Land preparation for planting trees
Land preparation is important for a successful planting operation. To prepare your site, you may need to clear pest plants such as vine weeds, blackberry or sycamore.
It’s important to consider what plants are already on site. For example, some existing non-native plants, such as gorse, may help native plants grow by providing shelter.
You might also need to:
- put in simple tracks or roads to create access to the site and make maintenance easier
- let stock graze the planting site to reduce grass cover
- build fences to keep out stock
- control animal pests such as deer, goats, hares or rabbits
- apply fertiliser.
Good land preparation improves site conditions
Getting your land preparation right at the start will help improve the conditions of your site to:
- accelerate tree growth, and support establishment and survival
- protect existing desirable vegetation on the site such as native bush
- reduce competition from weeds
- allow more time for releasing activity (applying herbicides or hand weeding).
Before you start your land preparation
Before you start preparing your land you need to work out:
- why you want to plant
- where you want to plant
- what you are going to plant
- when you want to plant.
This will help you work out the best way to prepare your land, when to start and what else you need to think about.