Growing trees?

[Sjk]

Hello,

With only about 15 acres, have been thinking about growing trees for timber.

I am not in desperate need for cash, so was thinking I could leave it for years.

At the moment it's just grass land.

Is this a crazy idea?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Kidds]

You would probably make more money renting it out as grass.
There is a real risk that the public would be granted free access to your woodland.
Chances are that once it was woodland you wouldn't be allowed to change it back again.
You will provide a haven for badgers and foxes (may or may not matter to you but your neighbours wouldn't thank you.

Not a route I would take, I would sell it first.

 

[Grouse]

Christmas trees

 

[Sjk]

Thank you for the input kidds, I definitely wouldn't want it to be reclassified as woodland.

 

[slackjawedyokel]

As far as I understand the rules as they stand, areas planted with trees can NEVER be anything other than woodland so potentially you'd be making a decision for centuries to come.
A local landowner wanted to revert a large pine plantation to grouse moorland. They did eventually get permission but only on the grounds that:
1) moorland trumps pine plantation in habitat terms
2) they had to find an equivalent area (of farmland) elsewhere to plant to woodland.

 

[renewablejohn]

Even if you do plant trees theres no guarantee you will get a crop. I planted an Ash coppice for firewood production but 5 years after planting ash dieback came along and the whole lot will be need to be grubbed out.

 

[Sjk]

Thanks for the replies.

I will speak to council and see what they say regarding the land, no way would I want it to change.

I've seen some farmers plant trees and still have sheep grazing.. maybe this could be an option.

Disease would be a major worry.

 

[davieh3350]

What about fruit trees?

 

[Punch]

Agro-forestry. Woodland and grazing/arable mixed. I think it's basically rows of trees at wide spacing (12-24m) apart.
Plant N/S orientation to keep enough sunlight between rows.

 

[Sjk]

Fruit trees are a possibility, I'm very friendly with a local wholesaler which should help.

 

[Treemover]

This agroforestry is of interest so long as you can still revert back to 100% grass or tillage.

My fear is that due to grants and mapping it will be classed as forestry and may stay locked with tree cover??

Never looked into it so haven't a clue!

 

[slackjawedyokel]

Even if you went down the agroforestry /orchard track, you'd still need a license for felling anything thicker than 8cm at chest height. In order to be granted a license you'd have to give details of your restocking proposals.

 

[Goweresque]

How about a specimen tree business? Plant various unusual tree varieties, then when they get to say 3=4" stems start marketing them as specimens, to be extracted and replanted by one of those specialist tree movers? Or actually plant them in a large removable tub/bag in the ground? Got to be a quicker return than waiting for trees to get to firewood size.

 

[Treemover]

That's why I bought 2 tree spades; in the boom I sold quite a few trees; but very little demand here at present.

If your close to a sizeable market; it's a great business.

 

[Dry Rot]

Tree nursery? I'm out of touch and treemover is probably right. But you'll be thinking of the market several years ahead, not now. Grow from seed, plant out, sell at a few years old for planting. You can still leave them for fire wood if no market!

 

[Castle Farm]

Usually a good demand for foliage for flower shops.

 

[Sjk]

Okay, so it turns out you have to be VERY careful indeed when doing this as it can very easily be reclassified as woodland.

Also, itseems a bit bazaar to me but even if you planted the trees for timber, you would still need the forestrys approval to fell. So this for me seems too risky.

Planting them in large moveable containers is an interesting idea.