Woodland floor management

[Dan.masterman]

I’ve recently purchased a 3 acre mixed planted woodland as a project not to log commercially but to manage for the family to use and make a bit of extra money in using it for producing some logs and other woodland products. It is approx 25years old and has been neglected really since birth. Have a lot of bramble, blackthorn and various other ground species staring to take over the understory. Need to clear these so I can get in and start some felling.

What is the best way to manage the woodland floor so that I can allow regeneration of more native species. Looking particulate for ideas on how to clear it and keep on top of it myself. Can’t access with any large commercial machinery but these remote control flail mowers would fit. Anyone have any experience with these and how to control to inevitable regrowth of all things spikey and thorny after a first cut? I have a quad bike so any ideas on any towable machines/tools would be appreciated 

 

Many thanks

 

dan

Edited October 14, 2018 by Dan.masterman

[drinksloe]

Bramble and blackthorn are native species and provide cracking wildlife habitat for many species.

 

A lot will depend on wot u actually want to encourage on the woodland floor/understory and that will depend on wot is planted/growing above it.

Possibly u could enlarge rides/glades to encourage/plant wild flowers for butterflies?

Be loads of different ways to do things and loads of different thing u could do to encourage different wildlife.

 

To knock the cover down u'd be as easy just with a small saw or clearing saw/heavy strimmer or simply knocking a tree down on top of brambles soon flattens them (even drag it with a chain/quad to a clearer area which will flatten more for ur next tree)

U don't want to be flailing the whole wood, cover is good for most wildlife.

I have a small hard woodland and my father is terrible for going out a flattening areas of cover so it looks 'tidier'

 

I wouldn't go too crazy at the start as ur ideas might change and envolve as u workin the wood ans see wot works for ur soil conditions/climate

[Mark Wileman]

+1 to drinksloe.

 

I'd use a clearing saw to open up some rides across the whole site, that should give you enough access to fell some timber and actually have a look at what you are working with.

 

Do you have any invasive species present, any laurel or rhododendron? The risk of clearing the whole understory is that if present, those species will take over the whole lot, and they are a nightmare to get rid of.

 

If you made some rides, they'd be easy to manage with a tow behind flail on your ATV, eventually you'd just need to keep the grass down once the bramble and thorn is suitably 'bashed'. Not sure on the shape of your site, but you could create a network of them and create somewhere that your family and wildlife could both enjoy!

[Yournamehere]

Much will depend on how much light is getting through; which in turn will depend on the nature and density of the trees.

If there is an enclosed canopy you are looking at a sparse herb layer with sporadic bramble but if it is more open you are maybe looking at grassy rides. With either, if you have one, a tractor mower is ideal: low enough to keep down the ground cover bramble but high enough to allow herbaceous to prosper.

Sounds like you might be in a position to create some of each. Cowslips bluebells etc on a sparse woodland floor would have to be watched out for and let go to seed if you want them to spread and prosper whilst your grassy rides would be managed for a richer flora and butterflies, dragonflies skipper darters and hawkers as above.

Woodland and grassland seed mixes can be had on ebay or other and can give a jump start to new but neglected sites that might lack the dormant seed reserve of older sites.

Coupla things. Again depending on your kit; the oregon mulcherbrushcutter head is fantastic for doing bramble with - obvs depending on the size of your operation; and if you leave a thick tot of bramble in well lit situations - around the woodland edges or alongside the rides - and keep it compact with a long arm hedge-cutter - to cut back the whips - the current years growth - to encourage it to thicken up and not become straggly you might find it becomes a nesting site for the summer visitors - nightingales, blackcaps, whitethroats and the warblers.

Someone mentioned rhody. I have heard that if it is sprayed over in autumn with some extra strength glyphosate - rosate 36 or other - that by the next year it will looking  a bit poorly; very poorly; in fact... dead. But who would do a thing like that huh? For larger clumps - and laurel too cut down to the stump and spray the re-growth in a year's time.

And keep a notebook - a daily diary and write down what you did, when you did it, how you did it and why.

And take lots of photographs too.

Sounds like fun: good luck.

[Dan.masterman]

Thanks for your replies. I hear what your saying about keeping some cover. I think you are right I just keeping on top of the rides and open areas. Hoping that with winter coming it will be a bit clearer to see what is going on once leaf drop has done its thing.

its a pretty dense woodland. Never been thinned so I think I’ll start on that and just keep on top of the worst areas and see what comes up.

havnt seen any nesting going on this year in any of the understory but I guess that what they are after!

i have a long arm hedge cutter so I guess a run round with that will help until I can work out what it is that we want from it.

 

[wrsni]

My own woodland has had six growing seasons now since planting and I'm only just starting to understand what this woodland management caper is about.

 

So whereas a year or two ago I would also have considered an area such as yours to have been "neglected", now I would say that it's simply been free from human interference. I suppose you could argue that without 'human interference' my woodland wouldn't exist as it was planted on prime arable land, and that's a fair point. But having established it, there is no doubt that over the past couple of years especially the entire area has taken on a life of it's own. I still 'interfere' and will continue to do so for as long as I'm physically capable, I have fruit bushes in it which need a wee bit of help to survive amongst the more vigorous native stuff, I have fruit trees the same. Some things are starting to spread and sucker but rather than let them totally colonise one area I take out bits and move them to other places to hasten the process, and so on. But my main aim now is to be as low impact as possible, if there's something I want to do that's grand but I try to do it in a way that allows nature to get on with what it's doing as well, because at the end of the day it does it better and on a scale which I could never achieve anyway.

 

The one thing I did do from the very beginning was lay out a series of pathways and keep them maintained. It seemed a bit silly for the first couple of years having these lovely neatly cut grass paths through what looked like a bit of a mess at times, but now the benefit of them is being seen both in giving me more distinct areas of woodland edge which I can do something with a bit easier, but also I can let everywhere else do what it likes knowing that access for the future is taken care of already.

 

So you obviously need access for thinning but this could also tie in with maybe letting a wee bit more light in somewhere if you wanted to add some fruit producing plants should something like that appeal to you. Clearing one or two paths permanently could be worth it if they were well placed and allowed you to keep much larger areas undisturbed but they could also give you other benefits too.

 

So I'd say have a good think about the sort of relationship which you want with the area, it's been doing it's own thing for quite a while obviously and isn't going to respond well to someone taking charge of it and changing everything overnight. However, if you approach it sensitively and respectful of what's already there (even the bramble!) there's no doubt it will have a lot to give you in many different ways.

 

Good luck and enjoy your time there. :)

[Stere]

Having alot of bramble suggests canopy not that dense for 25yrs old trees.

 

 

Thinning Practice - A Silvicultural Guide - Forest Research

 

Have a read about thinning

[Mark Wileman]

8 hours ago, wrsni said:

My own woodland has had six growing seasons now since planting and I'm only just starting to understand what this woodland management caper is about.

 

So whereas a year or two ago I would also have considered an area such as yours to have been "neglected", now I would say that it's simply been free from human interference. I suppose you could argue that without 'human interference' my woodland wouldn't exist as it was planted on prime arable land, and that's a fair point. But having established it, there is no doubt that over the past couple of years especially the entire area has taken on a life of it's own. I still 'interfere' and will continue to do so for as long as I'm physically capable, I have fruit bushes in it which need a wee bit of help to survive amongst the more vigorous native stuff, I have fruit trees the same. Some things are starting to spread and sucker but rather than let them totally colonise one area I take out bits and move them to other places to hasten the process, and so on. But my main aim now is to be as low impact as possible, if there's something I want to do that's grand but I try to do it in a way that allows nature to get on with what it's doing as well, because at the end of the day it does it better and on a scale which I could never achieve anyway.

 

The one thing I did do from the very beginning was lay out a series of pathways and keep them maintained. It seemed a bit silly for the first couple of years having these lovely neatly cut grass paths through what looked like a bit of a mess at times, but now the benefit of them is being seen both in giving me more distinct areas of woodland edge which I can do something with a bit easier, but also I can let everywhere else do what it likes knowing that access for the future is taken care of already.

 

So you obviously need access for thinning but this could also tie in with maybe letting a wee bit more light in somewhere if you wanted to add some fruit producing plants should something like that appeal to you. Clearing one or two paths permanently could be worth it if they were well placed and allowed you to keep much larger areas undisturbed but they could also give you other benefits too.

 

So I'd say have a good think about the sort of relationship which you want with the area, it's been doing it's own thing for quite a while obviously and isn't going to respond well to someone taking charge of it and changing everything overnight. However, if you approach it sensitively and respectful of what's already there (even the bramble!) there's no doubt it will have a lot to give you in many different ways.

 

Good luck and enjoy your time there. :)

I'd love to see how your woodland looks after 6 years?

[wrsni]

Can't oblige unfortunately, I gave up taking photos of it about 2 years ago as they never seemed to do it any justice when I came back in the house and opened them.

 

Although I'm probably also a pretty rubbish photographer if I'm honest!

 

Been toying with the idea of buying a drone for a wee while now, if that happens maybe that's something that could make a more worthwhile record of it's development.

[Mark Wileman]

What species are you growing? What sort of height are they at?

 

I'm trying to convice my dad to turn his 2 acres of arable fields that have 2 alpaca on into a woodland for my grandchildren to enjoy ?