Resources - Willow Solutions

Short Rotation Coppice willow buffer strips have been demonstrated to reduce diffuse water pollution considerably. Trials at AFBI in Northern indicate a reduction in 35% phosphate run off into watercourses when using willow compared to grass controls.

Willow buffer strips – A Willow Solution for the River Wye?

Kevin Lindegaard 27 November 2025

Last month there was a court action brought by 4,000 people against Avara Foods Limited, Freemans of Newent Limited and Welsh Water based on allegations of “extensive and widespread pollution”…

Native Willow versus Productive Willow

Kevin Lindegaard 11 August 2025

We offer a range of willows to suit all uses and interests. Here’s a handy guide to the differences between them: Productive biomass willow varieties grown as Short Rotation Coppice…

Harvesting your crop, everything you need to know – Jamie takes part in the Biomass Connect webinar

Kevin Lindegaard 8 April 2025

The who, what, when, and how of harvesting. Of course, there is a theoretical optimum time to harvest your crop, but our maritime climate often puts a spanner in the…

Chrysomelid willow beetles can cause major damage to short rotation coppice willow plantations. They eat the foliage which reduces the photosynthetic area of the plant. In worse cases the leaves can be defoliated and yield impacted.

Plan Bs – How to turn it around when something goes wrong – Will takes part in the Biomass Connect webinar

Kevin Lindegaard 18 December 2024

When you are managing a perennial biomass crop with a 20 year+ lifetime, it is unlikely that it will all be plain sailing. There’s a lot that can go wrong:…

Comparing bird communities in willow and Miscanthus crop fields

Kevin Lindegaard 15 July 2024

Farmland bird populations have been declining for decades as a result of farming practices (large monocultures of food crops, use of insecticides and herbicides) and more recently climate change. Perennial…

Biomass crops – important information for policy makers

Kevin Lindegaard 7 July 2023

Below are some resources for policy makers. The papers and reports presented are by no means an exhaustive literature review but provide a suitable gateway of information in order for…

Short Rotation Forestry and Short Rotation Coppice – 8 year old trial results from BGI in Bucks

Kevin Lindegaard 7 April 2023

There are hardly any places where you can see different biomass crops growing next to eachother. This is one of the reasons why the Biomass Connect hub sites at 8…

Play Cropper – our all new Envirocrops STEM game

Kevin Lindegaard 15 December 2022

As part of the Envirocrops project, C4E and our partners (Calvium, AFBI and NFU Energy) have devised a Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) game called Cropper. This is aimed…

Instructions for handling willow and poplar setts before and during planting

Kevin Lindegaard 12 March 2021

Thanks for purchasing willow and poplar cuttings, setts and rods from us. We want your planting material to have the best opportunities to grow so here are some instructions on…

Don’t fall foul of an RHI audit – get your biomass fuel records in order

Kevin Lindegaard 13 May 2020

Under the non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) around 19,000 biomass boilers have been installed in Great Britain. Any Government scheme giving grants or rebates has a requirement for compliance and…

Planting Eucalyptus? Read our planting guide first

Kevin Lindegaard 7 April 2020

It’s possible to plant Eucalyptus all over the British Isles but you need to make the right choice of species and plant according to best silvicultural practice. Many early trials…

Energy Crop Plant Spacings & Stocking Densities

Kevin Lindegaard 28 January 2020

There are countless permutations for spacing different energy crops in order to get the best results. The distances between plants and the stocking density choosen depends on a number of…

Category: Resources