Tree Maintenance
Pollarding Coppicing
Pollarding
Tree that is cut at between 6-15 ft above ground leaving a permanent
trunk called a bolling (rhymes with 'rolling'). The bolling is allowed
to grow again to produce successive crops of wood out of the reach
of animals.
Coppicing
Tree which is cut to near ground level every few years and then grow
again from the stool (stump) to produce successive crops of poles
that can be cut for ever.
Coppicing is an efficient, reliable method of harvesting some types
of wood. Some trees such as pines die when cut down, but ash, elder,
oak, hazel wych-elm, lime, hornbeam and many others coppice The new
shoots can grow at more than 2 inches a day - even oak can stand 7
feet high and 1 inch thick after a seasons growth.
Coppice shoots are a favourite food of cattle.
sheep and deer, and in places accessible to livestock it was the practice
to pollard trees instead.
Spectacular displays of primroses. oxlips and anemones are a result
of coppicing. Primroses and other Spring flowers flourish in the new
light