Should I start thinning trees

[5 shires]

Thanks very much for the advice. Yes, very windy here. I'm nervous about thinning because our site/farm was treeless until we started planting in 2007 and I have become very attached to them. We now have 20,000 trees - mostly as belts but all connected. Here's a link to a photo taken last October. It's the trees in the foreground that we planted first that need thinning. Should I leave this until winter - and since I appear to have a lot of ash die back, perhaps I should start with them

 

Looks a nice bit of woodland...are there any biggish trees around? Can feel a rec climb/camping coming soon:thumbup:

[slack ma girdle]

I dont tend to thin the outside 5m edge of most woods in Pembrokeshire, mainly due to the wind. But if you have Ash die back, then you are going to get gaps in the edge trees anyway, so i would start by removing the Ash, and take it from there.

If you are not too far, i can pop over, as i enjoy being nosey in other people woodland.

[Saw-sick Steve]

I dont tend to thin the outside 5m edge of most woods in Pembrokeshire, mainly due to the wind. But if you have Ash die back, then you are going to get gaps in the edge trees anyway, so i would start by removing the Ash, and take it from there.

If you are not too far, i can pop over, as i enjoy being nosey in other people woodland.

 

That's the last thing I'd do. If approx 10% of Ash are resistant to Chalara, then surely it makes sense to do any thinning after the disease has struck - no point removing any resistant Ash.

[Paul in the woods]

That's the last thing I'd do. If approx 10% of Ash are resistant to Chalara, then surely it makes sense to do any thinning after the disease has struck - no point removing any resistant Ash.

 

I thought it was more like at least 90% of ash will die meaning they're not sure how many will be resistant. I thought it was likely to be a much smaller percentage.

 

Also, the signs are not always obvious are they? Some trees might seem fine for a few years and then die. If you need a wind break and you have a choice of thinning an ash tree or something else then I'd probably go for the ash now.

 

That's my current plan for my mixed woodland, until something yet another serious tree disease spreads.

[oldgustav]

Thanks to all for great advice and comments. I think I may need to get someone in to guide me on this.

[5 shires]

Thanks to all for great advice and comments. I think I may need to get someone in to guide me on this.

 

Pm slack..he's a good bloke and will point you in the right direction...And may be think about having a rec-climb on you property it's a good chance to meet up and socialise with fellow ARB TALKERS:thumbup:

[DanSmallLGL]

The FC are recommending that you don't clear fell Ash for the reasons Saw-sick Steve mentioned. It is however recommend that if the woodland is very dense, a thinning will benefit as it will allow airflow in and around the Ash, providing the best habitat for any (probably not very many) resistant trees to be in the best condition.

A light thinning as the first intervention will help to form wind firm trees, and like others said maintain a denser boundary.

I would focus the thin on trees of bad form and trees supressing others (i.e. if you have Ash supressing Oaks I would thin around the Oak), and looking to remove 20-30% of the canopy. I know your objectives are Amenity but I don't see why you cant grow good quality timber and still have a woodland focused on amenity and ecology.

The way you would do this would depend on the method you are using for felling and extraction. If you are going to be extracting with tractor and trailer you may want to cut racks (complete rows of trees) through for easy access? or if it is with a quad and trailer you may not need this.

[Saw-sick Steve]

I did a similar thing with a 17 acre arable field I purchased about 10 years ago, planted all the edges with a variety of self-seeded and home grown trees of local provenance, of which the largest single species type was Ash.

Fast growing, attractive tree for both windbreak, amenity, wildlife and, of course, firewood - sod's law that ten years down the line the double whammy of both Chalara and Emerald Ash Borer loom large on the horizon. For that reason, I'm holding out on the Ash thinning until I get some idea of just how destructive these threats turn out to be. If Chalara strikes first, I will then wait, before coppicing the survivors - like the Elm beetle, I'm assuming the Emerald Borer can only affect larger trees, and not coppice.