New oaks & briars- advice needed

[Hillbillee]

Hi Ed. I have my own Woodland that I manage. The trees are mature now but I control the bramble by pulling it up. If you get it early enough it is quite shallow rooted and comes up easily in long runners that will root where they touch the ground. Briar, if you mean wild rose is best left alone if you want bee's and buttflies and hips in autumn.  My friend planted a new wood then left it alone, it became swamped with thistles, so I go round early winter with the brush cutter, just being careful. Though I still decapitate the odd tree. A couple of photos before and after. 

[Mr. Ed]

Thanks HillBill. Round our parts Briar means Bramble - I should have made clear. In any case they’re so entrenched that we’re not going to be able to eliminate them but do need to stop them swamping the new little fellas. Great work with the thistles …

[coppice cutter]

On 16/02/2023 at 13:24, Hillbillee said:

 My friend planted a new wood then left it alone, it became swamped with thistles, so I go round early winter with the brush cutter, just being careful.

The problem with cutting thistles during the winter is that you're only removing dead growth and it will have no impact on the plant itself so will just come back next year.

 

You should consider cutting them during summer and it will do much more to knock them back or in some cases kill them.

 

There's an old farming expression for cutting thistles,

 

Cut in May, back next day

Cut in June, back soon

Cut in July, sure to die

 

Not sure if it would kill them but it would definitely give the trees a bit of growing time without having to compete, and they'd get a bit more benefit for your efforts.

[Mr. Ed]

Thanks HillBill. Round our parts Briar means Bramble - I should have made clear. In any case they’re so entrenched that we’re not going to be able to eliminate them but do need to stop them swamping the new little fellas. Great work with the thistles …

 

We’ve got our first volunteer arriving next week for a workaway experience trampling and trimming so we’ll either be on the way to resolving this, or will be dead in our beds. 

[Mr. Ed]

We’ve got our first volunteer in to help with clearing the brambles from around the tiny trees. Great chap - very nice and very industrious. 
I’m very glad we’re doing our first go so early - the brambles are just beginning to wake up - for finding the little oaks is difficult. When we do find them we’re marking the location with wooden stakes and clearing around them. The birch and Scots Pine are going better and look like they won’t need much help to stay ahead of the spiny tentacles. 
 

 

[htb]

Chainsaw wellies a curse from the devil .

[Mr. Ed]

2 minutes ago, htb said:

Chainsaw wellies a curse from the devil .

If that’s the worst he can do I’ll take it! 

[Mr. Ed]

A quick update - thanks to Alessandro we’ve made great progress and have marked most of the vulnerable trees (mostly the very small oaks) and cleared around them. This will make future weeding much easier and safer. We don’t have a clear idea of how much we’ve lost yet.  
 

our professional forester is wryly amused by our folly. I can see why they prefer to use glyphosate, given how much time this is taking and I’m also very glad we’re not doing it. 
 

Alessandro was alarmed by a mallard flying up at his feet yesterday. Here’s her nest. It seems an unfeasibly long journey to the river. 

 

[Peter 1955]

As someone often tasked with trimming similar areas to allow saplings to become mighty oaks and the like, I can't stress enough the usefulness of tree guards, and tall marking sticks. Saves a lot of the trees from death by whatever weapon I'm using. Grazon or Glyphosate make life a lot easier too, although I appreciate they're not everyone's choice. I get called in so many times when people plant trees or hedges and expect them to outgrow competition from grass, briar, ferns and all manner of unwelcome vegetation. 

[Mr. Ed]

A quick update. Alessandro has completed the staking out and initial cleaning of the post dieback replanting - he’s mostly only staked (this is for finding them, not for supporting them) oaks rather than other species, since they’re the most threatened. Maybe 1500 stakes in the 2.75 hectares, maybe 2000. 
 
Apparently we need to reach a level of 2700 per hectare to please the Department. 
 

it’s been remarkably difficult finding them - especially as we began before they were in leaf - which also meant before the brambles got going. At times you would swear they were moving around or suddenly shooting up and at times it felt like an exercise in Artificial Intelligence - which is of course no match for Natural Stupidity. Here’s a couple we found casually  just today. Spot the oak. 
 

 

 

and here’s a couple of overviews of our New Age Golgotha. 

 

 

 

 

I can’t speak highly enough of Alessandro. We were very likely to find him.