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?

[Big J]

10 minutes ago, Rough Hewn said:

J aren’t you planning on leaving the uk?
If so could you please leave the legacy of our British forests alone.
🤣🤣🤣

Yep

 

The UK is a country in which the primary species are foreign, fast grown and evergreen. I don't understand the hostility towards eucalyptus. 

 

Have you actually been to a euc plantation?

[Rough Hewn]

Yep [emoji3]
 
The UK is a country in which the primary species are foreign, fast grown and evergreen. I don't understand the hostility towards eucalyptus. 
 
Have you actually been to a euc plantation?

Does Australia count?
They look great over there mixed in with the other rainforest trees.[emoji108]

I think the main problem we face is short term human greed.
Mainly due to our short lifespan.
If humans lived for a thousand years, I’m sure we’d all be planting forests very differently.
[emoji106]

[Big J]

54 minutes ago, Rough Hewn said:

Does Australia count?
They look great over there mixed in with the other rainforest trees.

I think the main problem we face is short term human greed.
Mainly due to our short lifespan.
If humans lived for a thousand years, I’m sure we’d all be planting forests very differently.

 

I should have been more specific. I meant within the UK. They are no incongruous with their surroundings, and more preferable to conifer at 10 years old. 

 

It's not a question of greed. It's a question of growing a crop for a demand that exists and is not presently met. 

 

An argument for planting something like eucalyptus in amongst other species is that it can work as a nurse crop, drawing the other trees up. The euc can then be felled when at an appropriate size, providing excellent firewood.

 

The UK has a massive timber need, which is not met by our woodlands. We import 80% of our timber in the UK. This is now considerably more complicated thanks to Brexit. In order to get someway towards self sufficiency, we have to plant large areas of fast growing trees. Native broadleaves are all well and good in moderation, but they should be limited to difficult to work and marginal land.

[Rough Hewn]

 
I should have been more specific. I meant within the UK. They are no incongruous with their surroundings, and more preferable to conifer at 10 years old. 
 
It's not a question of greed. It's a question of growing a crop for a demand that exists and is not presently met. 
 
An argument for planting something like eucalyptus in amongst other species is that it can work as a nurse crop, drawing the other trees up. The euc can then be felled when at an appropriate size, providing excellent firewood.
 
The UK has a massive timber need, which is not met by our woodlands. We import 80% of our timber in the UK. This is now considerably more complicated thanks to Brexit. In order to get someway towards self sufficiency, we have to plant large areas of fast growing trees. Native broadleaves are all well and good in moderation, but they should be limited to difficult to work and marginal land.

Damn you and your rational and logic!
Very valid points.
How does the growth rate compare with birch as pioneer for first thinning?
[emoji106]

[Big J]

6 minutes ago, Rough Hewn said:

Damn you and your rational and logic!
Very valid points.
How does the growth rate compare with birch as pioneer for first thinning?

 

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.

[MattyF]

I would like to see a plantation over 15 years old that is not a mess , they get to a certain size and then can’t take our climate in a harsh winter.

[Stere]

Theres so many euc  variaties though you would think a few might be suited as austrailia has a varied climate.

 

Probably the hardy ones aren't the fastetest growers?

 

Though maybe some off the species info the  "can withstand -15C etc" may be false marketing or optumistic?

[Khriss]

Plus you have way different soil types in Aus, our wet/warm type is not ideal. Norway grows fast n shit. Might err toward Eucs as a nurse tree as getting fed up of Birch, planted everywhere n fails fast - passed a load of it down to Heathrow and it was riddled with Piptoporus 😕 K

[Khriss]

( the Common got droves of it and its all failing too at 30 years / 10m just rubbish) 

[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...