Despite the more inclement weather, a team of five planters has been busy planting 33,000 native mixed woodland trees either side of the festive period, in order to complete the final phase of tree establishment at Euston Estates. The whips were mainly sourced locally (within five miles), supplied by Rymer trees, and have been established into Forestry Commission-approved areas around the Phoenix One® plantation. Most are buffering or extending existing woodland at Euston Estate and have been planted randomly by species to ensure maximum diversity within the site.
Having been planted within the Forestry Commission fencing guidelines, they will not require tree guards, however a furrow, as shown in this image, has been made into the soil in order to achieve best results in terms of growth.
All the trees supplied by Rymer Trees were grown from seed within 5 miles of the Carbon Plantations sites. Rymer Trees is owned by four horticulture/agriculture/silviculture enthusiasts, and Carbon Plantations were thrilled to work with them during this key stage of development in our project. It is important to Rymer Trees that their stock is genetically diverse to provide the best chance for the tree stands, as a unit, to establish and live a long and prosperous life. This level of diversity can only come from growing trees from seeds.
The whole Rymer Trees process is 100% peat free, and all grown in cells. Right from the word go, there was no room for compromise at Rymer Trees: it was a 100% peat-free nursery or no nursery. Peat bogs are the number 1 carbon sink on the planet, and substrates with peat are depleting the bogs at an unfathomable rate. It takes decades to produce 1 cubic cm of peat, so there is no way of the bogs replenishing unless the industry reassesses its relationship with peat.
All Rymer Trees stock spends its first season being grown in cells. This minimises disruption to the soils and allows greater control over each tree’s microclimate: the trees can start inside under a poly tunnel, as the above indicates, to give them a head start on the growing season but can then be moved outside to toughen up. Importantly, with the precious resource of water, Rymer Trees collects all the rain that falls on the poly tunnel and has backup from a locally sourced borehole. This means that even in the 40°c heat we endured last summer there was a supply of water that would not negatively impact on other activities in the area.
With the native mixed woodland now planted this has completed the first stage of the project at Euston Estates. We were very attracted to the concept of Rymer Trees environmentally – a sympathetic approach to establishing trees that meshes very neatly with our own ethos – and look forward to continuing to work with our local partners in 2023.
Nigel Couch
Carbon Plantations Limited
9th January 2023