conifer clearance

[John H]

Hi Jon

First of all if you are cutting down that number of trees you are going to need a felling licence from the FC. They will want to know what you are going to replant with.

Regarding the roots, I think your options are:

Fell as low to the ground as possible and live with the stumps.

Use a jcb digger to dig them out, don't expect to get them out with a small mini digger. A root ripping tine on the digger is helpful.

Hire a stump grinder, I have never used one but I would think it would be a slow job.

Get a large bulldozer to push them out .

I have dug out spruce stumps with a 4 ton rubber tracked digger, no ripping tine, I would not want to do 100 though.

John

[John H]

You are allowed to fell a certain quantity , I think it may be 3 cubic metres per quarter without a licence. I expect if the FC got involved they would still want a say in what you replant with.

[greyman]

My understanding is 5 Cuic Meters can be cut in any one quarter but one thing you do need to check is that there is no TPO on the stand and you might also want to get the Forrest Commission out to have a look (they come out for free) just to explain what you are thinking of undertaking. We got the chap out and he was very approachable although we have not gone for a felling licence at the moment or any grants.

Greyman

[RichardKing]

Been thinning some 12 - 15 in Scots pine recently, they seem to come in at about a cubic metre each.

[DaveTaz]

Jon, a few points to consider,

you can fell 5 cubic metres per quarter (quarter one is jan, feb, march and so on) providing you don't sell any more than two out of the five cubes

if mid point diameter is 20cm (8") and the trees are say 15m long, you would get 11 trees to 5 cubic metres (= 44 trees per year) and so would take just over two years

the stumps may be less of a problem than all the brash you may be left with, stump grinders are hard work and don't really go that deep, they are mainly used by tree surgeons to remove stumps for aesthetics rather than anything else

will the ground be suitable for planting fruit trees once the conifers have been removed?

cosider getting in contractors, you may be able to sell it as standing timber if you had a felling licence

[Darren]

it may be possible to turn the stumps into a type of log candle. Cut across the stump four times down to near ground level and light a small fire on top.