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Coppicing & Pollarding
History
The process of coppicing broadleaved trees dates back at least 4000 years and was commonly employed throughout great Britain prior to the 20th century. Unfortunately due to the decline of traditional crafts such as hurdle making, the import of cheap conifer timber and the labour intensive nature of coppicing on a large scale the demand for the timbers and the sizes produced from coppicing has vastly decreased since the early 1900’s. Nowadays many historic coppices have become over grown, lacking management. Any coppicing that does occur is generally on a small scale and is implemented for firewood production or to allow light to penetrate to the woodland floor, encouraging plant and animal diversity.
The word Coppice is derived from the French word couper – to cut.
Coppicing involves cutting back to ground level a mature standard or previously coppiced tree from mainly deciduous tree species during winter, while the tree is dormant. The process encourages vigorous shoots to form in the coming growing season. Weak and crowded shoots should be removed to leave perhaps a dozen shoots to grow to become poles. The act of coppicing does not kill the tree and can substantially increase the trees life expectancy if regularly managed, perhaps by several hundred years.
When planting trees for coppice the spacing will depend on the intended use and rotational period of the trees. If a yearly cut is intended, spacing at 1 metre between trees would be adequate. A rotation of 7-15 years would require a spacing of at least 4m. However there are no hard and fast rules, closer spacing would by competition encourage straighter poles but perhaps fewer of them, close spacing would also make management/maintenance harder.
Uses
Coppicing is a useful means of producing timber for a wide range of uses around the home and garden. Today the primary use is firewood but it can also aid self sufficient living when used for fencing and posts. Coppicing could be implemented on a small scale if you have a garden or allotment to grow the trees. Smallholders or farmers with a quarter of an acre or more of coppiced woodland could generate vast quantities of hardwood posts or stakes for boundary stock fencing. Sweet Chestnut is most commonly used for stakes and Oak is often used for gates and gate posts. Hazel can be used to create portable hurdles for penning livestock.
Coppiced woodland can be grown on most soil types although waterlogged and very dry soils are disliked by most trees and should be avoided.
Tree species that can be used and their uses :
Deciduous broad leaved trees
Common Alder, (Alnus glutinosa) Native
Charcoal, firewood, poles/stakes (Particularly durable timber, under water), gunpowder.
Hornbeam, (Carpinus betulus) Native
Charcoal, firewood, pegs, stakes.
Sweet Chestnut, (Castanea sativa) Native
Charcoal, fencing, firewood, roofing shingles, poles/stakes.
Hazel, (Corylus avellana) Native
Charcoal, basketry, weaving, hurdles and wattles, pea sticks, poles/stakes.
Common Ash, (Fraxinus excelsior) Native
Firewood, tool handles, poles/stakes.
Osier, Willow and hybrids, (Salix viminalis)Native except hybrids
Firewood, living woven hedges, basketry.
English and Sessile Oak (Quercus robur, Quercus petraea) Native
Bark for leather tanning, boat building, charcoal, fencing, firewood, poles/stakes.
Evergreen conifers
California/Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens)
Fencing, poles/stakes.
Yew (Taxus baccata) Native
Furniture making, turnery and carving, posts/stakes, famously used in the past for longbows.
Many ornamental broad leaved tree species could potentially be used and may be commercially viable if a market is found for rarer hardwoods.
Rotational coppicing
Put simply, it is woodland that is divided into many even sized sections (coupes). The process works by coppicing one coupe one year and then coppicing a different coupe the following year and so on, for example a 7 year rotation would require 7 coupes However the coupes do not need to be next to each other, as the maturity or suitability of the neighbouring coupe may not be as good as another within the woodland, this is particularly the case in ancient coppiced woodlands that have been neglected in the past.
Cutting time
Coppices should be cut in winter from January to March and are often cut between 7 to 3o years of age. The length of time between coppicing is dependent on the intended use of the timber. For slow growing hardwoods such as oak cutting at 20 or 30 years will yield the best timbers for poles and stakes. Alder and hazel are often cut at 7 to 15 years. However Willow can be cut or thinned every year for basketry and hybrid Willows will grow fast enough to yield sizeable firewood at 4 years.
Short rotation coppice
This method is commonly used with fast growing hybrid Willow and Poplar trees for biomass energy production. Trees are densely planted as hardwood cuttings between December and March and are harvested on a 2 to 4 year rotation, the timber being chipped and burnt as fuel.
Willow and Poplar species commonly used include:
Salix ‘Joruun’, ‘Germany’ and ‘Q83’
Populus ( P. deltoides x P. nigra) ‘Ghoy’, ‘Gaver’ and ‘Gibecq’
Populus trichocarpa ‘Trichobel’
Populus (P. Trichocarpa x P. Deltoids) ‘Beaupré’, ‘Hoogvorst’ and ‘Hazendans’
Coppice with standards
By maintaining a few mature trees to grow to their full size within coppiced woodland it is possible to provide oneself with both smaller diameter material from the coppice and larger timbers from the standards. The standards also increase wildlife biodiversity within the woodland but must be spaced wide enough to prevent their spreading crowns from casting too much shade. Commonly Oak, Ash and Hornbeam are used as standards. In rotationally coppiced woodland it is useful to incorporate the standards into the rotation, providing there are enough coupes or long enough time periods between each coupe being cut to ensure the standards reach an optimum age of 80 to 120 years before being cut. However, cutting time depends on the size, quantity and intended use of the timber.
Pollarding
Pollarding is in effect the same as coppicing and involves cutting the branches of a mature standard back to the trunk above ground level, traditionally from 2metres high to prevent livestock from grazing at the young shoots. Avenues of Lime, Hornbeam and London Plane trees within towns are often pollarded at 5 metres or more to maintain the height and character of the trees and to prevent heavy shade and prolong their life expectancy. Pollarding can be usefully applied to agro-forestry systems where the land has two or more uses, such as raising livestock and timber.
Tools
In most instances chainsaws are used but for small scale plantings of a few trees a bow saw or axe would suffice. Small diameter material up to 1” thick can be cut with secateurs a billhook or pruning saw.
Protecting stools
Within a non fenced woodland deer can cause a lot of damage to young growth. To prevent deer entry it is necessary to prevent the stools (stump of the tree after recent coppicing) and the young shoots from being grazed. This can be done by creating a dead hedge around the perimeter of the coupe (coppiced area). A dead hedge is created by laying twigs and small branches (collectively known as brash), the by product of coppicing, as a hedge. The brash can be heaped to 75cm high by 1.5m wide around the perimeter and is effective as it is a difficult material for deer to traverse. To protect the stools in a large coupe it may not be possible due to time limits, or availability of brash to create a dead hedge, so to protect the stools it is possible to create a mini wigwam or tent using small amounts of brash. These are useful methods to prevent deer or rabbit damage during the early stages of growth and will not affect the re-growth.
Fertiliser
Adding fertilizer to coppiced woodland is not essential, much of the nitrogen lost from removing timber is replaced by the decomposing leaf litter and from atmospheric nitrogen. However the addition of well rotted manure or garden compost as mulch at the base of coppice stools during late autumn would be of benefit and would also suppress weed growth.