12 acres. Tree plan.

victor8600 wrote: »

How about renting a small excavator to dig holes? Making 450 holes in rocky soil by hand is a challenge.

Thank you. In the end I got this (the Magna Graeca - YouTube video here https://youtu.be/v1W0cQ1lh0s and planted 670 trees in a week. Will post picture when they come on a bit.

JJayoo wrote: »

"I am puzzled by the depth of feeling that emerges periodically on the planting of thorn-trees. Scratches from blackthorn are nasty............but are all the thorntrees "nuisance"? Would appreciate advice as I got hundreds of them"

Black thorns will spread rapidly and instead of forming a 'tree' they will just create a big tangle. They can become a nice tree if pruned and if you stop them spreading.

Whitethorn can become a beautiful tree and doesn't spread.

Where abouts in the west are you planting?

Mayo mountains.........so any tree or shrub that can survive the gales and salt air from the Atlantic, get roots into shale and give a bit of habitat for wildlife and pollinators is good. Hawthorn planted last year in a more sheltered "nursery plot" are coming into leaf now and look sturdy.

Chisler2 wrote: »

Mayo mountains.........so any tree or shrub that can survive the gales and salt air from the Atlantic, get roots into shale and give a bit of habitat for wildlife and pollinators is good. Hawthorn planted last year in a more sheltered "nursery plot" are coming into leaf now and look sturdy.

Someone once told me that Mayo is a contraction of the gaelic for "plain of the yew"


Plant some Yew's in the shelter of the others?
would you like to?
stock poisoning might be a worry, but can be managed by siting the trees with care.




tim

timfromtang wrote: »

Someone once told me that Mayo is a contraction of the gaelic for "plain of the yew"


Plant some Yew's in the shelter of the others?
would you like to?
stock poisoning might be a worry, but can be managed by siting the trees with care.




tim

Tim - yes its a great tree, grows well here and I have a number of mature yews in a garden in North Mayo. Many are too large to lift and transport/transplant (around 8' - 10' in diameter at the broadest point!!!). I plan to take up the smallest (tall skinny ones - half-a-dozen) to set them on the mountain when the young trees are in place.



I spend much time, energy and money repairing collapsed dry stone boundary-walls against the incursions of neighbours' stock. When "news of the yews" gets round the neighbourhood they may be more vigilant at stock-proofing their land, also.

We have lots of deer here (rural Wicklow). They cause devastation if young trees are not protected.

I am starting a similar project, 11 acres in the southeast at about 300m. Mineral soil (about 10 inches) over shale. Gradual gentle slope. Lots of deer so looking to repair the existing deer fence otherwise I think we'd lose any tree we planted. Adjacent to a state forest which will eventually be clearfelled, so looking to put in a strong boundary of thicker native woodland and then more widely spaced trees to preserve some pasture underneath. My inspiration has been the traditional coppice woodland of our ancestors. Occasional thicker areas but with many sections of sunny understory and pasture.

You were brave to tackle it yourself, we have a forester coming and will be able to avail of native woodland and agroforestry grants if approved. Otherwise with the fencing on top, it becomes quite costly.

We have a separate place near the sea with mature alder and willow. I have come to really love alder which are a hardy quick growing tree well adapted to Ireland's climate. They are the ultimate pioneer and should be planted more often, especially in the beginning of a new wood or boundary.

i may regret it later but I leave a lot of volunteer ash to grow. They are bulletproof and prolific (at the moment!)

I am really looking forward to seeing our bare fields develop into a woodland/pasture mix over the next decade. Watching trees grow every year is very satisfying. And what better way to give back to the earth than to plant a few trees.

Water John wrote: »

I do hope those of you who have been progressive in this area are fully rewarded in any future schemes. No doubt this area will get good longer term funding for carbon sequestration.

You could imagine the Green Party could promote something like this to win over votes from rural Ireland, unfortunately bikes in Dublin seems to be all they care about.

Hiya guys, so while doing abit of searching on the Google machine I came across this

https://arbtalk.co.uk/forums/topic/109219-plastic-tree-guardstubes-etc/

Essentially it is a UK forum and in this linked thread people are complaining about unwanted ree guards which are littering the area, they even have a picture of a truck load of dumped tree guards.

So I am just wondering would this be the same this side of the pond ie large amounts of old tree guards which are being dumped. These would still be perfect for anyone planting their own trees.

JJayoo wrote: »

https://m.independent.ie/business/farming/forestry-enviro/environment/plan-to-plant-a-whopping-22m-trees-more-than-6000-croke-park-pitches-a-year-to-beat-greenhouse-gases-38453105.html

An attempt to transform the Irish landscape with nature's own carbon captors will see 22 million trees planted every year for the next 20 years.

The ambitious plan is the equivalent of planting more than 6,000 Croke Park pitches every year until 2040.

If successful, the area of land under trees could increase by 20pc to almost one-million hectares, although that would still leave Ireland at the bottom in Europe for forest cover, ahead only of barren Malta.

"Most of the planting will be done by the State, farmers and other large landowners by spurring renewed interest in existing grant schemes, but anyone with a quarter acre can apply and there are schemes to assist community groups"

Irish Times says 70% will be conifers, and I presume we are not talking Yew or Scot's Pine. It also fails to address the little problem of replacing all our Ash.

I'd love to be positive, but I don't see anything new here, or different to the last 20 years.

How are your trees coming on?

JJayoo wrote: »

https://m.independent.ie/business/farming/forestry-enviro/environment/plan-to-plant-a-whopping-22m-trees-more-than-6000-croke-park-pitches-a-year-to-beat-greenhouse-gases-38453105.html

An attempt to transform the Irish landscape with nature's own carbon captors will see 22 million trees planted every year for the next 20 years.

The ambitious plan is the equivalent of planting more than 6,000 Croke Park pitches every year until 2040.

If successful, the area of land under trees could increase by 20pc to almost one-million hectares, although that would still leave Ireland at the bottom in Europe for forest cover, ahead only of barren Malta.

"Most of the planting will be done by the State, farmers and other large landowners by spurring renewed interest in existing grant schemes, but anyone with a quarter acre can apply and there are schemes to assist community groups"

Before what is becoming the tree "industry"in Ireland expands its already-massive bureaucracy the ongoing destruction and depredation of hedgerows and boundary tree-belts should be tackled seriously. Preservation of old and existing resources must come first, with a campaign of raising awareness of the issues - both in terms of carbon-sequestration and biodiversity.


The buzz of chain-saws and the ripping sound of industrial-size hedge-trimmers has filled my summer for the past 5 years as farmers enlarge fields for increased stock of beef-cattle or just (as a neighbour put it) to "keep things tidy". The bird-population was already reduced this year fewer migrants reaching Ireland from Africa due to changing weather-patterns, high winds etc. Their broods were then smashed up by the self-same land-owners who will apply for the new forestation grants with all their restrictions and baggage...........a waste of time and resources if preservation and development of existing is not part of the plan, and re-wilding should figure prominently here.

JJayoo wrote: »

All 300+ trees I planted last year survived and are doing well, and these were all big trees 10/12 years old, so I will continue with the brutal pruning.

Had a good few trees damaged by some ram lambs, finally identified the little sh1ts and they were sold the next day.

And finally all my apples have been taken/pecked to bits by a flock of Jays which have showed up over the last few weeks, I wouldn't mind too much if they would wait until the apples ripen.

Sounds great. I had horses stripping bark in winter on any trees they could reach, and cattle looking for a back scratcher.

I've never issue with Jays and apples even though there's plenty of them about. It could be that they had other options with Hazel, Beech and now Oak.

Took a video of the most established part of my planting.

Not very exciting just 10 mins of me wandering around.

Not sure how to embed

https://youtu.be/WqhkmNTG-d8

Thank you for embedding it

I had tried before but always fecked up the videos lol.

The bit in the video is the older section, past 3/4 years I have been planting other areas. I have another area about the same size planted and then a few smaller sections. Eventually I want to have everything joined so let's say a squirrel could get to every section without touching the ground.