bulk buy for 1 & 1/4 acre.

crackcrack30

Want to plant 1 &1/4 acre outside of grant scheme, due to possible house/site suitability in far future......

Thinking, Alder, Ash, birch, Hazel bare root with coppice in mind if left alone....

What ratio/ Quantity should i plant these at %wise.....where would be the best place to buy ,,,,,m&m birr appear to be reasonable?............would you mix plant or batch plant seperatley....

cheers.....

St. Leibowitz

Looks like a nice mix. I got planted an Alder and Ash mix in Feb this year that I got from Future Forests in Cork. Coming on nicely, but weed and grass control is important. Was looking at doing another 300 of each in Jan/Feb of the next few years, but rethinking the Ash due to the dieback issue. I'll do a different mix, probably similar to yours and leave Ash out for a few years until there's some certainty or a resistant strain for planting.

For the first year, I planted a row of Ash, then a row of Alder, about 1 to 1.5m apart, as I plan to coppice quite hard and i also wanted the canopy to close quickly. My future plantings willl be spaced further apart, probably ~2m.

I hadn't heard of M&M. Future Forests in Cork or None So Hardy in Wicklow also do mail order. Worth comparing to get the best deal. Also, as is becoming clear with the whole Ash Dieback disease, provenance is important.

TomOnBoard

crackcrack30 wrote: »

Want to plant 1 &1/4 acre outside of grant scheme, due to possible house/site suitability in far future......

Thinking, Alder, Ash, birch, Hazel bare root with coppice in mind if left alone....

What ratio/ Quantity should i plant these at %wise.....where would be the best place to buy ,,,,,m&m birr appear to be reasonable?............would you mix plant or batch plant seperatley....

cheers.....

Willow?

TomOnBoard

St. Leibowitz wrote: »

For the first year, I planted a row of Ash, then a row of Alder, about 1 to 1.5m apart, as I plan to coppice quite hard and i also wanted the canopy to close quickly. My future plantings willl be spaced further apart, probably ~2m..

Does close planting of a coppicing species not result in spindly re-growth? I understood that if you want firewood logs ( 4 inch or more) rather than sticks, you should not force the growth skyward??

St. Leibowitz

TomOnBoard wrote: »

Does close planting of a coppicing species not result in spindly re-growth? I understood that if you want firewood logs ( 4 inch or more) rather than sticks, you should not force the growth skyward??

I think you're right. The first planting was experimental really. I'd never done anything like it before, and I received much conflicting advice. I went with close spacing, mainly to close the canopy quickly to suppress grass growth. Future plantings will have better spacing. I've learned alot since February !!!

TomOnBoard

St. Leibowitz wrote: »

I think you're right. The first planting was experimental really. I'd never done anything like it before, and I received much conflicting advice. I went with close spacing, mainly to close the canopy quickly to suppress grass growth. Future plantings will have better spacing. I've learned alot since February !!!

If you have a bit of space, you might consider pollarding rather than coppicing- this keeps the new re- growth at a higher level. Once established, a few sheep could be used to keep undergrowth down.

crackcrack30

From reading about willow although fast growing willow requires alot of manual work, replanting after 25 years, diametres can be small, calorific value low, cons only outweighed by volume of produce...........more suited to a comerical enterprise in short,,,,,or possibly a gasifisation boiler

Re ash - red somewhere that it may take up to 20 years to come up with a resistant ash species....tried and tested... hoping to get some irish stock at a good price 2-300 plants.

Any opinion on hazel or weater I should mix or keep seperate the planting?

What would be an ideal spacing for this project, is 2m enough or not enough.......
cheers..