Deeside Aspen

The prolonged winter has delayed the collection of aspen (Populus tremula) roots by a couple of weeks on Deeside. With the permission of the local landowners and support of Talisman Energy (UK) collection started in late April.


Why are we collecting roots?
Aspen does not seed reliably in Scotland so the main method of propagation is by harvesting shoots from root cuttings.

Using a three pronged hand cultivator the roots, ideally 2cm thickness, are exposed by carefully removing the surface vegetation.


Sections of root 50 cm length are harvested, labelled with the location and placed in heavy duty plastic bags for transportation to the tree nursery.


The vegetation is replaced and will re-grow

Scottish Native Woods will return to the site in early June to record differences in leaf flushing to help identify genetically different aspen trees or clones.