Tips for dealing with newly planted woodland?

[smallguy]

Is it just set and forget now until they get to a big enough size to want coppicing? I am more interested in them becoming trees than cutting backfor any other purpose. I may do a bit of that but I want to enjoy it as a woodland first and foremost.

Edited yesterday at 09:02 by smallguy

[Stubby]

6 hours ago, smallguy said:

Is it just set and forget now until they get to a big enough size to want coppicing? I am more interested in them becoming trees than cutting backfor any other purpose. I may do a bit of that but I want to enjoy it as a woodland first and foremost.

Then don't coppice . Do 1st and 2nd thinnings when appropriate . 

[Welshfred]

On 14/02/2025 at 08:40, smallguy said:

Is it just set and forget now 

 

That will depend on the "weed" regrowth. If there's bramble or bracken you'll need to clean around them once or twice each summer for two to three years or until they are clear of the undergrowth. Then you can also spot any losses and beat up accordingly. On one of my summer rounds this year I put red ties on the canes of any dead ones to spot them easily for replacing. Although as I go round doing this with the low winter vegetation I'm finding some I missed amongst the 7 foot high summer bracken forest. I'm tempted to use the red ties on all of them at planting stage next time.

[Welshfred]

Btw what have you planted, just out of interest? I'm currently tending some pure sweet chestnut and some in a mix with oak over about 2 acres, planted between 2012 and 2023. Most of the 2012s are very well established but it's been hard on a bad bracken patch where I neglected the early cleaning and have had to do successive waves of beating up...