what trees to plant beside sea

st1979

I am in macamore area (heavy marl with very good clay topsoil of about 8 inches) and i am right on the coast. What trees would be recommended to be planted either commercially or as shelter belts. Thanks

Oldtree

Commercially I would defer to the Foresters umong us.

Shelter belts, the first thing to do is to see what is doing well already in your locality and use that as a starting point.

Rovi

I to have no specific advice to offer, but I was talking to a professional chainsaw man the other day, and he was telling me that very little conventional commercial timber is sourced from near the coast, especially the west coast.
The regular strong winds and storms lead to an awful lot of deformed and twisted trees, which may be picturesque, but aren't what the sawmills want to see coming.

johngalway

Don't know about the commercial stuff but Scots pine does well here and we're right on the coast looking out at Brazil.

wayoutwest

Sycamore does'nt mind the wind and salt and the seedlings can be easily found for free as the 'propeller'-like seeds get everywhere ie:in uncleared out gutters and veg patches under existing trees.It's fast growing,robust,coppicable and makes good,easily split firewood.

greenfingers89

wouldnt reccommend sycamore for this situation. monteray pine should do well, people sometimes mistake it for scots pine or lodgepole pine. if the exposure isnt too bad a better comercial option might be lodgepole pine north coastal. if you wanted to experiment put in 6 or 8 rows of one of the pines along the most exposed boundary and try birch, sitka spruce or alder behind it where it might benefit from a bit of shelter

Wild Bill

Are you in Wexford?

If so I'd go for Sitka (which performs well in Keuper marl) with a shelter belt of mixed radiata and lodgepole if you're very near the sea.

Ah! just spotted - West coast. Forget it!

Plant nothing.

Oldtree

Natural regeneration it is then

st1979

no i am in wexford area. Thanks for the ideas. Reckoned there was a good reason why you never see forestry planted near sea

bookshelf

Radiata/Monterey Pine is probably your best option. A lot of the western coast in Britian uses it as shelter belts as it's good at withstanding wind