Chilterns

Hi, Please advise the current age and height the trees. Why do you need to cut them down ? With a small group of trees it might be much better to simply let these trees grow on for another 20 -30 years by which time the standing volume will have at least tripled and then buyers will come from as far afield as Scotland to fell and transport same for structural timbers. If you decide to let them grow on for a bit longer then high prune the trees to provide a good clear stem. Regards Chilterns

I am currently running an experiment in our woodland to monitor the dynamics of bramble bloom and decline. A number of years ago a small area of our woodland was opened up due to wind blow and so I felled the leaning trees and piled them up to await a further use but in the mean time bramble moved in and covered over the wood pile. The growth of bramble last summer got me a bit concerned and so I thought that I might end the experiment and hack back the bramble however laziness prevailed and this did not happen. Last autumn we had a bumper acorn and beech nut mast year and so I gathered up pails of this bounty which I then scatterred in the brable patch in the hope that the bramble would act a bit like a tree shelter and especially reign back on the hoovering up of seed by wood pigeons. Of course mice and squirrels are bound to take their share of the seed as well and so I am pleased to report that I have also noticed that there appears to be a localised increase in Buzzards and Red kites flying around and over the woodland and indeed even nesting in some of the high beech trees in the woodland and so I am hopefull that these predators might help to control the rodent population. Last week I inspected the bramble patch and was quite taken aback at the significant reduction in bramble that has taken place over this last winter presumably by browsing Roe deer. I have also seen one of two rabbits which previously did not much like our woodland because of its closed canopy and fairly bare woodland floor. It remains to be seen whether the seeds will sprout and grow or whether these will now be browsed off by rabbits and deer. In truth I think that the eco balance to be found in woodland is very much based on an numbers game where changes in the annual balance of the various factors that affect and influence natural tree regeneration will weigh more heavily than others and hence will affect and direct the eventual outcome. Chilterns

Hi, I have a couple of areas in the woodland where Dog's Mercury abounds forming a fairly contiguous carpet. I have been told that this is slightly toxic to grazing livestock and this might explain why it appears to be left alone by grazing deer. The patches where this herb grows also appears to coincide with where the best hazel understory grows in the woodland under an ash, elm and oak canopy. I am in the process of "de legging" the old overgrown hazel in order to try and resestablish these areas as working hazel coppice. I now find myself wondering whether this carpet of dog's mercury will dissuade deer from entering these areas or whether they will overcome their feer of same in order to munch on the tasty morcels provised by emeging hazel shoots ? Regards Chilterns

Hi, Thanks for those valuable insights. I like the pilot hole / watering can approach. The ground is hard and is quite variable including sand / clay / gravel / flint/ chalk and of course tree roots since this fence is going around the perimeter of a woodland. I have made a wooden persuader / commander / beetle and will give this a go. Regards Chilterns

Hi, I have been making fence posts out of standing dead cedar pole trees and would now like to drive a line of fence posts using same. The ground this spring is pretty dry (rock hard) and so I have been experiencing difficulty knocking these far enough into the ground by just using an ordinary sledge hammer. I have seen that its possible to buy a two handled sliding tube type post driver and wonder what experience people have of using this type of device ? Can anyone provide a recommendation on the best type to buy for typical 4" diameter round posts please ? Regards Chilterns

Hi, When pigs were traditionally turned out to feed in woodlands this was called pannage and this was aimed mainly at fattening up pigs on acorns that are lying on the ground since these can and do poison ponies if they eat too much of this autumn bounty. When pigs are turned out for pannage they should be fitted with nose rings to stop them ploughing up the ground in an attempt to eat roots, truffles, fungii and anything else that gets in their way apart from that is elder - they don't like this stuff and will clear all around elder but leave it well alone. Pigs can be useful to completely clear an area for planting but otherwise they will be very destructive to the woodland eco system if allowed to graze and root intensively. Regards Chilterns

What happened to my picture ? It was there yesterday ! Chilterns

Hi, I saw this design for a 8 cu metre firewood shed :- I want one !

Hi, I have trial loaded some Medallion 52 x 85cm bags with both hard and softwood with the bag uniformly packed (i.e. all logs laid parallel across the bag) with small round and split logs to create a 7" x 13" x 26" pack that weighs about 20 Kg (hw) and 17 Kg (sw). I will take a digi pic today and try uploading later. I very much doubt if full costing is being worked out and applied to sell a bag of firewood for £5.00 and would speculate that this price is established and driven more by what it is perceived that the market will stand. Fuel prices are rising dramatically and so too should firewood prices move in line with general energy market prices. A customer who burns firewood to stay warm will buy firewood by the tipper load but the person who buys firewood in a bag does so to stay cheery and might never even light that firewood. The activities needed to create firewood are as follows :- Buy / Rent land Plant / Grow Tree Fell Tree Delimb Tree Buck tree to chord wood length Extract / Carry to vehicle Drive vehicle to yard Stack chordwood Cut chordwood into firewood logs Split logs Stack logs / pile Retrieve logs from pile & load Net Sacks Tie & label sack Stack Net sacks Load vehicle with sack(s) Deliver firewood to customer and then there are capital cost overheads to consider :- Chainsaw & Consumables, Protective clothing, Vehicle & Trailer, Firewood storage / drying shed, Yard This an awful lot of effort for a fiver ! To increase the price of firewood the product needs to be differentiated i.e. a hierarchy of prices applied for different types of firewood, so for example :- Hardwood (top grade) e.g. oak, ash, beech, cherry, apple, pear, hawthorn Hardwood (lower grade) e.g. elm, willow, birch, chestnut (?), holly, poplar Softwood (top grade) e.g. Larch, Douglas Fir Softwood (lower grade) e.g. Pine, Western Red Cedar In terms of value for money all that really matters is the weight of seasoned (dry) firewood being sold however it would appear that currently firewood is being sold by volume in a non price discriminatory fashion e.g. mixed hard / softwood and of varying dryness. It's difficult to comprehend how Trading Standards continue to allow this non comparative and unmeasurable practice for the sale of firewood to continue since for example in the sale of almost every other product the control of sale by "weights and measures" is extremely tight. Regards Chilterns p.s Robied - what kind of 25litre container are you using - sounds like a cost efficent and effective solution.

Hi, I note that Homebase are selling very empty / light net bags of firewood for £6.99 and hence selling the equivalent for £2.50 / bag seems to be far too low a price unless you are dealing in massive bulk. I was thinking more about charging about £10 / bag for hardwood and £8.00 / bag for soiftwood sold at kerbside. Chilterns

Hi, I have been trial loading net firewood sacks by hand today and this is more than a bit of a faff since the corners of split logs continually get stuck on the net causing damage to same. What is the quickest and most efficient way to load a 52 x 85cm net sack ? and how much would you charge for this filled with either hardwood or softwood ? Regards Chilterns

Hi, I am north of Basingstoke, Hants. and want to undertake CS30 & 31 training. I checked with Sparsholt and this comes to £1500. Is there another more affordable alternative close to me or is the Sparsholt price about par for the course ? Chilterns

Hi, I don't think that the Grand fir at Ardkinglas is the tallest tree in the UK. The top of this tree is frequently blown out. Check out this web page :- The Big Tree Hunters Frames Page where some even taller Douglas fir trees in Scotland are reported as having been measured at 213ft tall (64.9m) in 1999 - that's 12 years ago. Given that Douglas fir grows at about 2 feet a year in this part of Argyleshire then the present day height of these same trees might be 240ft (73m). Now that's a climb ! Chilterns

Hi, I own a woodland that has a number of blocks of Douglas Fir with some of these now 85 - 100ft high. I have pruned all of these to a height of 16 - 20 ft using a Silky pruning saw which has done a great job however I have discovered that reaching and removing the last few branches gets much tougher as the angle of the pole saw steepens and the telescopic rods get more flexible making branch removal more difficult and dangerous (cut branches fall on person pruning). I wonder if there is a way of pruning further up the tree to remove dead branches and branch pegs without recourse to wearing spiked boots which will potentially damage both the bark and the underlying timber. For example is there any way that a ladder could be secured to the tree and then the pruner work safely from a platform attached to the ladder ? I would like to be able to prune a number of speciman trees to 60 ft if that is at all possible. Regards Chilterns