How much would it cost to buy and plant 3k or so trees?

[suffolksmallholder]

No i clear felled them as its to dry for trees here and had got to about 4.5 meter tall and died off …. We dont get enough rain or have enough soil cover to grow decent trees .

That explains why the remains failed to rot away.
SS

 

[Hilly]

Wow!
Even the huge beech stumps and their eight foot deep holes from the 1987 gale had disappeared by 2000. Today all that remains are humps of soil.
The harvester machine left higher spruce stumps which, when pushing up the brash that the pheasant rearers so hated, stopped the county tractor dead and one nearly did a bonk-head on the steering wheel. The pile being pushed then buried said stump and by year five the whole lot was gone.
I had a chap who either took the harvester re-sets or the highest of the highers and these were carved into assorted mushrooms and sold at roadside.
The next big planting session I hired a tracked mulcher to present the ground and speed up planting.
SS

I got my quad stuck on one of the stupms yesterday briefly

 

[suffolksmallholder]

I got my quad stuck on one of the stupms yesterday briefly

Did you stay aboard or handle-bar-flip!?
SS

 

[Hilly]

Did you stay aboard or handle-bar-flip!?
SS

Just rocked it back and forth and it came off but just shows how they can last …… they plant loads of land round here and imo we dont have the rain fall , the harvester forwarding crews moan the timber is really light … well yea it will be … its dry …

 

[puppet]

Oof £8 per tree that seems an awful lot! That would come to £20k for 4 acres.

Do you agree with this £8 per tree figure @suffolksmallholder?

If so that takes me well over budget.

Tree £1
Tube for deer £1-50
Stake £0.60
Plantinf£1
800m stock fence for 3 hectares £8000.
£4 per tree to plant. Maybe fenced already?

 

[SoilHugger]

Tree £1
Tube for deer £1-50
Stake £0.60
Plantinf£1
800m stock fence for 3 hectares £8000.
£4 per tree to plant. Maybe fenced already?

Hold on planting £1? Are these figures based on hiring someone to do the work?

I would intend to do myself.

 

[suffolksmallholder]

Just rocked it back and forth and it came off but just shows how they can last …… they plant loads of land round here and imo we dont have the rain fall , the harvester forwarding crews moan the timber is really light … well yea it will be … its dry …

I planted up one of the Chiltern escarpments as a lad. C1970’s
FF thirty years and the FC was asking that the trees be removed. There was a grant available at this time but all the work on account of the terrain would have been motor manual therefor costly and likely not totally covered by said grant

I took said person to a place where we could overlook the stand and pointed out that 75% were dead. Being in the rain shadow area they failed. Pressure off
SS

 

[suffolksmallholder]

Oof £8 per tree that seems an awful lot! That would come to £20k for 4 acres.

Do you agree with this £8 per tree figure @suffolksmallholder?

If so that takes me well over budget.

One of my suppliers below. Take a look-see; https://www.albatrees.co.uk/?gad_so...MIg5bs94TThQMVAJpQBh1GdAwbEAAYASAAEgIWa_D_BwE
‘Availability’ is paramount and this is why I preferred November to post Christmas.
SS

 

[SoilHugger]

One of my suppliers below. Take a look-see; https://www.albatrees.co.uk/?gad_so...MIg5bs94TThQMVAJpQBh1GdAwbEAAYASAAEgIWa_D_BwE
‘Availability’ is paramount and this is why I preferred November to post Christmas.
SS

Sure that is only tree price, which seems in line with what they wrote at £1 high mark per tree. What about other costs? All in pricer per tree/whole project 4 acres (not used to hectares yet) ?

Also how does one choose one tree from another? where to get such info? I saw a book recommendation but any online resources to learn that stuff?

I love my fruit so would plant all fruit trees but doubt they grow well in high up west wales!

 

[puppet]

I am not a forester but I think you should get one. Too many variables in your questions. There is loads of advice on trees, planting and costs. Without a grant it will be expensive

 

[suffolksmallholder]

We have a few random apple & plum trees and a small orchard.
Your local WT people can offer guidance.
Even joining the RFS and visiting other possibly like-minded folks plots will be a fun day out.
Someone here mentioned a good forestry book.
My late friend Patrick Whitefield wrote some respected words on Permaculture.
The Earth Care Manual is worth reading.
Look at what grows well in your area too.
SS

 

[suffolksmallholder]

Without grants you could easily plant 1000 PA, starting in November. 100 a week. Thats ten weeks or two and a half months. Pop job! Nov, Dec & half of Jan. For three years.
So by year three you will have a mixed age plantation without the stress of doing it all in one hit, not forgetting the possibility of mahoosive beating up work if there’s a prolonged dry spell.
I’ve looked on t’internet to see if Chieftain Forge is still going but it looks to be a no. Mr Chapman made good planting tools.
I have still have a lovely Chieftain planting spade
SS

 

[SoilHugger]

Without grants you could easily plant 1000 PA, starting in November. 100 a week. Thats ten weeks or two and a half months. Pop job! Nov, Dec & half of Jan. For three years.
So by year three you will have a mixed age plantation without the stress of doing it all in one hit, not forgetting the possibility of mahoosive beating up work if there’s a prolonged dry spell.
I’ve looked on t’internet to see if Chieftain Forge is still going but it looks to be a no. Mr Chapman made good planting tools.
I have still have a lovely Chieftain planting spade
SS

Oh PA you meant per acre I was thinking per annum at first! Which seemed very different than the 650 per day someone else reckoned .

Yes time doesn't seem the problem. Cost will be the main determining factor.

Just found this https://www.gov.wales/small-grants-woodland-creation-scheme. Which seems decent. No idea on eligibility or how hard they are to grant though. Not read any disqualifiers yet but could change instantly on further reading. Best to plan for the worst to know I could cover if no help was given for some 'clause' I would not qualify for.

As mentioned earlier the one planet development looked great initially but further reading rendered it mostly useless for all intents and purposes. As such I cast a skeptical eye on grants/schemes now but from what has been discussed so far sounds like they are more willing to give successful grants for trees?

 

[SoilHugger]

I just had a thought that if the advert states that the purchaser are subject to plant more trees that implies that some agreement is already in place with NRW which would imply that it is already granted and I would just be continuing the agreement.

That would be ideal if so, so long as the grants also come with the existing agreement .

 

[suffolksmallholder]

@SoilHugger
My friend has returned my request for more information with her thoughts on the matter.
I don't want to burden her with asking Q's on your behalf as I think that you should do the leg-work for yourself as you have all the correct details on your parcel and that you are in Wales which is often different to English Forestry, grant-wise.
This is what she sent to me and likely where you could make a start

Blimey, it’s a minefield of multiple grant schemes overlapping. I’ll have to chat to local Forestry Commission guy. A lot seem to be linked to creating NEW areas of woodland or to assist where diseased trees have been felled. Or locked into other land grant scheme. Q’s :- Were the Spruce felled due to any disease/ ill health reasons, or timber maturity and need to restock? What’s the area to replant? Is the land within RPA , or an environmental stewardship scheme ?

I hope this little snippet helps.
SS

 

[Y Fan Wen]

Without grants you could easily plant 1000 PA, starting in November. 100 a week. Thats ten weeks or two and a half months. Pop job! Nov, Dec & half of Jan. For three years.
So by year three you will have a mixed age plantation without the stress of doing it all in one hit, not forgetting the possibility of mahoosive beating up work if there’s a prolonged dry spell.
I’ve looked on t’internet to see if Chieftain Forge is still going but it looks to be a no. Mr Chapman made good planting tools.
I have still have a lovely Chieftain planting spade
SS

Trees: Powys farmer fined £15k over government scheme errors

David Mills planted 13,000 trees in a government scheme, but is fined as some are in the wrong spot.

www.bbc.co.uk

My father and I spent 50 years planting up areas of our different farms and only accepted one grant in doing so. All the schemes we looked at were going to cost more after grant than they did when we pleased ourselves.
The only grant we took was with Parc Eryri when they provided the fencing materials and the trees and we did all the work ourselves. The only condition was to keep it stock free for 15 years. PE had a very good forestry officer at that time who knew what he was talking about. When he moved on and was replaced we couldn't do anything with the new one.

 

[Married 2 The Mob]

Hi @SoilHugger I have been planting conifers in previously felled plots. Currently paying between 56 pence and £1.12 per tree (some bare rooted, some cell grown, and of different sizes).
No supports or protection products.

I would strongly recommend joining Royal Forestry Society, and even more strongly recommend some of their short courses.
Forestry for Non Foresters being a stand out one.

Last year I was quoted £1.20 per tree for Sitka supplied and planted.

You won't get any grant in Wales for replanting.
The grants are only for "new" woodland.

Planting trees on the scale you talk of is steady graft - but very rewarding!

 

[Married 2 The Mob]

Sorry, must add those prices are plus VAT

 

[suffolksmallholder]

My friend, bless her, has been at the pit face looking at the multitude of available grants. As ever one is completely snowed under in blurb but hopefully this may help;

Grants for restocking trees

www.gov.uk

SS

 

[Frankzy]

This has been a very confusing thread to read. Fencing in spruces, mulching up stumps, hand planting tools?

Just goes to show how different forestry can be even between relatively nearby countries..

Here in Sweden the standard procedure for replanting after a forest has been clearfelled is to prepare the soil for planting with one of these:

After which you simply plant the saplings in the overturned patch of humus soil to give the plant a wealth of easy to reach nutrients.
Decent land in southern Sweden can easily bear 3000 per hectare (if not 3500) so I imagine that is a good minimum for decent land in England/Wales as well.

Spruce, whether European or Sitka, doesn't really see any grazing at all but pine is well liked, rather than fencing them in however I would always recommend spraying. Trico is my go-to product but there are others.

Then once the new saplings have established themselves you get to the fun part of thinning the stand, but that's a whole different topic...