Purchasing 25 acre oak stand in France

[headgroundsman]

4 minutes ago, Peasgood said:

You had best make the most of it while you can then because it will be banned soon.

I hope they don't ban it soon because i only have 10 litre of concentrate left and that would have lasted me a life time now.

[JonnoR]

1 hour ago, headgroundsman said:

Why not lift them as saplings and either plant in guards or bring on in pots

 

Thanks headsgroundsman - I figured I'd like to get a colony of saplings started in a few pockets of the paddock and let natural selection sort out the winner! The Alder thing will be lower down the paddock, where it gets a bit damp and inaccessible. 

[headgroundsman]

Just now, JonnoR said:

Thanks headsgroundsman - I figured I'd like to get a colony of saplings started in a few pockets of the paddock and let natural selection sort out the winner! The Alder thing will be lower down the paddock, where it gets a bit damp and inaccessible. 

I used to be the headgroundsman at a hotel with 100 acres and set up a deer park thre with Sika deer. Before we put in the fences i took the 2.3 m flail mower through a load of alder saplings but missed out narrow stripes 15 years later it was a nice woodland with alder trees nearly touching. We got rid of the big tractor and mower so were able to use the smaller mower between the rows. It would now be perfect for coppicing and firewood but i now longer work there and neither does gardener who started just after me 

[JonnoR]

1 minute ago, headgroundsman said:

I used to be the headgroundsman at a hotel with 100 acres and set up a deer park thre with Sika deer. Before we put in the fences i took the 2.3 m flail mower through a load of alder saplings but missed out narrow stripes 15 years later it was a nice woodland with alder trees nearly touching. We got rid of the big tractor and mower so were able to use the smaller mower between the rows. It would now be perfect for coppicing and firewood but i now longer work there and neither does gardener who started just after me 

Fingers crossed the legacy is established now- sounds like an excellent strategy. My father promoted 'wilding' before it was fashionable, and created a number of habitats across Woolwich Common in the 70's that set the scene for more cost-effective landscape management.

[JonnoR]

Hi all,

 

I had a productive afternoon, felling and dragging some wind blown hornbeam and oak up to a staging post, using a portable capstan winch.  Tomorrow will involve getting it all dragged up to a ride, where they will wait till the Spring for me to cut them and get them up to the hardstanding near the house.

 

The damage to the ground is minimal.  Still hard physical work, but I'm learning as I go and thoroughly enjoying myself!

 

 

Edited January 6, 2022 by JonnoR

[JonnoR]

Hi all,

 

I took a walk around a parcel I've not really explored before.  It is a plantation of just over an acre, with predominantly hornbeam seedlings.  It would have been planted about 20-25 years ago I'd say, but I'll knock one of the dying trees over next week to know for sure.

 

My question is - should I conduct a small thinning exercise, to ensure the trees are not over competing, to the detriment of their canopies?  They are spaced between 75cm and 1 metre apart, about 20cm in diameter and are growing straight (7-9 metres in height I'd say)

 

Hard to judge from the photos I know, but to me it seems that there is some crowding in the canopy that suggests it's time to give some of the better trees some space to spread.

 

Very grateful indeed for your collective insights!

 

Jonno

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, JonnoR said:

Hard to judge from the photos I know, but to me it seems that there is some crowding in the canopy that suggests it's time to give some of the better trees some space to spread.

 

Yes it is hard to decide from photos but the planting spacing and height of clear stem demonstrates the difference between British and French sylviculture. In england I think all the hornbeam woods I worked were out of rotation coppice.

 

The french way seems to go for long clear stems whereas we tended to aim for short fat butts of oak with large canopies standing out as islands in a sea of underwood.

 

I would thin it very gently as the crowns seem very thin and ideally should never get to be less than 40% of the height so it will take time for them to exploit any new space you give them. What is hornbeam used for in france?

[Mick Dempsey]

Firewood is all I’ve seen it for.

Never seen a coppice of Hornbeam here like you see in Sussex.

[JonnoR]

20 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

I would thin it very gently as the crowns seem very thin and ideally should never get to be less than 40% of the height so it will take time for them to exploit any new space you give them. What is hornbeam used for in france?

Thank you Openspaceman, much appreciated - I will look at doing a thinning exercise over the course of the next few years.  I was just about to suggest that Mick would have a better idea of what the French use hornbeam for in this region.  I think it remains a popular nurse tree, often accompanied by Ash to bring on the crop of oak for wine barrels (though I'm 99% certain this plantation was grown exclusively for firewood and for the estate bread oven).

 

I've started to bring back some of the hazel in to a coppice rotation and there are some signs of coppiced hornbeam, although that might be just a function of having been damaged by windblown trees over the years.  No idea I'm afraid! 

 

Thanks again,

Jonno  

 

 

[JonnoR]

Spent the morning cutting, sorting and stacking logs and getting them off the ground.  Beyond the obvious benefits of keeping the base dry, I've noticed that neighbours are commenting on how smart the woodland looks.  There's literally zero visual impact on the woodland, because all this stuff is windfall or dead standing, but by putting a few deliberately stacked woodpiles in open view, it's having an overall positive influence on the perceived care being taken.