It's now 6 months since I planted the 200 whips, and despite a dry start to the summer, many of the trees have flourished. Around half of them have between 1m and 2m growth on top. The other half have between 500mm and 1m growth. I've shown some of the larger ones below up against a jeep to give an idea of scale. (Note the jeep has a 2" lift kit and big tyres fitted!)
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| 1.5-2m growth |
Interestingly there are around 10 trees which have developed floral-like leaf growths in random places. I've never seen this before, and can't find much info on it online. Some of them grew at the top of the whip, others are midway along the new growth. I've added a picture below!
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| Floral Pattern |
Now for the bad news, after 6 months of being left alone, the deer have finally discovered the plantation. I noticed around 10 trees that had long branches stripped of leaves and snapped in two. There are 3 or 4 where the deer have eaten most of the growth back to the original whip. I'm not sure if these will survive, time will tell I guess.
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| Deer Damage |
Some online research suggests the deer hate the smell of soap, so I found a box of old soap bars, split them in half and hung them like Christmas Tree decorations on every third or fourth tree. This is a temporary measure until I have time to put up an electric fence. It will be interesting to see if the soap works in the meantime!
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Soap Deer Deterrent!
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Update- 2 weeks later, and no additional deer damage despite a noticeable increase in deer around the area. Soap seems to be working for now!
Hi Tim,
ReplyDeleteI am interested in doing something very similar to you and I found your blog through extensive googling on the subject.
One area I am finding a bit confusing is the whole area of afforestation licencing. I believe I would need a licence for anything over around 1/4 acre. Your plantation is more than this but presumably since you started before the law came into effect you are exempt? I also read somewhere that coppicing and non-commercial forests like yours (and hopefully mine) may be exempt since they are different to commercial forestry and that the licencing is targeted at commercial.
Anyway, your blog is an interesting read and has not put me off willow coppicing. If I can sort out the legal stuff perhaps I will be able to make a start next spring.
News to me, I must look it up! I suspect you are correct that it is aimed at commercial plantations.
ReplyDelete