vs. a cord (volume) of dry softwood weighs about 2-3 times as much. However, a pound (by weight)of dry hardwood weighs the same as a pound of dry softwood.
So what counts is the heat output of each. This is where softwood wins. Below is information from a study done by the wood industry.
White Oak 8810 BTU/pound
Yellow Pine 9610 BTU/pound
A softwood pellet will produce 10-20% more BTU's per pound than hardwood depending on the species and create a lighter ash.
After the manufacturing process normalize the moisture content and density, the wood pellets have about the same heat value, but there are still some differences between pellet mills and brands. Ash content, ash characteristics, and pellet length do affect burn and maintenance requirements.
While premium pellets are all under 1% ash content, that could be anywhere from around .25% to .8%. After 10 bags of fuel (or approximately 400lbs), that could make the difference between 1lb of ash or over 3lbs of ash.
Pellets also come in different lengths. Usually they are between .25 inches and 1.5 inches. In most pellet appliances, shorter pellets feed faster than longer pellets. As you change from one length to another, you may have to increase or decrease the feed rate of your appliance. In order to get the same burn you may need to decrease the feed rate a little for shorter pellets and increase it for longer pellets. Other than slight changes in feed rate, the burn characteristics and heat value should be very close to the same.
Bottom Line : " One pound of pellets is one pound of pellets." By the time the sawdust makes it into a pellet, the hardwood is not any more dense then softwood . The softwoods actually contain more heat per pound.

I would like to have a ton of hedge (osage orange) pellets and compare them to a 'premium' pellet either hard or softwood.