Purchasing 25 acre oak stand in France

[JonnoR]

Hi,

I have had a chance to walk around part of the forestry I acquired today.  A link to the first pics is here:

 

Many thanks,

Jonno

[Stoke Wood Project]

Can you coppice oak? 
 
 

Yup. It's been successfully coppiced for 100's of years. Charcoal and tannin were popular uses.

[Mick Dempsey]

2 minutes ago, Stoke Wood Project said:

On 16/02/2019 at 08:42, Mick Dempsey said:

Can you coppice oak? 
 
 

Yup. It's been successfully coppiced for 100's of years. Charcoal and tannin were popular uses.

Live and learn.

 

Down to stools like chestnut? And at what age does coppicing begin?

[the village idiot]

On 16/02/2019 at 12:21, Stubby said:

I did suggest Alder ?

This is good shout if you can get hold of it.

 

Fine around water, grows like hot stink, coppices brilliantly, browse resistant, good for wildlife, decent firewood, lovely mature tree too.

 

Very overlooked species in my humble opinion.

[Stere]

Not that long lived compared to most other species & wood rots very fast if left in stacks outdoors. (Odd as is regarded to be really rot resistant in water)

 

Still nice trees though.

[the village idiot]

12 minutes ago, Stere said:

Not that long lived compared to most other species 

That's very true, but if coppiced for firewood they'll outlive an Oak.

[JonnoR]

1 hour ago, the village idiot said:

That's very true, but if coppiced for firewood they'll outlive an Oak.

That would be interesting.  Their nitrogen-fixing ability would be useful if I distributed it throughout a paddock I want to convert to an orchard.  There are some wetter areas of that paddock, which might make for a useful area to plant Alder.  The ability to control their height to prevent competition with fruit trees would be useful.  Thanks for the tip.

[the village idiot]

2 minutes ago, JonnoR said:

That would be interesting.  Their nitrogen-fixing ability would be useful if I distributed it throughout a paddock I want to convert to an orchard.  There are some wetter areas of that paddock, which might make for a useful area to plant Alder.  The ability to control their height to prevent competition with fruit trees would be useful.  Thanks for the tip.

No worries.

 

Not sure of the practicalities of planting a companion tree crop in an orchard.

 

Alder is used as a 'nurse' crop (encouraging other tree species up and straight, commonly Oak). Haven't heard of this technique in orchards. May be counterproductive??

[JonnoR]

This week I had a visit from a forestry consultant of the French forestry agency 'CNPF' (which supports private forestry).  Super helpful guy, who is putting together a non-binding management plan and who gave me a wealth of information about French legislation and sources of available assistance .

 

There are parcels of land with hazel coppice under oak standards (with holly trees around too) and nice oak plantations with both ash and hornbeam nursery trees.  There are a few walnut, a few (Norway?) maple trees and some very mixed, brushy areas (plus one solitary cedar tree) dotted about.  Having actually now gone around all the wood, there are some absolute monster oak and ash trees, which I'm chuffed to see.  What really did surprise me was the number of self-seeded oak seedlings in areas where the canopy was opened up- a couple hundred per square meter in places I'd hazard to guess.  

 

There's a good amount of Ash to gradually thin out, to permit the oak to spread out now they've got some decent height.  It all seems quite manageable, 

 

He recommended a 16" bar chainsaw as all I would need for the majority of the work in the next few years.  There are free courses available to minimise the risk of me cutting my nuts off, so I'll be sure to profit from that before anything else! Thanks again, I'm very grateful for all your advice, both here and in PMs in recent weeks.  I'll get the camera out again soon, and keep you updated if there's any interest.  

Jonno

 

[JonnoR]

Hi all,

 

I hope your winters are full of 2-stroke fumes and lumber!  I am looking at replanting a paddock, that was cleared before I purchased my property.  There are a couple of parcels where there are 100's of oak seedlings per square meter, growing up under the canopy.  Has anyone ever tried to lift out sections of the ground and transplant that into a new area, to bring on?  I'm just curious, but also would like to reduce my dependence on importing seedlings from a place which might bring with them some disease risks.

 

Very grateful for any inputs!

 

Best,

Jonno