Sycamore help, please.

catembi

catembi

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I am mid-way through purchasing a property with land and went back to view it again last night. I discovered that the land contained a number of sycamores - I hadn't really noticed them on first viewing some time ago as the 'helicopters' weren't visible so I didn't recognise them.

Would the best/only way to keep the horses safe be to fell and remove all the sycamores? It seems a shame because some of them are lovely trees, but there are too many to fence off & presumably the helicopters would travel quite a distance.
 
I believe you can get them tested to see if they carry the toxin perhaps it worth asking your vets .
I have lots round here I control the seedlings by topping at strategic topping avoiding the worse areas for grazing in spring and autumn .
It’s a head ache .
 
The only way to be 100% worry free is to make sure none of the helicopter seeds ever land on your property. You can chop down all your trees but as you say, they do carry in the wind so you would need to cull all the trees within a reasonable distance of your boundaries. As I understand it, not all seeds are dangerous and not all horses are at risk, almost impossible to manage. Ive got a sycamore tree in my bit of the field at our yard, there are also several in the next door paddock and loads in the general area. In 40 years there has never been a horse poisoned by them, although that doesnt stop me worrying and pulling up as many as I can :(
 
the helicopters do travel a fair distance I don't have any on my land but they are across the road in the woods and I get the seedlings growing in my field and see the helicopters in my yard, there a pain in the butt I section my bit of field off that is nearest to the road in autumn so they cant graze it.
 
Are you certain they're sycamores? They're often mistaken for field maples which don't have any known harmful effects
 
I am not certain at all! I just saw helicopters & thought, oh ****.

I have now googled both, & the helicopters & leaves look more field maple. I am in the Woodland Trust and am also friends with the local Woodland Trust person - came across him & his table of leaflets in Budgens the other day. Maybe I should invite him round to view all the trees before I go bananas with the chainsaw...

Thank you, TheMule! You may have saved me a lot of unnecessary felling...!
 
catembi said:
I am not certain at all! I just saw helicopters & thought, oh ****.

I have now googled both, & the helicopters & leaves look more field maple. I am in the Woodland Trust and am also friends with the local Woodland Trust person - came across him & his table of leaflets in Budgens the other day. Maybe I should invite him round to view all the trees before I go bananas with the chainsaw...

Thank you, TheMule! You may have saved me a lot of unnecessary felling...!
Click to expand...

Lots of poor field maples have been unnecessarily chopped :( Glad to have helped save yours (fingers crossed!)
 
I have just this second emailed the Woodland Trust to ask for their help! Would be such a relief if they were maples as they are lovely trees and some are quite mature. Thank you v much!
 
Hope you get the answer you want Catembi :)

Agree there does seem to be something about individual horses & trees. My oldies are surrounded by them, but the field has had horses on it for about a decade, and Millie has always had a tendency to eat sycamores :o They have more grass than they know what to do with so I decided not to panic and to just fence off the worst bit... maybe I'll get some of the next lot of seeds tested so I can uncross my fingers, eyes and toes...
 
Fingers crossed they are Field Maple.
I had 5 large sycamores at my last place, they each had a Tree Preservation Order on them.
If yours turn out to be Sycamore you might want to check that that they can be felled.
 
Gift Horse said:
Fingers crossed they are Field Maple.
I had 5 large sycamores at my last place, they each had a Tree Preservation Order on them.
If yours turn out to be Sycamore you might want to check that that they can be felled.
Click to expand...

Why would that be when they are not native trees?

OP, we have 3 sycamores and sheep. The sheep eat the helicopters and any seedlings long before the horses can get to them.
 
The sycamores I mentioned were a nice stand of mature trees in an area where there was little else.
I was surprised, when I was removing epicormic growth from said trees, when the council tree officer rocked up to tell me off. I should have checked before hand - hence mentioning it on this thread.
Lots of trees that provide amenity value are non-native, from monkey puzzles to ornamental cherries.
 
Gift Horse said:
The sycamores I mentioned were a nice stand of mature trees in an area where there was little else.
I was surprised, when I was removing epicormic growth from said trees, when the council tree officer rocked up to tell me off. I should have checked before hand - hence mentioning it on this thread.
Click to expand...


How bizarre - good to know though.
 
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