Louise

[born2trot]

I would love to do that, I use to have a clydesdale cross, he would have done it no problem but the old fella gone now, he was my pride and joy too.

 

Actual most of the trees have matured to a full size so is coppicing still the right term for cutting down mature trees and allowing it to grow from the base? sorry for my ignorance

 

Yes it is , but remember you will not have any regrowth if you dont have a deer control strategy ( there is some good lads that know their stuff on here that can advise you on that ).

[Luke Quenby]

Alder makes cracking firewood, some of the best there is, and good charcoal too. My advice would be to have a go at it yourself once you've done a bit more with the saw / got qualified. If your doing it for yourself you'll be in no hurry / no pressure, and the best way to learn is to practice! Maybe there is someone local to you or someone on here who is experienced and would come and give you a hand until your a bit more confident in exchange for some firewood?

 

You should be able to get the coppice back into some sort of rotation (regular cutting) - say a third or half an acre a year - depending on how much is wooded. If your not geared up to sell and have a fire or woodburner it could save you money on fuel and the nice thought of being self-sufficient in wood to. If they are at the stage of falling, you need to start work fairly soon, at least on the worst bits.

 

If part of it is ASNW you need to have some thoughts to longer term management. I don't know if you would quite qualify for needing a felling licence, but more info on that can be found in the FC website and its an easy process.

 

You may also find your eligable for a woodland improvement grant (wig) under the ewgs, if you are doing restoration type work and bringing the wood back into production, I don't see why you wouldn't be eligable for some financial help. Speak to your local fc officer, again, check the web-site.

 

Sounds like an interesting project you have in mind, some pictures of the wood and sizes of the trees may help get a bit more advice, as well as any long term plans you may have. The christmas trees could work well and give you a bit of extra income on a fairly quick turnaround, I think there are a few xmas tree growers on here who will no doubt pitch in with a few ideas and contacts.

 

Most of all - enjoy it! Your lucky enough to own a wood and be part of its lifecycle, it will be hard work, good fun, educational and very rewarding!

[RobRainford]

what christmas tree species are you aiming to plant?

[Louise]

its difficult to say, they are all different sizes as a lot of them have been coppiced in the past, so they have 2 or 3 main trunks from the base but are up to 2 feet in diameter and there are fully mature trees which haven't been coppiced and i would say up to 4 feet in diameter.

I have heard that Alder is good for Carcoal

[big fell!]

Give me a shout if you want any info on the xmas tree's.

 

Good luck

[Louise]

Probably Nordmann and Norway spruces but I have already 1500 potted ones growing, they are the Nordmann, norway spruce, blue spruce and a one called meyer a chinese tree but that isn't doing to well, a few Korean firs and frazer fir, thats a lot i know but I wanted to test them to see which grew the best up in Northumberland

[big fell!]

Fair play to you... We grew fraser, nord and spruce. Stick with the nords if you dont want any headaches. Ive lots of info on growing nords, we cut 60k last season, back in PROPER tree work now though. Be happy to help if you get stuck

[Louise]

Thanks Luke

 

I'm very lucky the land is beautiful, remote and very quite. I am concerned about some of the tree falling, thanks for all the advice

[Louise]

Hi big fell

 

Thanks you might regret saying you can help, when I get a chance I might end up with hundreds of question, here one for starters

 

do you know where i can get 550 x nordmann Ambrolauri Forest District

DK seed orchard Langeso F.668 Ambrolauri Selected stand 'A10' Bredal Skov 2 + 2

 

as the supplier only has 2 + 1 in the ground or 3 + 0 where i would prefer 2 years in the ground

 

Thanks

Louise

[big fell!]

Have you tried Myland? Thats where we got all of our transplants from. I think your right going for a 2+2s though. The difference in our 2+2s and our 2+1s is very clear to see, are you spring or autum planting?

 

Bravo on the pro growers talk by the way... Impressed!

Edited February 10, 2012 by big fell!
haha