(First post) Planting a native woodland, East Sussex

[nepia]

Re the photo: yes, you are near the Forest aren't you - I see silver sand!

[spandit]

Re the photo: yes, you are near the Forest aren't you - I see silver sand!

 

As I said, not a million miles away - between RTW and Eastbourne

[woodyguy]

Survival of the fittest for your trees is fine but then why use tree guards?

An oak grown in a proper tree guard will be six times the volume of one grown without protection (assuming it doesn't get eaten by rabbits).

 

Keeping a metre weed free competition area around it has a similar effect. I'd got a few dozen straggly oaks that self seeded and survived. But 70 years later they're not much. Those that grew within an established wood are impressive timber trees. Sometimes a little helping hand to nature in the beginning can make a world of difference to the ultimate tree and whether it produces canopy closure in 10 years or 20 years.

 

Remember that naturally oak trees grew in oak woods, as they still do in France. Since American Oak Mildew arrived in the UK in 1908, they rarely establish naturally in woods and have become a pioneer species. So a helping hand makes sense to me.

[fagus]

Certainly looks a good site, the water areas will help to create a great place. I am organic as much as possible but the alternative to spot spray weeding such as mulching or planting mats are usually out for expense/workload reasons. Sickling is not good on the back. Hard to go against the grain but usually go on the merits of the knapsack sprayer and resultant benefit to tree growth. Straight line planting so you can mow the spaces helps.

 

Anyone else noted that planting, no matter what, seems to virtually stand still for a couple of years especially if planted in vegetation;or more correctly only takes off after a few years. I reckon this is due to the lapse until root mycorrhiza symbiosis gets hold.

[codlasher]

For that scale of planting I'd seriously cost a ring fence.

 

Although I'm not au fait with alder on sand I like the fact you are planting a good number as these will be the nurse crop in the soils that I'm used to. Personally I preferred Douglas as a nurse as the end produce (where I operated) was far more useful:big grin:

 

Still on the subject of the alder and again with personal experience you'll have to be prepared to prune these early to avoid the lower branches obstructing the slower youngsters. A ring fence will also support this planting scheme as alder very soon out-grow their tubes. A liquid manure from a local farm will help with early growth as will 'good' planting. Looking at the pictures of your lovely virgin site you should get phenomenal growth in years three/four onwards if you are lucky. There's something about these sites that really put a smile on your face.

codlasher

[spandit]

All good advice and most of it too late as have already ordered tubes/spirals. The matting cost me about £150 - don't know how that compares to spraying 1500 trees several times with glyphosate. Ring fencing not really an option as I've already identified 12 different sites where the trees will be planted. The entire perimeter is about half a mile, I think. The spaniels and the .22LR will keep the rabbits at bay and I have a friend who would jump at the chance to shoot deer if they appear, which in East Sussex is more than likely.

 

I'm told the soil is pretty fertile. The rushes seem to like it anyway! When I say we're on sand, it's an extremely fine sand that holds the moisture quite well. It's covered by a good few inches of sticky sod anyway

[spandit]

Trees arrived yesterday, on two massive pallets...

 

 

and one small one, which made the task in hand seem vaguely manageable:

 

 

Wasted little time in planting my first one - a cherry to form part of an avenue (this carpet was in my old house, no, it wasn't a pub):

 

 

(You can see the end of the hawthorn hedge I planted last month in that photo)

 

 

Started laying out the main ride up to the spring in the top paddock. At my wife's request, these are all wild cherry too - hoping it'll make a glorious avenue in a few years:

 

 

At close of play today we'd got this far, losing half the day to bad weather and humping the stuff up into the field, which is all being done by hand as we don't have a tractor and our 4x4's can't make it:

 

 

In the foreground you can probably see where we've marked out a Scots Pine circle - a bit twee perhaps but apart from another one in the lower field, that's the only formal planting we're doing. The rest is mixed. Mainly planted alder today, with some aspen and cherry mixed in (the blackthorn/hawthorn hedge I planted isn't shown).

 

Going to tackle more alder tomorrow and hopefully plant a hazel coppice and some oak standards

[sandspider]

Looking good. Be interesting to see it change over the next few years...

 

Where did you get the trees from?

[spandit]

Looking good. Be interesting to see it change over the next few years...

 

Where did you get the trees from?

 

Thorpe trees, but only because they were through the Woodland Trust MOREwoods scheme

[woodyguy]

Looks good. How many days planting at that rate?