spandit

Frankly, I'm fed up with planting bloody trees... Only about 300 to go now but everything hurts

And gopher wood...

They'll look nice once all the membrane is properly tucked in

They give you a 60% discount. Although I haven't been officially invoiced yet, the agreement, which isn't particularly onerous, quoted me for just shy of £1,000 inc. VAT. That's for 1075 tubes and 425 spirals, with canes and stakes. Getting a bit bored of the process now - this morning I've done about 100 but it's cold and windy. At least I'm getting through my audiobooks in short order! By counting the stakes that are left, I reckon we've got about 400 trees to go, plus about 100 shrubs, which are easier to plant.

Wow, 100 varieties? I'd have liked some copper beech, wild pear & ash but none of them were available through the MOREwoods scheme. I did ask for sweet chestnut but they'd sold out, which I suppose is good news for the future coppice industry

We didn't have much of an option of start dates but at least the ground isn't frozen, although it is pretty wet. Planting the trees in mixed batches now so hopefully something will grow. Maybe not the best strategy but frankly, I'm finding it difficult to distinguish between some of the whips!

Blimey, worked all day long and still have about 680 to do... At least we're through the half way mark...

I use those Stihl single doses that make up 5l - probably not the most economical, but I'm not using it every day

Should be done by October Reckon we got about 225 planted today. Most of this morning I was mowing brambles and we're still lugging stuff up from where it was delivered. Only got about 100 stakes left to take up there now (all being done by hand) so should move a bit quicker tomorrow... :fc: Weather was better today anyway - was almost pleasant at times! Should be better tomorrow too

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

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

Wow. The two lads I had to help today managed 91 between them. In fairness, the weather this morning was shocking and we had to hump everything up to the site. I reckon they'll do a lot more tomorrow (had to train them first too). I planted 136 in a hedge. Using membrane takes quite a while too Will see how I get on this weekend...

I'm leaning at a 45° angle in this wind so difficult to tell if they're going in vertical or not... Not having a good day, to be honest. Doesn't help having pneumonia...

Stunning work! It's a pity such a great site is spoiled by those compost daleks - I've never got useable stuff out of one and they don't hold much

I knew it would grow upwards but wondered whether that would leave it with a permanent bend or not

Thanks, fellas* * no pun intended

:thumbup:

I do keep it sharp, don't worry, just wondered what limitations my current chain had - will try a different type and see

I think cyanide is flammable anyway... As with any wood, if it's seasoned, it'll be fine, especially in a wood burner

Further to this thread: http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/forestry-woodland-management/69371-first-post-planting-native-woodland-east-sussex.html My trees have now arrived and I've started trying to plant a few (only 1,450 to go!) However, I have a few questions before I continue: 1) for the trees I have been supplied with 1.2m Tubex shelters. Are these best buried in the ground or should I try and leave a gap to make it draughty to discourage voles/standing water? 2) for the shrubs, I've been supplied with spirals. The ones I bought myself a while ago have holes in them, these new ones don't - is that a good or bad thing? 3) how vertical does the whip need to be? Some of them tend to lean as I tread them in the slit. Not that it particularly matters if they don't grow completely straight, it's a "natural" woodland I'm aiming for

Very helpful, thanks - that's a good site

Now you're taking the mickey... as if I'd just chip that beautiful slab of timber (although my woodchipper makes short shrift of apples etc. as long as they're not too big or solid

It's a big truck, virtually a monster truck

Not sure it's big enough

Just mention this thread when you ask for my autograph during my inspirational talk tour