12 acres. Tree plan.

80sDiesel

JJayoo wrote: »

Is the lack off rain having any impact on your trees?

The tubes would have have helped the trees establish quickly and develop good roots. Only the dozen or so not in tubes show signs of stress.

80sDiesel

Probably the most important flower in my meadows.. Known as Hay rattle or yellow rattle. It taps into the roots of grasses knocking back their vigor and thus helps other wildflowers to get established. It is why it is also called meadowmaker.

Would have existed in every unimproved pasture but since it is an annual ,an early cut for sileage/hay rids the fields of it forever
Can also see meadow buttercup, common sorrel and native grasses.

Thud

80sDiesel wrote: »

Probably the most important flower in my meadows.. Known as Hay rattle or yellow rattle. It taps into the roots of grasses knocking back their vigor and thus helps other wildflowers to get established. It is why it is also called meadowmaker.

Would have existed in every unimproved pasture but since it is an annual ,an early cut for sileage/hay rids the fields of it forever
Can also see meadow buttercup, common sorrel and native grasses.

Not to be cheeky but it doesn’t look like it’s supressing grass there, how long does it take for the suppressing to take effect? Or do you need more of it to suppress that much grass?

80sDiesel

Thud wrote: »

Not to be cheeky but it doesn’t look like it’s supressing grass there, how long does it take for the suppressing to take effect? Or do you need more of it to suppress that much grass?

The tall grasses you see have not been tapped into. The grass you can’t see, have.
You could suppress the entire field but would take a lot of yellow rattle to do that. That been said , each year the number of yellow rattle plants will multiply as they shed their seed at the end of summer.
A natural meadow should have a nice balance between native grasses and wildflowers.

Rosahane

80sDiesel wrote: »

The tall grasses you see have not been tapped into. The grass you can’t see, have.
You could suppress the entire field but would take a lot of yellow rattle to do that. That been said , each year the number of yellow rattle plants will multiply as they shed their seed at the end of summer.
A natural meadow should have a nice balance between native grasses and wildflowers.

If you want to see a great example of a natural wildflower meadow and your up that way the large field in front of Castletown House in Celbridge is a good one. It’s full of yellow rattle, Goats Toe and lots of other wildflowers including some orchids.

80sDiesel

This is a good vid on yellow rattle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFbhHHeSXvI&feature=share

Difficult to get a photo which accurately shows but one field where I have planted a small oak forest and neglected for 2 years is now a sea of red sheep sorrel. Will cut this year amd let the seed spread for winter forage for birds.

Water John

I have some land which ended up not being grazed this year until now. It's like mob grazing. There is one tall plant with seed heads, similar to your pic, and the cattle love it and eat the seed heads first before the grass.

Bill Hook

80sDiesel wrote: »

Probably the most important flower in my meadows.. Known as Hay rattle or yellow rattle. It taps into the roots of grasses knocking back their vigor and thus helps other wildflowers to get established. It is why it is also called meadowmaker.

Would have existed in every unimproved pasture but since it is an annual ,an early cut for sileage/hay rids the fields of it forever
Can also see meadow buttercup, common sorrel and native grasses.

That looks lovely. Did you introduce the yellow rattle yourself or did it occur naturally?

80sDiesel

Bill Hook wrote: »

That looks lovely. Did you introduce the yellow rattle yourself or did it occur naturally?

Introduced. Unlike other annuals , the seed doesn’t remain viable after a season .

Bill Hook

80sDiesel wrote: »

Introduced. Unlike other annuals , the seed doesn’t remain viable after a season .

I collected some seed last year and put it in a few places. Some of it seems to have taken - I can see a few plants in flower at the moment - but it is fairly overwhelmed by the tall grass around it. The patch that seems most successful was bare (a bale of straw had been sitting on it for a few months) so I am thinking of attempting to replicate that this year by covering up a few patches at random and once the grass has died back scattering more seed. Did you do much ground preparation or did you scatter seed directly into the existing meadow?

80sDiesel

Bill Hook wrote: »

I collected some seed last year and put it in a few places. Some of it seems to have taken - I can see a few plants in flower at the moment - but it is fairly overwhelmed by the tall grass around it. The patch that seems most successful was bare (a bale of straw had been sitting on it for a few months) so I am thinking of attempting to replicate that this year by covering up a few patches at random and once the grass has died back scattering more seed. Did you do much ground preparation or did you scatter seed directly into the existing meadow?

When you don’t have much seed It’s best to spread it in clumps. That way , together,it will outcompete the nearby grasses. Then you can use that seed crop to create more clumps.

I made sure the meadow was short and chain harrowed it so that I would get some good soil to seed contact. And made sure I had some clumps of it together. Still have areas with tall grasses but with a August hay cut ( and extra tedding) and chain Harrow the seed should spread to those areas.

80sDiesel

I hope everyone has enjoyed this thread and thanks for all contributions. The trees will grow and the wildflower meadows will hopefully flourish so nothing really to add for a number of years until the tree tubes are taken down and the meadows settle down into their old natural rhythm.

I am year 1 of another larger project (26 acres) of restoring an upland hay meadow pasture. I will start a thread of that in farming with the knowledge I gained and continue to gain on the 12 acres project.

What.Now

Would planting Yellow Rattle cause problems for neighbouring farmers?

Gloomtastic!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117660385#Comment_117660385

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinanthus_minor

When you read phrases like ‘restrict grass growth’ I’m sure they’ll have something to complain about.

80sDiesel

Happy to report that the trees are thriving. Nearly all have grown out of their tree shelters and now are beginning to broaden. Guessing will take another year or so before some tree shelters can be taken off.

Wild flower meadows also doing great but takes 5 years so will see the results in a couple of years. What I have seen grow so far has been a true joy and already have seen a massive increase in insects. Ladybirds in particular.

One thing this has taught me is patience.

I have since used the knowledge that I have learned (and continue to) from the 12 acres to use on another 25 acres which i probably should start a thread on. That has enough native trees so that’s basically a meadow restoration.

80sDiesel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117661037#Comment_117661037

There is a reason why farmers now know nothing about yellow rattle.It’s an annual so once grazed by livestock it’s gone. Forever.

80sDiesel

..

.

Large bottle small glass

Looks, great well done on the project.

You might enjoy this or not 🙂

https://youtu.be/Qk-03oFgvyQ

80sDiesel

......

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119305493#Comment_119305493

Haven't read whole thread and only planted about half an acre here, over past 20 years or so. Some have done well, others less so - about 2/3rds of the ash is poor or dead.

But I did note in the opening post that you say '350m high'. Is that 350 metres above sea level? If so, that's quite high - what impact has this had on choice of trees and how they've done?

HerrKapitan

I have just finished reading this from start to finish and wanted to say well done on the project.

Very inspirational.

If I had a few acres of agricultural land to do similar, would I need planning permission for a log cabin less than 25sqm?

The land is far from home, and it would be handy to sleep over on weekends.

getoutadodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118114488#Comment_118114488

Sounds great. Its exactly the type of project I plan to do if I can get out of the city this year.

funkey_monkey

Great read. I've put in some forestry myself - albeit on a smaller scale. Next stage is to get some Shropshire sheep to do the grazing around the trees.

Would love to see some more images of your work. If I remember correctly, the laneway in your initial post looked fantastic.

80sDiesel

Will get up photos in Spring when they are in leaf.

The alders are the fastest growing and have taken off some stakes but left the tunes in for now.

Probable needs another growing season for the trees to fill out. Slow process but since all trees are now reaching of the tubes I expect the next year or two will have the biggest impact as they take on girth rather than height.

Re the wildflower meadows I am hoping for a good flourish of flowers this year.

johnytwentyten

I want to plant some alders to soak up water in the bottom of a field i own, my long term plan is to turn this field in a meadow, currently over run with rushes, I've cut them and will be spraying them with mcpa in 6 weeks, my question is will this affect the alder trees, the window to plant them is getting short so I'm wondering if should just wait till next winter to plant them?

80sDiesel

Rabbits, hares and deer will eat at the bark of young alder so if you plant your alder saplings in tree shelters (tubes) it will protect them from them and your spraying. I left a couple of alders as testers without tubes and they are constantly getting knawed at.