sitka and a secondary species

[lucas logs]

Hello Gents,

 

Do you have any recommendations for a good secondary species I could plant alongside sitka spruce on a clearfell site?

 

The only catch is; it yields a good amount of usable timber, tolerates climate change predictions, and grows at a high elevation on exposed sites in North Wales?

 

Or have I just invented a dream tree?

 

Thanks very muchly, Lucas.

[HCR]

What do you mean by alongside? Alternate rows? Alternate trees? Random trees dotted about?

 

If it's a clear-fell site are you replanting or allowing natural regen? If the latter, something like Douglas fir if you can slot it into the more sheltered areas, and manage subsequent respacing to suit your objectives.

 

Or to be different, sessile oak? Depends what you want the timber for.

[AlexB]

As a nurse crop? Conventional lpp?

[Highland Forestry]

As a nurse crop? Conventional lpp?

 

LPP - Risk of Dothistroma

 

Why are you looking for a nurse crop for Sitka? Usually Sitka would be used as the nurse crop for something else.

Do you need a mix for the restocking obligation or forest plan?

 

The way the biomass market is at the moment, and likely to be for a long time to come, I would consider planting some fast growing species so that you can get a short rotation and get thinning as soon as possible.

 

Maybe Birch and Sitka?

[lucas logs]

HCR, I was planning on alternate and random planting.

Yeah dougie sounds like a good idea, not too sure how much it will like the wind though, but would the fact it’s mixed with the sitka make it a bit more wind firm?

 

On foot, Lodge pole is a no go, there are already some forests too close for comfort that are riddled with the red bandit.

 

Highland, Yeah it’s for the forest plan.

That could be great with birch planted through sitka sounds like it would tick all the boxes and keeps UKWAS happy chappys too.

 

So from your help,

The real nasty areas will be planted with a SS & DB mix,

More shelterd areas SS & DF mix with high DF ratio.

 

… Unless someone has something to say about it?

 

Thanks very much for your help, great to hear your ideas.