Anyone had any experiance re woodland creation grant in wales?

[ollie82]

Hi all, has anyone farming made application under this scheme? Looking at it for some.land which is heavily infested with bracken and marginal hill land which I am getting very little out of. Is the scheme a nightmare to put together? Does grant thing cover the cost of the needed consultant....? How have you found it? Thanks

 

[Blue Pied Piper]

Not sure how Welsh scheme differs. I considered it but am skeptical as in 30 years time you will have to refund or make some sort of retribution for trees that you haven't replaced if the originals didn't thrive. Not sure they will enforce that but still...Also with variable weather you need the correct trees and if for example, fruit trees, systems in place to water and prune them. I planted a small number of apple with my own funds 3 years ago and 10% didn't survive despite watering by hand and they still haven't matured enough to be "out of the woods" so to speak. I think you need to look seriously into timber and what you want to create. I visited two arboretums nearby and a lot of knowledge is needed. For example some trees are planted densely for straightness and no branches but they also don't appear to be thriving that way either as they shoot up for sun. I spoke to the regional representative and I don't think they know too much more than the leaflets they drop off. The consultant they recommended also happened to own their own nursery. Maybe that's ok but bit suspicious a lot of greasy hands. Personally I decided to attempt to grow my own from seed and plan and plant myself with flexibility and low maintenance in mind. Yes the scheme all sounds good but not sure you can just leave it to consultants and not end up with a mess if you don't do your own research and somewhat become a forester. Saying that, I'm independent minded and small acreage. I found they (the gov) want people to apply for things to keep staff busy but inflexible and difficult in end. It is good to go thru these processes I suppose as scrutiny is important.

 

[ollie82]

Thanks - I am cautious I can see some advantage mainly fencing but I am worried the advantages are too marginal to be worth it and replacing trees sounds bad...I would.be planting jn places where the failure rate will be fairly significant I suspect...thanks for your input.