what to do with brash

[clueless]

shreks wee brother - doing the earthworks and stabilisation on the stuart milne housing site on the side of the hill there. talk about microclimate! standing 4 days a week due to rain in june, july and august i couldnt beleive it!

 

jamie - thats what i'm thinking. was going to run over it with the digger to make the heap a bit more approachable from ground level, then go at it with the flail mower. she's heavy duty but i still have reservations about the stuff being too hard/big for it. still, even if i had to replace all the flails it would probably be cheaper than buying a shredder. i dunno i just dont want to trash my kit you know...

 

mestereh - not really its a bit enclosed where it is and wouldnt want to risk it. i accept thats the simplest solution though.

 

cheers again for the replies

[David oakman]

Ancient woodland this is a tricky one, you should be working ancient woodland by hand with no heavy machines defo no diggers. My ancient woodlands i work small cants every year and burn the brash in very small fires as you go so not to scorch large areas. Then as i have got you will find in a year or two you will have primrose, early purple orchids,oxslips,wood anenomes and best of all the very rare ancient woodland plant herb paris. But if you leave all that brash or chip you still loose all the light to the woodland floor. We live in an age of machines but in an ancient woodland work as the old woodmen used to and you will keep it alive as it should be, and as for timber horse logging no compaction of the woodland floor. The rivers take brash for faggots to stabalize banks. hope this helps but ancient is like it is for a reason.

[clueless]

hi David thanks for your reply, i agree with you to an extent but what we have is classed as 'aincent' but to me its just a mess. there are no established cants that we can work as it has all 'gone over' over the last 50 years or so. we understand that there was a coppice system in rotation around 1940 but since that period its all been left to go. where we are at now is trying to bring back some form of coppice system so that we can work certain areas and also the other areas that are basically overgrown with bramble etc we are just mulching up and bring back to meadow.

 

i appreciate your comments on working with aincent techniques but to be honest we're only in this for a hobby (gpd forbid it manages to pay the mortgage one day that will be a dream come true) and only have the weekends due to my 'day job' so it suits us better to use the kit i already have to make the weekends as productive as possible in the hope that one day we'll get some pocket money back by selling firewood, charcoal etc etc

 

i have read much about fagots in forestry/coppicing literature but have not really got any more of an idea on how to produce a saleable fagot, what the user looks for, what its purpose is and where to sell them. i know its basically a bundle of twigs used in embankment stabilisation, but any further info on them would be appreciated.

 

cheers

[Czlowiek Drzewo]

i bought myself some goats as chippers are too expensive.

[Dean O]

Hi Clueless,

if we can be of any help give us a call, based nr swansea. may be able to offer a few options or just some free advice.

 

Arborum ltd

01792 864053

 

regards

Dean

[Stuartsharp]

if you are cutting hazel, you may be able to market material as stakes and binders for hedgelaying.......or is that just a kentish thing?!

[muldonach]

We generate quite a lot of this sort of stuff and since as you say it is excellent for wildlife we simply pile it out of the way and leave it alone - it is quite surprising how the piles shrink in a year or so.

 

Since there is no value in any product and it is in a woodland setting why waste money processing it?

 

Cheers

mac

[bazbro]

Maybe a couple of ideas.

 

Firstly a Boxer mini skid steer machine to grab the brash and remove away from site. small, low ground pressure, very easy to use, 50 + attachments and would be good in ancient woodlands.

 

then

 

Put it through a TWS426 roadtowed shredder of which we sell or hire.

We have ex demo/hire roadtow TWS426 machines from £14k+ vat. New £20,125+ vat.

 

or

 

Timberwolf have just launched the new TWPTOS426 which is a PTO driven shredder with 17" x 9" infeed and requires 80hp+ at PTO shaft.

This will handle contaminated timber/ brash without damage to blades etc as it utilises hammers.

 

Price to buy: PTO £16,575 + vat or can be hired.

 

 

We are getting one very soon, Let me know if you require a demo/hire.

 

regards,

 

Baz

0797 333 0505

[email protected]

[Log-ologist]

Maximise your wood by using everything down to 50mm this stuff is ideal for charcoal kilns. The more you trim out the less the brash seems to be. Pile brash round or on coppice stools to prevent deer browsing. Alternatively make a dead hedge to keep out the deer from sprouting coppice.

 

try to limit machine use to tracks/ rides only. make wide rides east to west to maximise light into the wood and help woodland plants. chipping is less desireable than just leaving the brash on the floor as woodland plants can survive under scattered brash but have not adapted to life under chip piles yet.

[chestnut]

initially we pile up our brash - just to keep it out of the way

 

ours is mostly sweet chestnut and birch

 

we used to sell quite a lot of stuff to a local florist who did fancy wedding marquee displays etc - she used to have loads of birch tops off of us

 

i make plant supports, bird feeders etc from the birch - as well as hurdles etc from chestnut and hazel

 

the chestnut is great for pea and bean sticks and plant supports

 

and thicker bits of hazel and chestnut are great for ground pegs

 

long and thin poles can be used as props - especially overladen fruits

 

we also make screens from it (as we are near a busy road) to help block us out prying eyes and light fingers

 

anything no good for the above - either stays in small piles to rot down (birch takes no time at all to rot down) or we lay it along hedges etc - acting as an extra defense against deer and foxes (we have chooks up the woods) it also provides beneficial habitat for lots of woodland critters

 

when my father was a lad - he used to bundle up all the small sticks he could find and sell them to his local baker (those were the days)

 

hope some of the above ideas help - but my best bit of advice is : if it is a hobby, try to enjoy it and don't get stressed over it