Recommend evergreen for woodland

[spandit]

My fledgling woodland is doing well but mostly deciduous so looks pretty sparse and sad in the winter. I have a few Scots pine and holly planted, none of which are doing that well but wondered what evergreen species I could plant to give it some structure/cover at this time of year?

[MattyF]

 
Pioneering is always the trickiest thing for a tree. They don't like to grow in open fields, especially if there is a seed bank for grass. As such, the first couple or three years are relatively stunted, but you'd expect 2m/year as an average over 3 years for nitens, a bit less for other species. 
 
I'm all for increasing NB woodland cover in the UK. But it has to be done in conjunction with a larger rollout of crop tree planting, and concerted efforts to control grey squirrels. To use an analogy, sitka (and eucalyptus after the 2nd year - it's not as easy to establish as conifer) is like a Toyota. Dependable, reliable and will get you there (ie, to your objective) every time. Native broadleaves are like a 1970's British car. Hard work, requiring huge maintenance, knowledge of the quirks and limitations, and in the end there is no guarantee that it'll actually get you to where you're going. It's a long, slow leap of faith. 
 
Englands 11-12% forest cover is awful. It's admittedly better than is was 100 years ago (5% then), but it needs to be 25-30% really. That way, we can properly help our native species recover, and at the same time negate the need to import the vast majority of our timber supplies.

I would love to see some pics of eucalyptus plantations over 10-15 years old that have given you this idea , I’ve not found any that would give me excitement to declare them the saviour of British forestry...

[sime42]

It's really common in these parts. It self seeds with extraordinary vigour, even in places where there is no evidence of local hemlock trees.

There is a lovely mature (ie, over 100ft tall) DF stand near to us with a complete carpet of 20ft hemlock underneath if. It's very pretty.

Is that the lot just outside Dunster, near Minehead? They're truly impressive. The tallest trees in England the story goes. There's probably taller in Scotland.

[benedmonds]

1 hour ago, Big J said:

This is a photo of the largest tree I found in the 10 year old plantation. The rest is similar height (24-25m) but not so girthy. It averages around 26cm.

 

 

And here is a plantation at 5 years 7 months. This is a better plantation, in terms of form and growth rate. Averages 17cm DBH and about 16m. 

 

While I can't argue with it's growth rates and use as a crop is obvious, I don't think it fits in the UK natural environment. It is the wrong colour, shape and sticks out as much as any conifer plantation..  Also if we care about retaining native woodlands we also have to be very careful about these exotics going native and the damage they can do.. Holm oaks on the Isle of Wight or Melaleuca in Florida as an example.

[Khriss]

41 minutes ago, benedmonds said:

While I can't argue with it's growth rates and use as a crop is obvious, I don't think it fits in the UK natural environment. It is the wrong colour, shape and sticks out as much as any conifer plantation..  Also if we care about retaining native woodlands we also have to be very careful about these exotics going native and the damage they can do.. Holm oaks on the Isle of Wight or Melaleuca in Florida as an example.

Its a nice idea but glaciers, tides, migrating birds and continental winds have other ideas about what trees go where. Sadly UK For is poorly organised from the Top, largely on romantic ideas. Whats happening to that million trees planting wheeze?  K

[AHPP]

Got any pictures/data/anecdotes about any UK eucalyptus plantations older than fifteen years, J?

[Paul in the woods]

1 hour ago, benedmonds said:

While I can't argue with it's growth rates and use as a crop is obvious, I don't think it fits in the UK natural environment. It is the wrong colour, shape and sticks out as much as any conifer plantation..  Also if we care about retaining native woodlands we also have to be very careful about these exotics going native and the damage they can do.. Holm oaks on the Isle of Wight or Melaleuca in Florida as an example.

As someone considering planting an area up this does concern me. I don't like the typical blue euc planted in gardens for example. As a bee keeper I'm also curious about the flowering varieties but that may mean viable seed is produced.

 

On the other hand other options for what I would like to do are willow, poplar or some form of conifer - all of which don't seem to fit in either.

 

One of the reasons for it is to plant up areas where ash is going to be removed, and it occurred to me the other day that those areas probably had a fair bit of elm 50 years ago. I tend to look at non-natives as complimentary to what we have.

[Paul in the woods]

37 minutes ago, AHPP said:

Got any pictures/data/anecdotes about any UK eucalyptus plantations older than fifteen years, J?

There's a couple of pics from @The avantgardener in this thread. https://arbtalk.co.uk/forums/topic/120819-maybe-the-uk-should-plant-more/page/11/

 

[AHPP]

 
Personally no, but the production cycle wouldn't necessarily need to extend beyond 15 years. With nitens down here, you'll get to 500 cubic metres/hectare final standing volume after 15 years even after you've taken 2 thins out of it.

My thoughts exactly. I need to find glaucescens specifically though because that could be a different kettle of fish if they need 25 years to get to final harvesting size but have already shit themselves at 15 years.