https://defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/sustainable-farming-incentive-pilot-guidance-maintain-new-tree-planting/
Maintain new tree planting
The guidance on this page is for SFI pilot participants only. Please visit GOV.UK for the official Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme guidance.
Find out how land managers can look after newly planted trees to make sure they establish successfully.
If you’re completing this action as part of the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot, how you do it is up to you.
The advice on this page can help you get better environmental and business benefits, but you do not have to follow it to get paid.
Why you should protect new trees
Protecting newly planted trees helps them establish and increases their chances of survival.
By looking after newly planted trees you can:
- improve their growth
- reduce the costs of replacing dead trees
- reduce the costs of future maintenance
- prevent plastic littering from poorly maintained tree protection
How a site was prepared for tree planting will affect what maintenance it will need. If you have a woodland creation plan it could tell you how the site was prepared.
It’s easier to maintain newly planted trees if you’ve planted them in the right place to start with. Find out how to create a woodland, including legal requirements and how to get funding.
How to look after newly planted trees
In the first 5 years, you should:
- replace any trees that die
- reuse tree protection where possible
- replace damaged or missing tree protection
- maintain appropriate tree protection
- make sure planted trees are kept free from competing vegetation
You may also have to protect trees from damage by mammals, including voles, rabbits, hares, deer and livestock.
Maintain tree protection
It’s very important you monitor and inspect trees regularly. You may need to adjust your tree protection if conditions change. Look for:
- plants that could compete with the young trees
- signs of damage from pests like deer, voles and squirrels
To prevent tree damage from wildlife and other plants, you should keep tree protectors in good condition. Tree protection needs to be effective and can include:
- shelters
- spiral guards
- fencing
- effective deer management
Find out more about using tree shelters and guards.
Strong winds can blow tree shelters over. You should check planting areas after bad weather. Straighten or refit any shelters and re-stake as necessary.
You should remove individual tree protection when no longer needed. Most tree shelters start to degrade after 10 years of exposure to sunlight. You could reuse some of the tree shelters if they are still in good condition. You must follow waste regulations and dispose of plastic tree shelters responsibly.
Control competing vegetation
Competing vegetation can greatly reduce the survival and early growth of newly planted trees. Effective vegetation management can greatly improve tree survival.
Vegetation can:
- compete for light, soil moisture and nutrients
- cause damage if they collapse in the autumn
- shelter bark-gnawing rodents such as voles
- reduce tree growth, as vegetation and tree roots will compete
You can mow or cut to prevent annual vegetation seeding or tall vegetation collapsing on trees. Cutting will not reduce root competition for moisture or nutrients.
To reduce the impacts of vegetation on tree survival and growth, keep:
- a minimum of 1.2 metres diameter around the base of each tree vegetation free
- the base of each tree vegetation free from April to July each year
Maintain this until the trees close the canopy or dominate the surrounding vegetation. You can do this by spot spraying with herbicide or using mulch. Do not spot spray with herbicides next to watercourses.
Find out more about managing vegetation.
Prune trees
You may have to prune trees over 2 metres tall so they develop a straight single stem. To help with access to the woodland, you can remove small lower branches.
What trees should look like 10 years later
After 10 years you should see a woodland structure developing. The tree canopies will start to close over, which will reduce invasive weed growth. Woodland ground flora will have started to develop.
As trees develop they can be damaged by mammals, for example squirrels that strip bark and kill young trees. Find out how to protect young trees from mammals.
You may need to continue with maintenance beyond year 10 or until the trees are established.
