arbmark

well 8m ish - depends on frequency of cuttings

i cant see the use of hazel if its for firewood as its slow to meat up enough for logs. just a few for biodiversity maybe. if you are looking at Forestry commission grants they will advise/steer you.

i met a guy in cornwall who's family grow pretty much just eucalyptus and sell large amounts. not sure what species it was - you'll have to research. i think you want a compromise between speed of growth and downright burnability but i like to keep things pretty uk native. Ive planted a matrix of hybrid larch (thinnings for fence posts), oak + ash + cherry (canopy and coppice), norway spruce(few xmas trees) and italian alder as windbreak edge. But then i'm in devon at 200ft, bit coastal, slightly acid.

Definately deer fence the lot and rabbit guard. Pollarding rather than coppicing is an option to reduce deer damage in the future and ease ground layer managment. Think about grass control too during establishment. if you are going for coppice stands, final spacing needs to be 8m. A thinning crop might be useful to you but you need to be able to fell them without damaging the coppice you want to keep too much. hence the designing a layout matrix. lots to consider. great project good luck with it

If ash grows well in your area then its got to be near the top of the list. Which trees dominate in the hedgerows, local woodlands especially regrowth ones? The trouble with a mixed stand of species (alhtough ecologically good) can be the different growth rates and competition issues but as has been said you could think of a upper story of standards like oak. and think of it as a legacy for the future

If we are talking timescales then you need to think about how soon you want to coppice your first crop. ideally you would coppice the first ime at 7-10ish years to get the stools used to the idea and then you would get your first proper crop 10-20yrs on from that. If you want quicker you need to look at poplars, eucalyptus - fast growers but the faster they grow the poorer the logs. i think there are some reasonable euc species though. Is it for home use or selling?

An oak coppice could take 30-40yrs. Dont have any experience of robinia sounds good though

actually i can see that there is a possibility of getting the saw stuck if the tree has the potential to shear and trap it so the dual hinge is a good idea in that respect. in this instance its a good solution but if the two parts werent pretty much destined to fall the same youd have to be able to run even faster! i guess you had to be there man. cheers for posting

some great lateral thinking but i think the use of two fulcrums (if i understand what is happening) and two slightly different arcs would put a lot of shear along the longitudinal split and thats whi i think its comes apart so dramatically.

The use of a strap is the simple answer i hadnt thought of:blushing: but i would have thought boring out the middle and working to the back of the tree is the one most would use. is there a reason not to do this?

question is after all our 'constructive criticism' would you do it again?!

good post - what are you like over 100metres?

Hello,

If any Arbs are intending to make the move then I would be happy to offer help and advice on the setting up and registration of an arb business here in France.

Cheers

Ty

http://www.lejardinieranglais.com

thats awful kind of you mr. not sure it will happen as we've just bought a new place. just tucking into some walnuts my neighbour has given me from her son's place in france:drool:

great post hamadryad.

Amazing and reassuring how nature can recover after human intellectual arrogance causes colossal damage even if the damage is on a undermining quantum level. I just hope we never take it past the point of no return whatever happens to us. Could we nuke the whole planet to the point that life would have to start again? Probably! Will try and watch that one.

But then since the planet will die one day when the sun burns out, mankind going to have to flee the planet and hit the cosmos in search of a new home. I suppose this justifies the dabbling in dangerous technologies maybe. Personally i'd take a few choice species and leave most of mankind behind!

Bonjour tous,

i ponderd the move about 5 years ago and was house hunting in the poitou charente area. Gave up when it got too expensive (barns wth 1/4acre were about E100k). always wonder what if. Probably wont happen till i retire

Id love to know how you are fairing for work and fitting in with the local arbs where you are. Living the dream still?

Hi folks,

Seen a couple of radiata with pitch oozes on the trunks and i'm wondering what constiutes normal oozing. not too hot on pines and their ways. Reckon these are normal in the pictures? - first time uploading hope it works.

this tree is a good size 1.2m DBH 20m tall. I havent got a picture of the crown but it is healthy, a few large limbs lost over the years apparently, including the big decaying stub you can see at about chest height. Havent seen any FB's anywhere.

knowledge on pine ooze please! and any thoughts on the decaying stub. Havent probed around - its not mine to probe!

cheers

mark

yea the dunnoii is a pretty rare one. unicornus? not even a cornus?

cornus dunnoii

Thornhayes Nursery near Cullompton. Excellent place. Massive selection of quality trees - a veritable candystore. Use them regularly.

i think the question is are you employed or self-employed? If youre self-employed then it doesent matter a bean, but as an employee if something happened it could be argued that you should have had the specific training to show your compentence had been tried and tested. am i right here?

Gollum thats crazy talk. will look into it. cheers

nice work people! thanks.

i cant really consider the fleece as i dont live there and if i left it on then it wouldnt get pollinated, but i suppose i could take it off if the forecast is good for a couple of days when the blossom is good and the insects are flying.

but the smudge pot idea that is genius. bit of smoke... radiant heat maybe. Alec that jar of greengage jam (new extra smokey) is looking good...

here's one guys.

i got a 8ft x 8ft wide greengage tree that blossoms prolifically, but too early and every year the frost kills off the blossoms so i dont get to eat the good stuff.

how can i fool the trees into blossoming later : mulches?/ screens? and dont say move it!

if you can solve it i'll send you a pot of jam:puke:

ditto!

you can see the point of both camps! it looks pretty cool to me. no great loss to the world and they look pretty scultural when the bark starts falling off! and we all know the value of standing deadwood. great habitat creation work there...

this is the kind of stuff i like. if its a site without public access, then the world is your oyster. Worked with English Nature (as was) basically vandalising woodland for habitat creation - smashing off limbs, leaving big stubs & hangers, scraping bark, boring slots etc. sounds like you got the right flava to me - mix it up. Variety man. If you are worried about opening up the canopy maybe mainly ring trees that have a very small canopy area? If there isnt much tree species variation are you planting up, especially in glades? mix of log piles and long boughs left as they land.....

hmm pretty ingenious. might put a lot of pressure on thin barked trees tho?

how did he do that!?!?!

shot in the dark. liriodendron? besides i'd love to get there before robarb!

woah that is sweeeeet

organic livestock is supposed to have a better life (more space etc) but in reality i dont think they get medicines as quickly and sometimes suffer more, when the inorganic treatments prevent a lot of unnecessary disease conditions occuring in the first place.

You can tell what sort of life the hens that laid your eggs have by the colour & flavour of the yolks (unless the farmers are putting dyes in the feed). Its true some free range hens never get to go outdoors cos they cant get to the doors! The quality of feed has some factor on the eggs but the access to good grass and plenty of invertebrates is more determinate from my experience. Commercial hens get two seasons and then they get their knecks rung. the death isnt the issue, its the quality of life thats important imo

i think its the seed from the berries that is poisonous the fruit is fine to eat. my groundie does it occasionally. yea fence it. give em a quote! or do a temporary job till you get the ok. sometimes removing a few small limbs a propos a minimal crown lift is the sort of thing the TO would be glad you didnt get them out for. im not talking about getting away with stuff, just being sensible & realistic. are there berries on the ground though?