If you do not qualify for trade rates, immediate payment by credit or debit card via Sage Pay is required, or you may request contact from the office to make payment over the phone.
For customers who have been accepted for trade rates, we offer several ordering and payment options, including:
Immediate payment by credit or debit card via Sage Pay, our payment service provider.
Order on account (available to credit account customers only).
Request contact from the office & make payment over the phone.
Place order to reserve stock & request a call back to discuss timings, with payment only required upon despatch.
Note: Plant specifications and prices below relate to last season and will be updated ahead of the 2022-2023 season once availability has been determined.
Plants will be available to pre-order for the 2022-2023 planting season. Sign up to receive notification when pre-ordering goes live.
Minimum Order Value
Please note that there is a minimum order value of £50.00 + VAT, excluding delivery.
Delivery
Delivery to UK mainland is included for stock orders over £1500.00 + VAT (subject to postcode zones & surcharges). For full details on delivery please view our delivery page.
A fast-growing, medium-sized native tree found all over Britain, especially in wet places. Very hardy and coping with a wide range of soil types, Alder is particularly useful for preventing soil erosion, and for establishing plantings in waterlogged areas. Young plants are seldom attacked by rabbits or stock, so makes a good choice where this could be a problem.
Site and soil
Alder tolerates a wide range of soils and situations, except very dry conditions. It will grow well on damp hillsides and in boggy, waterlogged sites.
Height and spread
Below are the approximate stages of growth, assuming sited in suitable conditions for this species;
After 10 years: 8m x 2.5m After 20 years: 9m x 3.7m
Leaf and bark
The leaves are ovate, and glossy dark green, and deeply lobed, rather like an oak, and about 5cm long. The bark is a greyish dark brown, cracked into thin rectangular plates.
Flower, seed and fruit
Male catkins of Alder can be seen as a purplish haze among the branches as early as January, opening to a dull yellow in March and April. Female catkins are very short (0.5cm), becoming woody 'cones' over winter which are a useful source of food for native birds.
Uses
Coppicing, hedging, specimen tree. Alder wood has the property of withstanding constant wetting and drying out, and for this reason was much used in the past for lock gates, mill wheels and troughs. It has also been used for clog-making and furniture, as well as for smaller items. Both the leaves and the bark were used in dye-making, and the tree has several medicinal uses too.
Wildlife
Alder fruits (false cones) are a useful source of food for birds in spring. The catkins are an early source of pollen and the trees provide shelter on wetland sites.
The main reasons for buying protection is to protect the plants against:
Pests
Spraying
Strimming
Pests
When it comes to deciding what protection to choose the golden rule is to choose the product dependent on which pest you are protecting against. The below will help you in deciding what height of protection you will need.
Vole, Mice 20cm
Rabbit 60cm
Hare 75cm
Roe Deer, Muntjac 1.20m
Fallow Deer 1.50m
Pest & Minimum Protection Height
Protection Type Where more than one size is listed, the wider diameter protection is recommended for taller, bushier plants.
Support Required Taller support is recommended for use in sandier, lighter soils and wider/stronger support should be used at exposed sites.
Tubex tree shelters offer the benefit of not only protecting against animal damage, they also ensure that herbicides do not come into contact with the plants during spraying.
The main reason for spraying is weed control, however, there are other options available to suppress weeds, such as weed control matting.
Strimming
Young plants should be protected from damage caused when strimming. To protect plants solely for strimming, our strimmer guards are the ideal product.