Eco-plugs for chemical felling

[Offmeister]

11 hours ago, Rough Hewn said:

Why would you poison an sssi?
Just fell the beaches.

As I said in an earlier post, to fell the trees outright is too big a "shock" for some aspects of the rest of the woodland. We want the trees to die back gradually and create standing deadwood habitat. Also, sometimes the end justifies the means. (Not saying that is the case here.)

 

For example, imagine you have a woodland designated as a SSSI but is chocked full of rhodo. You have an obligation to keep it in "favourable condition," the rhodo means that its in "unfavourable condition."

 

What's the most (cost) effective way to do this? Cut and treat with a suitable (poison) herbicide.

[devon TWiG]

"ring bark " with a blowlamp !!   thin barked trees like Beech will be fairly easy to do this too , it will boil the sap just  under the bark and destroy the cambium layer and not leave too visible a trace as there is no need to burn long enough to "char" the bark .

[Offmeister]

23 minutes ago, devon TWiG said:

"ring bark " with a blowlamp !!   thin barked trees like Beech will be fairly easy to do this too , it will boil the sap just  under the bark and destroy the cambium layer and not leave too visible a trace as there is no need to burn long enough to "char" the bark .

Thanks Devon TWiG, hadn't thought of that.

[AHPP]

20 minutes ago, Offmeister said:

 

Can you tell us how the management of this land is funded please?

[Treeation]

52 minutes ago, AHPP said:

Can you tell us how the management of this land is funded please?

I think its irrelavant to hows it being funded the OP wants advice around how to deal with the issue

[Treeation]

My advice would be to ring bark with chainsaw, its more cost effective than drilling eco plogs and better for the environment than adding chemicals especially so in a SSSI. If it looks unsightly simply wipe some mud into the cut and you would hardly notice.

[openspaceman]

2 hours ago, devon TWiG said:

"ring bark " with a blowlamp !!   thin barked trees like Beech will be fairly easy to do this too , it will boil the sap just  under the bark and destroy the cambium layer and not leave too visible a trace as there is no need to burn long enough to "char" the bark .

There's a good bit of lateral thinking.

 

We saw beech bark dying on the south side when exposed to direct sunlight in 87, IIRC it only needs the cambium to get above 70C to disrupt the proteins. Think of all those trees home-owners ask us why thy are dying on one side and no sign of cause other than the patch of char and ash 3 metres away.

 

A small steam generator and ducting perhaps...

[Mark Bolam]

Eco-plug one (why they’re called that is a moot point), ring bark another and blow torch a 3rd.

Multiply by number of trees you want to condemn to a lingering death, you heartless bastard!

I totally get the spec, and I applaud your lateral thinking on gradual canopy reduction.

If the thread was titled ‘Who wants to fell a load of beeches’ there would have been a stampede.

Could be a valuable lesson in there for the future if monitored correctly.

[Offmeister]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. There is lots to think about and consider before we proceed. Might post an update in the future.

 

Would like to draw a line under this now though as it looks as though we might go off topic if we aren't careful.

 

I get the sense that there are a few questions about what I proposed in the topic but these are for another time. But to help allay some concerns, I am talking about perhaps half a dozen trees spread out in a woodland of approximately 100 ha.

 

Cheers

[Macpherson]

5 minutes ago, Offmeister said:

But to help allay some concerns, I am talking about perhaps half a dozen trees spread out in a woodland of approximately 100 ha.

Pity you hadn't said this earlier,.... still wouldn't poison them.