Habitat Regeneration has undertaken its third phase of works for Forestry England at their woodland creation project in Kent. For this phase of the works, we undertook vegetation management.
Requirements:
- Spraying rows before saplings are planted to provide effective weed suppression and avoid young trees being outcompeted.
- Maintaining inter row sward height to avoid saplings being starved of sunlight.
- Cutting and collecting woodland rides to reduce soil nutrients, in anticipation of establishing wildflower areas.
Solutions:
- We sprayed narrow rows using a compact tractor and quad bike with boom sprayer, providing accurate application.
- Planting rows which were inaccessible for machinery were sprayed by hand with knapsacks.
- We utilised our compact tractor with topper to undertake the grass row management.
- We utilised a trailed cut and collect machine for narrower areas and a forage wagon for wider rides, to cut and collect grass arising from the site.
We look forward to watching the site develop and flourish over the coming years.