Laurel removal ~ by Chris Stables

We inherited a lot of Cherry Laurel in our 3 acre wood. It occupied about 2/3rd acre, growing under tall ash and beech trees. It was probably planted there by the Victorians to act as cover for pheasants. Judging by the number of pheasants around the wood, it certainly did just that!

When we bought the wood, in 2001, the laurel had been cut back to the ground and we did not realise what a problem it would be. The laurel bushes that looked so small then grew hugely until they towered above our heads, cutting out the light from the woodland floor and preventing new growth. There was little or no ground flora or understorey in this area. We were novices at woodland management – learning on the job. We eventually realised that laurel was not an indigenous species and ought to be eradicated, but what a daunting task!

So, we experimented on how to best eradicate it, taking the following into consideration:

• If lopped laurel branches are left to lie on the ground, they can take root and sprout new growth, all along the length!!
• We wanted to avoid using herbicides in the wood as much as possible.
• Digging the roots out was not an option for us and as laurel will produce suckers if the roots are damaged, we would need to get every part of it out.

This is the method we developed.

1. Make a low ‘raft’ about 2 x 3 m² of any dead wood or loppings, except laurel
2. Lop the laurel, cutting as low as possible. We used Wilkinson Sword long handled ratchet loppers for the smaller stems and a chainsaw for anything too big for the loppers.
3. Pile the newly lopped laurel onto the raft, to make a brash heap. This prevents the laurel stems from touching the ground and taking root.
4. Where possible, build the rafts and brash heaps right on top of newly cut laurel stools. This excludes the light from them and discourages new growth from the stool – very important.

The laurel did re-grow although it took one or two years for very scanty new growth to struggle through the brash heaps. We found that the laurel stools that did not have a covering brash heap soon produced fresh strong young growth. So then we resorted to using herbicide (we used Roundup, with a pump spray and lance). We were against using herbicides in the wood, so we used it very, very sparingly – just enough to wet the laurel leaves. The lance allowed accurate spraying so that the surrounding herbage was not affected. We sprayed before the growth became vigorous. This way we were not spraying large areas and hence the volume of herbicide used was small. The plant takes the poison down into the root and dies. There is no harmful residue.

If the laurel re-grew after this first spraying, we gave another dose of spray and a third if necessary. We found that about 40% of the laurel died from the first spraying and another 40% from the second one. The last spray should finish off any persistent plants. We did pull up the odd small weak plants that had not developed a large root system.

The drawback to this method is that the heaps of brash look unsightly. The dying evergreen leaves take a season to drop off the stems. The branches then took another two or three years to rot away. It’s not a good idea to chip the brash as the chippings can take root On the plus side, it did work well and the brash heaps provided homes for small rodents, frogs and birds. Also, we made good charcoal from some of the laurel poles!

However, we were spending so much time just working on laurel bashing that other woodland tasks were being neglected. There was still a huge amount of laurel waiting to be treated. Then, in 2006, we met our local Woodland Officer at a wood fair and discovered that we could get a 75% grant through the Better Woodland for Wales scheme, to eradicate the rest of the laurel. The plan was for contractors to cut down the laurel, paint the stumps greater than 100mm diameter with a herbicide within 48 hours of cutting and remove the brash from the wood. Any new growth would need to be sprayed with herbicide periodically until the laurel was dead.

The grant application was successful and contractors carried out the work during 2007. Then we took over again and have carefully sprayed any re-growth (of which there was very little) twice a year. This spring (2010) I would say that 99.9% of the laurel is dead. Many of the old stumps are rotten and break up when kicked. Where there was next to no under storey in the area where the laurel grew but there are now ash saplings and wild flowers colonising the area. That part of the wood is going to look very different in future.

In summary, I would say that if you only have a small area of laurel, then our DIY method would be just fine. However, if you have a large area, it is well worth applying for a grant for the work to be done. Would the same method work for Rhododendron ponticum ? I don’t know but it would be worth a try.

Posted in: Flora & Fauna, Pests & Diseases ~ On: 23 July, 2010

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