Oxfordshire Woodland Group

Gathering larch cones from your own trees can yield surprisingly good results. Simply gather up a load of fallen cones and place inside a metal biscuit tin. Leave this next to the fire or in a hot water cupboard until the cones open and the seeds start to fall out. Put the lid back onto the biscuit tin and give the tin a good shake. This will yield a whole load of seeds ready to be broadcast onto compost filled pots. Water the pots and leave on a tray on a north facing window ledge. As the seedling emerge give them some time to develop roots and then transplant into small flower pots

These seedling are now in their 2nd year and showing promise for transplanting back into the woodland at some future time to help replace those that have been felled.

This technique can be used on any cone bearing tree.

No money required ! - Just shake and add water.

By May 2023 the larch saplings were 52" tall (above pot surface level) and had flushed out from all buds except the leading tip bud which was expanding ready to start putting on height during the 2023 growing season.

The saplings will be grown on in pots during 2023 until well above browse height ready for planting in the woodland during autumn 2023.

By the end of September 2023 the leading tip growth exceeded 2ft and so it was decided that the larch and sweet chestnut trees were ready to be planted back into the woodland from where the seed and nut stock was gathered.

A group of Infinium (Shell-Exon/Mobil) lubricant research employees volunteered to undertake this task by clearing bracken and bramble from a suitable site and then protecting the saplings from deer browsing with a (sheep fence) wire cage held in place on stout tree stakes to together with short spiral vole guards placed around the base of each stem. This task was completed in a day with great enthusiasm and competence.

For persons interested in gathering tree seeds, nuts, pods & berries in order to have a go at growing your own stock of trees can download a free guide that provides excellent information on how to do this.