Planting Trees
Creating Woodlands

Planting New Woodlands

Tree planting is an ancient art and one that is most rewarding. There is something quite special about planting something that will most probably well out live you and will become the home for many creatures over its lifetime. Planting a new woodland is in our consideration one of the most positive ways of contributing to the long term health and stability of of our native wildlife and habitat.

Many people joke that for successful tree planting all you need to do is dig a hole and put the tree in green side up. Well, yes, at a basic level this is it in a nutshell. But research over the past 20 years shows that there are many factors to be considered right from plant handling and supply through to on going management and aftercare, that need to be done correctly to ensure planting success.

Below are photos of recent woodlands that we have planted in Wales, Cheshire and Somerset

Ongoing Maintenance

Ongoing management of planted woodlands needs to be factored into the cost and time of the project at the planning stage. Many well meaning people and organisations have planted woodlands without this consideration only to encounter problems later on, or in some cases this has just been forgotton about.

Watering during dry spells during the first growing season
Weeding around the bases of the trees to help combat competing vegetation
Periodic checking of the tree shelters and canes to ensure their integrity
Once the trees have matured the tree shelters must be maintained/changed/removed
Formative pruning throughout the first 15 years

Formative Pruning - Many future structural problems can be rectified early on. Such as removing 'co-dominant leaders'. This means leaving only one main up growing stem that will eventually form the trunk. If multiple stems are allowed to develop not only does it mean the trunk will not be straight but can also be prone to splitting out due to a phenomema called 'included bark'. This occurs when two or more stems grow up together and essentially are increasing in diameter thus pushing each other apart. The bark on each stem can progressively become to be included in between the two branches as they push together, thus forming a weak union. The inevitable result it is that one of the branches is likley to eventually split away from the other.

Tree Shelters

Below are examples of a poorly managed newly planted woodland, and the problems which can arise from not removing tree shelters at the right time.