Hello Mr Farmer, I love your videos. Great information and advice. I too will use willow when I start my homestead. These videos give much inspiration and its so nice to hear your thought processes in projects. I wonder if anyone else have ever read this quote from author Frank Herbert? "The willow submits to the wind and prospers until one day it is many willows; a wall against the wind. This is the willow’s purpose"
I grow willow but slightly differently. I came across your video doing my researching into different ways and types of planting. I take it the willow you are growing is Salix cineria. A native to the British Isles. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salix_cinerea?wprov=sfla1 The other common salix is Salix Caprea but this is one of the few that does not grow from hard wood cuttings. You may get a far higher yeild from some of the modern hybrid willow varieties that are bred for BioMass production. I got my cuttings from a willow structure that was being pruned back . Free fast growth cuttings. The cuttings planted into sprayed off bare ground this spring are 4 metres tall now. Good luck with your farm. Looking forward to watching more of your videos. 😊
I find cuttings for me at every temperamental, sometimes the obvious ones don’t take and the not so obvious do take. I made some ash steaks to hold up some chicken wire, hammered them into the ground with a point on them and they took and sprouted new leaves on 4 of the steaks, mental, never knew ash would do that. Unfortunately I had to take them out once I had finished with the chicken wire but it was very interesting to know. Not sure how well they would get on after a year of two but initially they took. Well done on all your hard work and keep it up, the nature will love the Coppice area you’re making!
Welcome back Dary, hope you had a good summer. Willow grow quick, it won't be long before you have your forest. 👍 BTW: My 3 year old peach tree started producing this year. Got a dozen peaches off of it. The 3 year old Pink Lady apple has a couple of apples on it. I expect the other peach and apple trees to start producing a little bit next year. Your hazelnuts shouldn't be far behind. Take care.
Great to hear from you Steve. I had a lovely summer thank you and I hope you did to. It will be interesting to see how quickly the coppicing forest develops. As for Pink Lady apples, they are my favourite! They are lovely and sweet. I've been thinking about planting some apple (and fruit trees) at the back of the house. I'm just not sure if they will get enough light as they may be overshadowed by some oak trees. Ask for the hazelnuts, I think they are nearly ready to harvest and I'm just off for a walk around them to see. All the best.
Really great to see another video from your farm Dary. It was great seeing your face light up when you discovered the 95% success rate of the trees. Really admire what you are achieving.
Hello Stuart. Great to hear from you and thank you for the feedback. Having spent a week in the cold and wet planting the trees, I was very happy to see how well they had taken. Lets hope that I can get to the same level of success with the hazelnut trees! All the best.
Thanks for posting this information. Its is exactly what I was looking for as I’m hoping to establish a willow copies on some new farmland I’ve aquired
I know, not a rabbit in site. Occasionally I see a hare run by the house, normally chased by the neighbours dog... then a few minutes later, you see the hare causally walking back past the house without a worry in the world.
Great stuff Dary. Will be interesting to see how long it takes the Willows to create woodland conditions without any weed control, and also the Bio-drainage effect of a high density willow plantation should be quite significant.
Good to hear from you Laim. Like yourself, I am curious to see how it turns out. I planted the trees close together on the expectation of higher losses, but as they are taking better than expected, I might have to thin them out. But good luck, try to stop stop established Willow from growing.
Glad it was helpful. Only last night daughter was pointing out all of the mistakes I made over the last few years on the farm. My reply was, "I am making them, so you don't have to".
Ha. Ha. Yes. I’ll be learning from them too although seems like you are doing a fine job to me Amongst many other trees,I’m looking at sourcing some hybrid poplar to get me started I hear they can grow 3m+ per year
Willow gives me a bit of trouble in my chipper because of the sinewy bark. I grow alder from seed and transplant them to have trees for chipping. Alder doesn't coppice well though, so i harvest branches and eventually whole trees (mushroom logs + firewood + branches to chip).
Hello. I find thin, soft branches are the hardest to feed through the woodchipper. It will be very annoying if I can't feed the branches through the woodchipper after waiting years from the Willow to grow :-) All the best.
Good to hear from you. It will be interesting to see if there will be much of a yield this year. I'm not sure how many dry days we have left this year, so I will probably make a start soon in harvesting what crop there is. All the best.
Excellent quality video & fascinating to see you get such a high establishment with no weed control. My own experience growing willow with weed control was not so positive Yu said you did "some" mowing initially - maybe this allowed the willows to get ahead of the competition?
Hello Liam. I suspect my ground and rain fall levels have created favourable conditions for the Willow. I had a walk around the coppicing forest recently, and despite the over grown grasses, they are doing very well. I just think the need a lot of water to thrive.
Do you think any treatment or gongfu (skillful mean) that can be applied to a cutting that might not normally make it to have it have more chance? Like some kind of "grow-root” but natural
Hi Dary, great video explaining the best methods ... I have just planted about 150/180 cuttings to today. Never done this type of planting before, in your opinion when do you think I should be able to see if it has worked or not /how many months ?? Thanks 👍
Hello Mark. That is great to hear. In the spring time you should see some buds. What type of cuttings did you plant? I would love to hear how you get on. Good luck.
Hi, Thanks for the channel, I am truly learning a lot. I´m trying to do the same in my farm in DK (we have similar climate) but the coppice will be for firewood, I am thinking Willow, Alder, Hassel and Ash. I understand that fencing will help for roe deers and hares (we do not have rabbits here), but we do have many meadow voles. I see that you do not have tree guards for them, what is your intake about it? I am leaning towards not covering if I am planting 1000 trees and just accept the fact that some trees might die from trunk girdling in snowy/cold winters.
Hi, I understand that tall 'T' shaped poles in the field are useful for controlling voles, as it gives somewhere for predator birds to perch/hunt from. Good luck! :)
Also, how do you plan to harvest the hazelnuts when the trees reach full production? What i see in my country is people use some big vacum cleaner like machines to suck the fruits in, fruits which tend to fall on the ground when ripe. If woodchip mulch is applied around the tree, this technique seems imposible. Picking them with rolls seems to also not be feezable in mulch. Is there another way?
I haven't yet worked out how I will automate the harvesting if the trees start to produce a large volume of crops. I have looked at some vacuum harvesters that might be an option. I have been thinking about going to one of the big agricultural shows in Italy to look at the options, but for now, I will hand harvest until it becomes too much. As for the mulch, if I mulch the trees after they are harvested, then by the next year the mulch will be well bedded down. I need to come up with a game plan! All the best Dary
@@GubbFarm I see. Maybe some sort of net under the tree might work, or something similar. I think even after an year, wood chips will still get sucked by those vacuum harvesters. But i guess,worst case scenario, you suck all the woodchips too and add them back again:)). I know harvesters do separate the nuts from all the debris. Maybe with a good harvester you might be able to do that on the spot somehow, nuts in, woodchips out. Certainly it would be a good idea for someone to invet this, it it doesnt already exist :). Agricultural shows are great idea, didnt think about it. And my country (romania) is close to both Italy and Turkey.. I'll keep an eye on your channel in case you do find a better method :).And in general to see how youre things develop. Good luck with all you do!
That’s some timing Dary.I had been wondering about your hazel and I went on to Twitter which I never do to see was there any update as I hadn’t seen much on UA-cam and first post I saw was yourself with a new video. Interesting few tips about sowing sally slips, if you could find a use for rushes will you let me know 😲
@@GubbFarm you’ll have a very busy day per year with the crosses so! Glad to hear you’re going in the right direction. I recently planted some native trees including hazel so I am looking forward to seeing the progress. All well thanks. Best of luck for the autumn
Hello. I don't have any volunteers working on the farm, well apart from some friends from time to time. It might be a solution for managing the harvesting and no doubt if I go down that route there will be a video about it in due course. All the best.
Hi Dary. Glad to see your back. Are you using the wood chips for weed control around your hazels? I’ve been using a layer of wood chips over a layer of sheep daggs with great success around various trees.
Hello Peter. I will be using the woodchip around the hazelnut trees, but more so as a source of nutrients. I have tested using about 4 to 6 inches of woodchip and woodchip plus cardboard, but the long grasses make their way through. So now I have reconciled myself to grass around the trees and the focus of the woodchip is to feed the hazelnut trees and keep the soil biology fired up. Over time the trees will suppress the grass. I did look into using sheeps wool, but what put me off it, was the chemicals my neighbour used to prevent scab etc on the sheep. I then tried to get organic wool, but it was very expensive, so I abandoned the idea. The research I did suggests it is a great idea if you can get a supply of wool that you are happy to use. All the best.
Hi. I have an update on the hazelnuts coming soon. It looks like they will be ready for harvest in a week or two. I see nuts on the trees, so hopefully it is going in the right direction. All the best.
Hello Astrid. It looks like the trees cuttings have survived the tall grass. The grass dies back this time of the year, so they will have some light now. All the best.
@@GubbFarm if they took they will do now. If you get your hands on poplar and alder,they take from cuttings not so easy as willow thou but good primary trees and alder is nitrogen fixer. Hazel seems to like oak. Oak would be over time take the high light so you can plant between hazel or willow and chop and drop
VERY helpful information. Thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
Excellent 👌
Thank you!
Fantastic to see it all taking. I'm looking forward to seeing this years growth.
Very glad to see you back on UA-cam, Dary. Keep er lit
Thank you Birdie. All the best.
10.40 is so wholesome
Thank you!
Thank you, this was well done and very useful
Hello Mr Farmer,
I love your videos. Great information and advice. I too will use willow when I start my homestead. These videos give much inspiration and its so nice to hear your thought processes in projects.
I wonder if anyone else have ever read this quote from author Frank Herbert? "The willow submits to the wind and prospers until one day
it is many willows; a wall against the wind. This is the willow’s purpose"
That is a great quote. Thank you. I wish you luck with your own homestead.
All the best.
I grow willow but slightly differently. I came across your video doing my researching into different ways and types of planting.
I take it the willow you are growing is Salix cineria. A native to the British Isles. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salix_cinerea?wprov=sfla1
The other common salix is Salix Caprea but this is one of the few that does not grow from hard wood cuttings.
You may get a far higher yeild from some of the modern hybrid willow varieties that are bred for BioMass production.
I got my cuttings from a willow structure that was being pruned back . Free fast growth cuttings.
The cuttings planted into sprayed off bare ground this spring are 4 metres tall now.
Good luck with your farm. Looking forward to watching more of your videos. 😊
Good luck with your planting. All the best.
I find cuttings for me at every temperamental, sometimes the obvious ones don’t take and the not so obvious do take. I made some ash steaks to hold up some chicken wire, hammered them into the ground with a point on them and they took and sprouted new leaves on 4 of the steaks, mental, never knew ash would do that. Unfortunately I had to take them out once I had finished with the chicken wire but it was very interesting to know. Not sure how well they would get on after a year of two but initially they took. Well done on all your hard work and keep it up, the nature will love the Coppice area you’re making!
Thank you. All the best.
Terrific to see the results, Dary!
Good man Bob. Thank you.
Welcome back Dary, hope you had a good summer. Willow grow quick, it won't be long before you have your forest. 👍 BTW: My 3 year old peach tree started producing this year. Got a dozen peaches off of it. The 3 year old Pink Lady apple has a couple of apples on it. I expect the other peach and apple trees to start producing a little bit next year. Your hazelnuts shouldn't be far behind. Take care.
Great to hear from you Steve. I had a lovely summer thank you and I hope you did to.
It will be interesting to see how quickly the coppicing forest develops.
As for Pink Lady apples, they are my favourite! They are lovely and sweet. I've been thinking about planting some apple (and fruit trees) at the back of the house. I'm just not sure if they will get enough light as they may be overshadowed by some oak trees.
Ask for the hazelnuts, I think they are nearly ready to harvest and I'm just off for a walk around them to see. All the best.
The field is buzzing with life in winter
Really great to see another video from your farm Dary. It was great seeing your face light up when you discovered the 95% success rate of the trees. Really admire what you are achieving.
Hello Stuart. Great to hear from you and thank you for the feedback. Having spent a week in the cold and wet planting the trees, I was very happy to see how well they had taken. Lets hope that I can get to the same level of success with the hazelnut trees!
All the best.
It will be interesting to see what biodiversity the Willow trees attract also. I believe the bees love them. ☺️
@@stuartfreeborn1986 I didn't know that. I will keep an eye out for them and let you know.
Great to see you back and well done Mucker 👏
Good man Seamus. Thank you! I hope all is well.
@@GubbFarm All grand over here in Bavaria thanks. Glad that this hot and dry summer is nearly over 🔥
Thanks for posting this information. Its is exactly what I was looking for as I’m hoping to establish a willow copies on some new farmland I’ve aquired
Hello Dave. That is great to hear. Good luck with your planting.
All the best.
Your lucky doesn’t look like you suffer from rabbits a matter of interest what species of willow have you planted. Great natural content 👍
I know, not a rabbit in site. Occasionally I see a hare run by the house, normally chased by the neighbours dog... then a few minutes later, you see the hare causally walking back past the house without a worry in the world.
Great stuff Dary. Will be interesting to see how long it takes the Willows to create woodland conditions without any weed control, and also the Bio-drainage effect of a high density willow plantation should be quite significant.
Good to hear from you Laim. Like yourself, I am curious to see how it turns out. I planted the trees close together on the expectation of higher losses, but as they are taking better than expected, I might have to thin them out. But good luck, try to stop stop established Willow from growing.
Really helpful video, could I do this with hedging for a privacy boundary?
Well done nice one👍
Thank you!
Thanks. I’ve been looking at doing this so this was a really useful video for me
Glad it was helpful.
Only last night daughter was pointing out all of the mistakes I made over the last few years on the farm. My reply was, "I am making them, so you don't have to".
Ha. Ha. Yes. I’ll be learning from them too although seems like you are doing a fine job to me Amongst many other trees,I’m looking at sourcing some hybrid poplar to get me started I hear they can grow 3m+ per year
Willow gives me a bit of trouble in my chipper because of the sinewy bark. I grow alder from seed and transplant them to have trees for chipping. Alder doesn't coppice well though, so i harvest branches and eventually whole trees (mushroom logs + firewood + branches to chip).
Hello. I find thin, soft branches are the hardest to feed through the woodchipper. It will be very annoying if I can't feed the branches through the woodchipper after waiting years from the Willow to grow :-)
All the best.
Looking forward to an autumn update 👍
Good to hear from you. It will be interesting to see if there will be much of a yield this year. I'm not sure how many dry days we have left this year, so I will probably make a start soon in harvesting what crop there is. All the best.
Excellent quality video & fascinating to see you get such a high establishment with no weed control. My own experience growing willow with weed control was not so positive Yu said you did "some" mowing initially - maybe this allowed the willows to get ahead of the competition?
Hello Liam. I suspect my ground and rain fall levels have created favourable conditions for the Willow. I had a walk around the coppicing forest recently, and despite the over grown grasses, they are doing very well. I just think the need a lot of water to thrive.
Do you think any treatment or gongfu (skillful mean) that can be applied to a cutting that might not normally make it to have it have more chance?
Like some kind of "grow-root” but natural
Hi Dary, great video explaining the best methods ... I have just planted about 150/180 cuttings to today. Never done this type of planting before, in your opinion when do you think I should be able to see if it has worked or not /how many months ?? Thanks 👍
Hello Mark. That is great to hear. In the spring time you should see some buds.
What type of cuttings did you plant? I would love to hear how you get on. Good luck.
Hi, Thanks for the channel, I am truly learning a lot. I´m trying to do the same in my farm in DK (we have similar climate) but the coppice will be for firewood, I am thinking Willow, Alder, Hassel and Ash. I understand that fencing will help for roe deers and hares (we do not have rabbits here), but we do have many meadow voles. I see that you do not have tree guards for them, what is your intake about it? I am leaning towards not covering if I am planting 1000 trees and just accept the fact that some trees might die from trunk girdling in snowy/cold winters.
Hi, I understand that tall 'T' shaped poles in the field are useful for controlling voles, as it gives somewhere for predator birds to perch/hunt from.
Good luck! :)
Also, how do you plan to harvest the hazelnuts when the trees reach full production? What i see in my country is people use some big vacum cleaner like machines to suck the fruits in, fruits which tend to fall on the ground when ripe. If woodchip mulch is applied around the tree, this technique seems imposible. Picking them with rolls seems to also not be feezable in mulch. Is there another way?
I haven't yet worked out how I will automate the harvesting if the trees start to produce a large volume of crops. I have looked at some vacuum harvesters that might be an option. I have been thinking about going to one of the big agricultural shows in Italy to look at the options, but for now, I will hand harvest until it becomes too much.
As for the mulch, if I mulch the trees after they are harvested, then by the next year the mulch will be well bedded down. I need to come up with a game plan!
All the best
Dary
@@GubbFarm I see. Maybe some sort of net under the tree might work, or something similar. I think even after an year, wood chips will still get sucked by those vacuum harvesters. But i guess,worst case scenario, you suck all the woodchips too and add them back again:)). I know harvesters do separate the nuts from all the debris. Maybe with a good harvester you might be able to do that on the spot somehow, nuts in, woodchips out. Certainly it would be a good idea for someone to invet this, it it doesnt already exist :). Agricultural shows are great idea, didnt think about it. And my country (romania) is close to both Italy and Turkey.. I'll keep an eye on your channel in case you do find a better method :).And in general to see how youre things develop. Good luck with all you do!
That’s some timing Dary.I had been wondering about your hazel and I went on to Twitter which I never do to see was there any update as I hadn’t seen much on UA-cam and first post I saw was yourself with a new video.
Interesting few tips about sowing sally slips, if you could find a use for rushes will you let me know 😲
Good to hear from you. As for rushes, I am thinking about getting into St. Bridget's Cross business. I hope all is well.
As for the hazelnuts, I will have an update coming soon. It looks like it is going in the right direction. All the best.
@@GubbFarm you’ll have a very busy day per year with the crosses so!
Glad to hear you’re going in the right direction. I recently planted some native trees including hazel so I am looking forward to seeing the progress. All well thanks. Best of luck for the autumn
Hey. Are you on Workaway? Do you accept volunteers for when there's alot of work to be done?
Hello. I don't have any volunteers working on the farm, well apart from some friends from time to time. It might be a solution for managing the harvesting and no doubt if I go down that route there will be a video about it in due course.
All the best.
Hi Dary. Glad to see your back. Are you using the wood chips for weed control around your hazels? I’ve been using a layer of wood chips over a layer of sheep daggs with great success around various trees.
Hello Peter. I will be using the woodchip around the hazelnut trees, but more so as a source of nutrients. I have tested using about 4 to 6 inches of woodchip and woodchip plus cardboard, but the long grasses make their way through. So now I have reconciled myself to grass around the trees and the focus of the woodchip is to feed the hazelnut trees and keep the soil biology fired up. Over time the trees will suppress the grass.
I did look into using sheeps wool, but what put me off it, was the chemicals my neighbour used to prevent scab etc on the sheep. I then tried to get organic wool, but it was very expensive, so I abandoned the idea. The research I did suggests it is a great idea if you can get a supply of wool that you are happy to use.
All the best.
Hey Dary, how are the hazels doing this year?
Hi. I have an update on the hazelnuts coming soon. It looks like they will be ready for harvest in a week or two. I see nuts on the trees, so hopefully it is going in the right direction. All the best.
@@GubbFarm great, looking forward to it
So long grass is not growing over them the small ones will do
Hello Astrid. It looks like the trees cuttings have survived the tall grass. The grass dies back this time of the year, so they will have some light now. All the best.
@@GubbFarm if they took they will do now. If you get your hands on poplar and alder,they take from cuttings not so easy as willow thou but good primary trees and alder is nitrogen fixer. Hazel seems to like oak. Oak would be over time take the high light so you can plant between hazel or willow and chop and drop