Sprouting Acorns

The Acorns, which I and some friends collected in October, and which have just been sat outside, upon some wet earth, in these pots since then; have begin to sprout.  Meaning; that its about time I got round to planting them soon.

Sprouting Acorns from the forest floor

On location in the Teign(teen) gorge

A little bit of digging in the leaf mould on the forest floor is enough to find many sprouted Acorns.

These are much more advanced than the ones that I have in the plant pots in my garden. Not sure why though, could be any number of reasons.  Probably because these are at a lower altitude and covered with damp rotting leaves.

Oak are one of a few trees, where the tree can be sowed from seed, directly into short grass, because the first sprout, is tall enough to reach up and get enough light to grow.

Under Cover Tree Collector

Discretion and need to know basis
Whilst I tend not to make too much of a secret about what I do; I do when I'm doing it.  It is always better to be safe than sorry & having someone moaning at me about what I am doing, when I'm busy; is far from helpful.



Today I am collecting mostly Oak, Birch and Hazel, from one of my favourite sites near Okehampton.  Also diversity enhancing things like Dog roses, Spindle and Honeysuckle, enriching my woods with as many native plants, that will tolerate the harsh condition up on Dartmoor.

Local as Possible
In every valley or area; each species varies slightly.  I get over 95% of my trees from less than 25 miles from where they are to be planted.  I want a good mixture of healthy local stock, which is attuned to the wildlife in this area.

It concerns me, that garden centres sell wild trees grown on mass, from just a few small areas, to stock the whole country with new woodland.  People really don't seem to consider the effects of things like this, but it seems to me that Homogenisation is bad and leads to a lack of diversity and a weakening of genetic and local variation.

Digging up a Tree Demonstration
I'll end this post, with a short demonstration of the best way to dig up a young tree:

1. Cut the spade straight down and not at an angle. We don't want to be severing tap roots or anything.
2. Do this right around the tree, in a full circle.
3. Gently lift up the Tree, with root ball.
4. Gently shake off the soil.
5. Place the Trees in a plastic bag, with wet leaves, to stop the roots from drying out.

Scrumping Apples

Allot of Apples always go to waste up here.  For years it was in a wild garden, to some barely used chalet type property.

Now it's a designated building plot.

The only practical way up to there is up this lamppost, much easier than it looks, all the kids in our street, could climb up this lamppost.

So many Apples just dropping off the trees, such a waste.

I picked about fifty nice ones off the tree and threw them down to my accomplice, who preferred not to be mentioned on here (the photographer). 

It is always sad to see food going to waste.
I hope these Apple Trees survive the new houses being built on the site, but even if they do; I doubt I will be able to climb up there, when they are in the tiny squashy little gardens of some gruesome new development.

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Sorting Small Trees

These trees are going to be planted at night, so I don't want to be holding each individual tree up against the moonlight, to determine the species, so I tend to sort them into bags of type before hand, to make my mission faster and easier.  The only kind of light I ever take with me is my mobile phone and a cigarette lighter.  I do not possess a torch.

Plastic bags, in this case bin bags are very good at preventing moisture loss.   Keeping the roots from drying out is crucial for the trees' survival.

Often I throw in some wet leaves as well.

Once the trees are all sorted out and bagged up; I carry them off, sometimes miles, to where they will be planted and either plant them there and then, or stash them for another day. 

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New Bridge

Collecting Trees at New Bridge

Today; I'm here, at New Bridge, which is a small hamlet on the Dart Vally in Devon, on a swamp tree collecting mission.

I suppose this bridge must have been new at some time, but I couldn't think of a more inappropriate name for it.  Maybe ancient rickety old bridge, might be better.  It is quite amusing watching huge camper vans trying to get over in in the summer.

Here the River Dart cuts into Dartmoor in a deep snaking gorge, which is mostly thick natural forest, that expands every year, as it spreads further onto the moors.

Allot of Canoeists and kayakers use this stretch of river at all times of year, as it is Southern England's fastest flowing large river, it has many small waterfalls and lots of rapids, so it is perfect for that sort of thing, of course; I come here for the plant life, which at this time of the year; means trees.

The view upstream from New Bridge

Willows and Birch

As you can see, from these pictures; there are litterally thousands of baby trees.  This little corner of this vast froest, was a conifer plantation untill a few years ago.  When they removed the conifers; the whole area seeded with millions of baby trees, mostly Willow and Birch, but with sizable quantities of Oak, Hazel and Alder aswell.  There is much thinning out to be done here and a seemingly endless supply of little trees to take away and plant further up stream.

The reason that so many trees have seeded here, it because, when the land was conifers, there was very little light getting down to the forest floor and therefore little to no vegetation, coupled with the fact that the site is surrounded by forest on three sides.  When the conifers were suddenly felled; the bare earth in full sunlight all erupted into tree seedlings, which now, some half a decade later, are just a tangled mass of competing saplings.

Just look how close together the little tree trunks are, to each other, on the caption above.

I just cut paths through this thick mass, which allows these trees to grow better and which gives me many trees to take away and plant.  To the right, I prune off the excess growth, down to strong healthy buds and stick them all in a plastic sack, to prevent the roots from drying out.  Below right; I carefully cut out a root ball around each tree that I take, to give it them highest chance of survival in their new home.

Dog Roses and Hazels

I have enjoyed a great deal of success with Hazels and Dog Roses in my various plantations on Dartmoor.  Both are tough enough to withstand the harsh conditions and both thicken up the edges and the underneath of a woodland beautifully.  In fact I would consider them an essential ingredient.

Dog rose hips are full of itching powder, which you can put down some one's back and it makes them itch.  The hips are there all winter, so they provide food for a wide variety of woodland creatures.  They also spread into a tangled thorny mass, which protects little trees from Sheep and other tree or bark munching herbivores, so I like to plant them with the trees I plant, to protect them, also the branches of the small trees, gives support to the Dog Rose, which is a kind of rambling, climbing plant and this raises it's procumbent branches out of the tall summer grass and into the light.

Dog roses spread vegetatively and, like brambles; the trailing branches root and form a new clump, anywhere they touch the ground.

Collecting Alders

 

Today I collected the first trees for year 11.  As I have mostly swamp left to plant; I have decided to come to this rapidly reforesting valley, on the edge of the moors, near Tavistock, to collect Alders.

You can see just how thickly they have seeded themselves here, from the above caption.  So they defiantly could do with being thinned out.  Very leggy ones, however are not very good and are best left.  The trick is to get them just before they get over shadowed, whilst they are still strong and bushy.  Leggy ones (if I get them at all) are generally planted two or three in a hole and  even then they often don't grow.

The ground here is so wet, that the young trees often just lift out, if gently pulled, with a great soggy root-ball attached, but some need to be cut round with the spade.

 The next thing I do is to trim off any leggy bits, down to nice strong buds.  I want the trees to be vigorous from the first year and not having to support allot of unnecessary branches after having their roots cut and disturbed.  I like to trim the trees back to just taller than the Summer height of the vegetation, where they are going to be planted.  In this case; these are destined for a reed swamp.  The reeds are about 0.7 metres high, so I'm cutting the Alders to about 80cm.

Keeping the roots from getting dry is crucial for success.  A large plastic bag, such as an old compost sack or heavy duty bin bag is best.

 A few bin bags full of young trees will fit nicely on the back of my motor-bike, tied on with bungees, but I will be able to collect loads more, when I have a car.

 Stashing Trees

 It is very important to hide the trees well.  I take them straight from where I collected them, to where they are going to be planted, put them in a quiet part of the site and them cover them in whatever bits of vegetation I can find.  In this case grass.

 Like this; they are unlikely to be seen by anyone and less likely to dry out.  Shown here; they are not immediately obvious.  Usually I would hide them better than this, but no one comes in here, but me and the odd ornithologist.  After all; it's a swamp.