Costs associated with planting new woodland?

[Pilatus]

We see in the media etc that planting great numbers of trees is going to be one of the ways towards slowing global warming , which is all very well and good BUT, "how much will it cost" (Never see that mentioned in the media)???
As some of you must have planted new wood land in recent years and now facing annual maintenance costs for that wood land,I would be interested to know how much it approximately costs to plant and maintain say an acre of new woodland for the first 5yrs or more.
A landowner that likes his woodland once said to me ,"planting trees is the easy bit, getting them to being well established is the difficult and expensive bit."

 

[spin cycle]

We see in the media etc that planting great numbers of trees is going to be one of the ways towards slowing global warming , which is all very well and good BUT, "how much will it cost" (Never see that mentioned in the media)???
As some of you must have planted new wood land in recent years and now facing annual maintenance costs for that wood land,I would be interested to know how much it approximately costs to plant and maintain say an acre of new woodland for the first 5yrs or more.
A landowner that likes his woodland once said to me ,"planting trees is the easy bit, getting them to being well established is the difficult and expensive bit."

cost is the least of the problem.....who in their right mind is going to trust the govt enough to commit to it......you could end up with unsubsidised woodland that you're not allowed to fell/grub up

 

[Pilatus]

cost is the least of the problem.....who in their right mind is going to trust the govt enough to commit to it......you could end up with unsubsidised woodland that you're not allowed to fell/grub up

My late father once said to me that one needs to be a wealthy person to play about with woodland , I believe he was correct, especially if no grants available.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Keeping livestock and deer out is expensive but the worst thing by far ime ( and I'm only talking about field corners and tiny areas s relativly speaking, ) unless theres watering of some sort in the first year, well unless its 'deluge days' in that spring and summer ...they will thin out I'm afraid, adding to costs.

Pity all this water going down the drain now couldnt be stored to do some good...

 

[Tubbylew]

What is the going rate for woodland per acre atm? The difference is probably the first cost, the only thing that puts me off planting a wood is locking it to trees forever even if it isn't succesful.

 

[Pilatus]

Keeping livestock and deer out is expensive but the worst thing by far ime ( and I'm only talking about field corners and tiny areas s relativly speaking, ) unless theres watering of some sort in the first year, well unless its 'deluge days' in that spring and summer ...they will thin out I'm afraid, adding to costs.

Pity all this water going down the drain now couldnt be stored to do some good...

I agree , especially on Cotswold Brash.
Off topic when Cotswold Brash is sodden as at the moment, one knows it is exceptionally wet, and I have NO comprehension of what it must be like for those of you farming land that is flooded, it must be terrible.

 

[Gedd]

How to devalue your land by 95% and have no income for hundreds of years yes plant it with trees

 

[egbert]

How to devalue your land by 95% and have no income for hundreds of years yes plant it with trees

95%? Really really? Hundreds of years? What utter bollix.

A modest chunk of pretty oak woodland lately sold round here (10 acres or so I recall) - on sopping wet sticky clay- for notably more than it would've been worth in bare farm land.
And it had just been robbed of the best timber in a BIG way.
bigger chunks are oft bought by opportunist 'splitters' and ruined by subdivision - and their selling price is eye watering.

Amenity buyers aside, I'm not blind, and if woodland within striking distance comes up for sale with a standing crop on it, I generally follow the price, as the crop is often worth more than the land itself.
(the aforementioned had just had a crop about equal in value to the residual price harvested...double bubble)
I've lately been buying oak out of a 100 acre plot which sold 20 odd years ago.
I thought the oak would be garbage given the topography, but I've lately realised I was badly wrong, and missed a trick. the standing value is monstrous, and growing steadily now.

Back to the post, and to the point, getting that crop established does indeed cost, and the rate at which the asset grows, and to what level it grows varies hugely.
After my own fudge ups over the decades, I would say early management takes cahoonies, but makes a huge difference.
Cost per acre per year in early years might well annually exceed the basic planting costs.
plants are cheap, although tubes/nets/stakes cost, and effective deer and or rabbit fencing costs yet more.
But getting in there and keeping the vegetation in check so your trees can 'go' can be eye watering - and when the squirrels come along after 10-15 years and ring bark all your timber crop, you've wasted every feckin penny of your time.

Meanwhile, the commish (and gov generally) don't seem to give a flying feck whether these plantings are gong to be of any future use at all. Boils my widdle.

 

[nick...]

Got some planted woodland here.big grants to plant and then some money for first ten years whilst in farm woodland scheme and after that it stops.we could pull all our out now if we wanted but nice to have about even if not earning anything.been in 19 years and nothing for past 9 years
Nick...

 

[Gedd]

Got some planted woodland here.big grants to plant and then some money for first ten years whilst in farm woodland scheme and after that it stops.we could pull all our out now if we wanted but nice to have about even if not earning anything.been in 19 years and nothing for past 9 years
Nick...

Could be wrong but think you have to keep for at least a further 15 years after payments stop

 

[Gedd]

95%? Really really? Hundreds of years? What utter bollix.

A modest chunk of pretty oak woodland lately sold round here (10 acres or so I recall) - on sopping wet sticky clay- for notably more than it would've been worth in bare farm land.
And it had just been robbed of the best timber in a BIG way.
bigger chunks are oft bought by opportunist 'splitters' and ruined by subdivision - and their selling price is eye watering.

Amenity buyers aside, I'm not blind, and if woodland within striking distance comes up for sale with a standing crop on it, I generally follow the price, as the crop is often worth more than the land itself.
(the aforementioned had just had a crop about equal in value to the residual price harvested...double bubble)
I've lately been buying oak out of a 100 acre plot which sold 20 odd years ago.
I thought the oak would be garbage given the topography, but I've lately realised I was badly wrong, and missed a trick. the standing value is monstrous, and growing steadily now.

Back to the post, and to the point, getting that crop established does indeed cost, and the rate at which the asset grows, and to what level it grows varies hugely.
After my own fudge ups over the decades, I would say early management takes cahoonies, but makes a huge difference.
Cost per acre per year in early years might well annually exceed the basic planting costs.
plants are cheap, although tubes/nets/stakes cost, and effective deer and or rabbit fencing costs yet more.
But getting in there and keeping the vegetation in check so your trees can 'go' can be eye watering - and when the squirrels come along after 10-15 years and ring bark all your timber crop, you've wasted every feckin penny of your time.

Meanwhile, the commish (and gov generally) don't seem to give a flying feck whether these plantings are gong to be of any future use at all. Boils my widdle.

If you have bare land there's a lot you can do with it plant it with trees and its tied up for generations if you plant firs not ready to harvest for 30 plus years if you plant native woods could be 100 plus years to reach maturity

 

[nick...]

Could be wrong but think you have to keep for at least a further 15 years after payments stop

You may well be correct,not that I’d destroy it as it’s great for wildlife and the scenery
Nick...

 

[egbert]

Could be wrong but think you have to keep for at least a further 15 years after payments stop

If you have bare land there's a lot you can do with it plant it with trees and its tied up for generations if you plant firs not ready to harvest for 30 plus years if you plant native woods could be 100 plus years to reach maturity

Generally, and now more so, once its woodland, it's not easy to get it out, no matter how long after a scheme ends. Walk cautiously.

And your previous statement about 95% devaluation, and the 'hundreds' of years was bollix....fes up mate.

 

[Raider112]

Beware of Government promises of subsidies, remember the feed-in tariffs for turbines and solar panels from Cameron's 'green' government? by the time most were up and running they had dropped the level of payment, often several times.

 

[Exfarmer]

Beware of Government promises of subsidies, remember the feed-in tariffs for turbines and solar panels from Cameron's 'green' government? by the time most were up and running they had dropped the level of payment, often several times.

Really? having quite a number of solar panels with FITs , I had not noticed and am very happy with payments so far

 

[Raider112]

Really? having quite a number of solar panels with FITs , I had not noticed and am very happy with payments so far

They don't drop once they are in operation but the figures offered at the start of the promotion dropped several times as austerity took hold and if you weren't operational when the drop came in you had to take the lower price. Solar panels would probably go up in a shorter timescale than turbines so maybe weren't affected as much, or maybe had a different system I don't know. The FIT price was the main reason for the glut of turbines and the cuts were the reason they aren't going up now.