Trees on wet land

[headgroundsman]

Just had my offer on 4 acres flood land accepted. Any advice about planting willow, poplar, alder or any other suggestions? Also anyone in Staffordshire with any fast growing hybrids with some cuttings for sale

[dreish]

Hello, planting them is not such a problem,although if there is a deep matt of vegetation digging a slot in might be a tiring job!

The species you are thinking of are pretty inviting to hares and roe ,are there any about the area? Willow cuttings are usually easy to establish,what is your long term view/plan of the area?

[matelot]

sounds an interesting scheme. does this mean you are breaking down flood defences to allow the land to flood during heavy rain etc?

 

i don't know where the water table will be, but how about "mounding"? that's when you get an excavator to dig divots out of the ground and place them soil side up. the trees will be a bit higher up and wont have weed competition.

[headgroundsman]

sounds an interesting scheme. does this mean you are breaking down flood defences to allow the land to flood during heavy rain etc?

 

i don't know where the water table will be, but how about "mounding"? that's when you get an excavator to dig divots out of the ground and place them soil side up. the trees will be a bit higher up and wont have weed competition.

 

The land naturally floods as it is between two rivers but the water can drain back fairly well. The ditches could do with cleaning out so I could think about some mounding at the same time but as I am a wheelchair user I want to keep the land fairly flat in general. I have a very useful machine that tows my wheelchair, It copes very well on grass land but doesn't like muddy ditches much. As to the long term plan it is just something I have always fancied doing and maybe I will get a few logs. I don't think there are any roe in the area and I have not seen any hares around but I will have to check it out.

[spandit]

Wild pear likes wet soil & so does cherry. Willow is easiest to plant, though as you can just push sticks into the ground. Cheap too (or free if you find someone willing to let you take cuttings). Bit late for this year, mind

[Charlieh]

Just done a few planting schemes round Rugeley for river restoration benefits, if you want a chat or quick walk round the site one evening now we have lighter evenings just let us know.

[headgroundsman]

Just done a few planting schemes round Rugeley for river restoration benefits, if you want a chat or quick walk round the site one evening now we have lighter evenings just let us know.

 

I would like to take you up on that offer. Depending on the access and soil type it might be best to wait for it to dry up a bit first.