Cariad

Planted in November 2003

Species: Oak, Alder, Birch

Nine hundred alders and oaks planted in a latin square formation. The plot was divided into a three-by-three grid, with 100 trees and a different planting method (notch, pit, trench) in each row/column. This was so we could eliminate the effect where trees in the centre grew better because they had more shelter.

Measuring

Year 1:
2004

Year 2:
2005

Year 3:
2006 - Many of the notch-planted trees had perished, but most of the trench-planted ones had survived.

Year 5:
2008 - It is very clear that the trench-planted trees have done much better than the pit-planted ones, which in turn did better than the notch-planted trees.