Maintaining a weed-free area around each newly planted tree is one of the most important processes required in the first few years after planting.

This weed control is useful in a number of ways, including the reduction of competition for nutrients and moisture, and also reducing the chance that trees will be damaged by pests such as voles, which dislike crossing open ground to reach a young tree.

In addition some allowance should be made in any young tree-planting scheme for replacing those trees which fail to survive post planting. This can come about because of environmental factors, for example, and weed control is certainly one major factor in reducing these losses. Lack of weed competition will make the growth rates of a tree higher in the first few years of a plantation's life.

Grass cutting is not only a useful means towards improving the general appearance of the area, but it also helps to reduce the number of voles, which would otherwise make the base of trees their home, causing additional damage and tree failure through debarking in their search for food.