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12 acres. Tree plan.

80sDiesel

Have a smallholding of 12 acres. 350 metres high and half would be damp soggy ground. Plan is to plant alder on the boundaries and groups of 3/5 alders dotted around the fields.
On a small bit of land which I guessed was used to dump the rocks from the fields I plan on planting Rowan with some Birch.

On the better ground a few groups of Scots pines dotted around.

Probably a crab apple or two by the old homestead.

There is a laneway to the old homestead but not sure what to plant there.

Sounds like a plan? Anything else I should consider?

Laneway to homestead. One spruce down.

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orchard farm

Why not apply for forest scheme and plant oak

Cattlepen

Look in to the agroforestry scheme. Get it planted for nothing with 5 years of premia

blue5000

OP do you want to plant all of the 12 acres or just here and there on it?

80sDiesel

blue5000 wrote: »

OP do you want to plant all of the 12 acres or just here and there on it?

Just here and there. Not wanting a forest .

JJayoo

OP what did you decide to plant?

Few oaks would be nice

80sDiesel

JJayoo wrote: »

OP what did you decide to plant?

Few oaks would be nice

I got in touch with future forests where I got excellent advice.
The following will be planted:
Trembling poplars
Common Alder
Downy Birch
Scots Pines
Wild cherry (laneway to homestead)
Native Willow
Hawthorn
Blackthorn
Wynch Elm
And the customary Rowan tree and crab apple trees by the homestead

I was drawing out a plan of the land on A2 paper last night to work out how many and where to plant them.

Yee oaks would be nice. Might establish the above first ( most are pioneer species anyhow) and then get some oak in.

JJayoo

Sounds good, wild cherry is a beautiful tree

Nekarsulm

Personally, I think thats a great mix, with the possible exception of the Blackthorn.
Horrible creeping things, and very hard to eradicate in the future.
And every jag of a thorn you get from them seems to turn septic....

80sDiesel

Nekarsulm wrote: »

Personally, I think thats a great mix, with the possible exception of the Blackthorn.
Horrible creeping things, and very hard to eradicate in the future.

Thanks for the heads up. Will do a bit more research on the blackthorn'.

80sDiesel

Update:
So i ordered 1603 trees.
The main trees will be Alder and Downy Birch. These will be mixed sparingly with Oak, Wynch Elm, White Birch, Crab Apple and Wild Cheery. The odd blackthorn and Hawthorn will be thrown in.

There will be one area which will have Trembling Poplars.

Scots pine will be dotted around.

One area for Willow.

A native irish apple orchard.

Hazel orchard. ( may need foreign species for cross pollination which i am loathe to do)

And groups of Alder in parts of a field that are wet.

...Got 9 spruce taken down last weekend ( 60 years old!) and have some more spruce and sycamore to go before planting in December.

Nekarsulm

Great to see an orchard planted. And having a few crab apple trees really help with pollination of your orchard.

80sDiesel

Nekarsulm wrote: »

Great to see an orchard planted. And having a few crab apple trees really help with pollination of your orchard.

Tnks.

JJayoo

1600 trees damn that's gonna be a lot of planting.

I planted in 612 trees since Jan and both my back and spade are foooked

twignme

80sDiesel wrote: »

Thanks for the heads up. Will do a bit more research on the blackthorn'.

Wonderful sloes for a great tasting gin.

80sDiesel

twignme wrote: »

Wonderful sloes for a great tasting gin.

Indeed. Plan to do that.

80sDiesel

JJayoo wrote: »

1600 trees damn that's gonna be a lot of planting.

I planted in 612 trees since Jan and both my back and spade are foooked

Yup. Will be taking off 2 weeks work to do it. The fact that it has been 2 years in the planning will hopeful ease the pain.

Nekarsulm

Or hire a lad who knows what he's at, with a Hitachi.
Let him mound it to your plan, and yourself and a mate follow behind planting.
Best 200 euro you'll ever spend!

Accidentally

80sDiesel wrote: »

Yup. Will be taking off 2 weeks work to do it. The fact that it has been 2 years in the planning will hopeful ease the pain.

Unless you're going to mow arround them or have animals grazing, don't plant blackthorn. They spread by underground runners and will quickly turn the area into a Blackthorn thicket. Hawthorn doesn't do this, so is much easier control.

Also, removing Blackthorn is a pain in the ass. It tends to involve a bit of blood and pain.

Accidentally

Id recommend a few lime trees as well if you can. They look lovely in leaf and the local bees will be delighted with you.

80sDiesel

Accidentally wrote: »

Id recommend a few lime trees as well if you can. They look lovely in leaf and the local bees will be delighted with you.

Yep i like them too but there are not native.

80sDiesel

Accidentally wrote: »

80sDiesel wrote: »

Yup. Will be taking off 2 weeks work to do it. The fact that it has been 2 years in the planning will hopeful ease the pain.

Unless you're going to mow arround them or have animals grazing, don't plant blackthorn. They spread by underground runners and will quickly turn the area into a Blackthorn thicket. Hawthorn doesn't do this, so is much easier control.

Also, removing Blackthorn is a pain in the ass. It tends to involve a bit of blood and pain.

Yep. I will cancel the blackthorn. Seems to be a problematic bush.

Accidentally

80sDiesel wrote: »

Yep i like them too but there are not native.

Unless you're going down to the Burren to collect cones from the miniature trees, your Scots Pine will be a descendent of the reintroduction from Scotland.

Good luck with it, it's one of the best ways to relieve stress I've ever found.

80sDiesel

I had a walk around the boundary of the farm today and its not as wet as i thought it would be. Should i replace some of the Alder with Birch ? Does Alder need wet ground or just that it grows faster ?

tabby aspreme

Alder will tolerate wet ground where most trees would not grow, but will grow even better on heavy ground, Birch will also grow well on heavy ground and is a nicer tree. Would you consider planting a few Walnut also for nuts and eventually a valuable timber crop, and also a few Norway Maple for color in the autumn

80sDiesel

tabby aspreme wrote: »

Alder will tolerate wet ground where most trees would not grow, but will grow even better on heavy ground, Birch will also grow well on heavy ground and is a nicer tree. Would you consider planting a few Walnut also for nuts and eventually a valuable timber crop, and also a few Norway Maple for color in the autumn

Thanks for that. Didnt realise that Alder grow even better on heavy ground. Birch are nice but the Alder grow taller and have a wider crowd. ( need to block off neighbouring spruce plantation). The alder are also great for the bees as it produces alot of pollen. But i think i will grow more of the birch.

Yeah before i went with native trees my first love was nuts. Did alot of research ( fruitandnut.ie was even booked on one of their workshops) but i am at 350m so walnuts wouldn't produce. The hazel will work and i will have to introduce a couple non-native specimans for cross-pollination.

Re Normay Maple: Yes wanted a bit of colour but because it is a very local area in a scenic area i wanted to stick with native species. The quaking aspen will give me a fantastic autumn colour and the wild cherry will do the spring.

80sDiesel

Accidentally wrote: »

Unless you're going down to the Burren to collect cones from the miniature trees, your Scots Pine will be a descendent of the reintroduction from Scotland.

Good luck with it, it's one of the best ways to relieve stress I've ever found.

Speaking of scots pine. That storm during the year knocked the only scots pine that i had on the land. It had synamore and spruce to choose from but no, decided to go after my lovely scots

Only upside is that it will be lovely to burn next winter.

80sDiesel

This video is good. Although scotland, the share many native species like us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ecbwpzr92Ps

Teyla Emmagan

It sounds amazing. I am very envious.

Accidentally

80sDiesel wrote: »

I had a walk around the boundary of the farm today and its not as wet as i thought it would be. Should i replace some of the Alder with Birch ? Does Alder need wet ground or just that it grows faster ?

It doesn't need wet ground, but like willow, it is planted there because other trees will not tolerate the conditions. As long as the ground is not bone dry, it will be fine.

TwoOldBoots

80sDiesel wrote: »

Update:
So i ordered 1603 trees.

Where did you order these from and roughly how much do they cost?
Are you getting a grant, as far as I know isn't there a grant for low density planting?