Pollarding, coppicing, and lopping or pruning are recommended to promote branching, increase production, and facilitate harvesting.
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Another name for cutting side branches off trees, used mainly in Northern England, is snagging. Other similar woodland management techniques include pollarding and coppicing.
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Pollarding is a pruning system involving the removal of the upper branches of a tree, which promotes the growth of a dense head of foliage and branches. In ancient Rome, Propertius mentioned pollarding during the 1st century BCE. The practice occurred commonly in Europe since medieval times, and takes place today in urban areas worldwide, primarily to maintain trees at a determined height.Pruning and Training Plants, Joyce and Brickell, p.
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A line of pollarded willows in Germany Pollarding began with walled cities in Europe which did not have room for large trees. The smaller limbs that resulted could be used for heat and cooking. As in coppicing, pollarding is to encourage the tree to produce new growth on a regular basis to maintain a supply of new wood for various purposes, particularly for fuel. In some areas, dried leafy branches are stored as winter fodder for stock.
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Ancient pollarded beech tree in Epping Forest, Essex, England An incidental effect of pollarding in woodland is the encouragement of underbrush growth due to increased light reaching the woodland floor. This can increase species diversity. However, in woodland where pollarding was once common but has now ceased, the opposite effect occurs, as the side and top shoots develop into trunk-sized branches. An example of this can be seen in Epping Forest in London/Essex, UK, the majority of which was pollarded until the late 19th century.
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The conservation programme aims to maintain a good wetland habitat which will benefit the important gatherings of birds, invertebrates and plants on the reserve. Conservation work includes hedgerow layering, pollarding of willows and cutting for hay.
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Ancient beech pollard, Box Hill, Surrey, UK. Tilia after pollarding, Vogelsberg Mountains "Poll" was originally a name for the top of the head, and "to poll" was a verb meaning "to crop the hair". This use was extended to similar treatment of the branches of trees and the horns of animals. A pollard simply meant someone or something that had been polled (similar to the formation of "drunkard" and "sluggard"); for example, a hornless ox or polled livestock. Later, the noun "pollard" came to be used as a verb: "pollarding".
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Deforestation accelerated, which had already become a problem because of environmentally unsound agricultural practices, rapid population growth, and increased competition over land. Techniques that could make forestry more productive for fuel like coppicing and pollarding were not used.
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The leaves of trees may serve as forage as well, and silvopasture managers can utilize trees as forage by felling the tree so that it can be eaten by livestock, or by using coppicing or pollarding to encourage leaf growth where it is accessible to livestock.
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The exceeded carrying capacity of deer means security fencing surrounding the coppiced trees must be installed to ensure that the new growth is not eaten. Coppiced stumps may be covered in brushwood to deter deer from eating new growth. The medieval practice of pollarding could be introduced.
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Although people who migrated to the United States from Europe continued the practice, experts have come to believe that pollarding older trees harms the tree. The smaller limbs grow from wood that is not as strong, and the weaker trees will not live as long and can be more easily damaged by storms.
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Some trees may be rejuvenated by pollarding — for example, Bradford pear (Pyrus calleryana "Bradford"), a beautiful flowering species when young that becomes brittle and top-heavy when older. Oaks, when very old, can form new trunks from the growth of pollard branches, i.e. surviving branches which have split away from the main branch naturally.
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The Pontfadog Oak, once considered to be the oldest oak tree in the UK, was a sessile oak. This grew near Chirk in North Wales. It was understood to be over 1,200 years old, an age that was due to regular pollarding for much of its life. The hollow trunk had a girth of .
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Many of the oldest trees are pollards, as pollarding removes the weight and windage of the upper trunk and so reduces the chances of major damage, and it also maintains the tree in a vigorous state. Veteran trees occur in many situations, occasionally in dense woodland, but more commonly as hedgerow trees, on village greens, and in ancient parks and other wood pasture.
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Copythorne is first recorded as Coppethorne in the 14th century.Copythorne, Old Hampshire Gazetteer The name means "Cropped (haw)thorn", which relates to the practice of pollarding trees to provide feed for animals. There are several Bronze Age barrows in the parish, locally called "Money Hills". At approximately the site of the present church, the Roman road from Nursling suddenly turned south towards Cadnam roundabout.
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Ditchers were employed to build it and thorns and trees were purchased to plant on it. The word fence is used as well as dyke in regards of the construction method. Part of the march dyke is still clearly indicated by a large coppiced beech and we know that this coppicing or pollarding was done because such 'marker' trees will live considerably longer than trees which have been left untouched.
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Ancient pollarded beech tree. Epping Forest, Essex, England A recently coppiced alder stool. Hampshire, England Most ancient woodland in the UK has been managed in some way by humans for hundreds (in some cases probably thousands) of years. Two traditional techniques are coppicing (harvesting wood by cutting trees back to ground level) and pollarding (harvesting wood at about human head height to prevent new shoots being eaten by grazing species such as deer).
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Long Distance Walkers Association The start and finish are "at the historic Waltham Abbey where King Harold is reputedly buried".LDWA Epping Forest covers 2,476 hectares (6,118.32 acres),Dagley, Jeremy. "Pollarding in Epping Forest", in Premier Colloque Européen sur les Trognes, Vendôme, 26, 27 et 28 Octobre 2006 (in English) Online which makes it one of London's largest open spaces. It contains areas of woodland, grassland, heath, rivers, bogs and ponds and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
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Ramification is also essential to practitioners of the art of bonsai as it helps recreate the form and habit of a full-size tree in a small tree grown in a container. The pruning practices of coppicing and pollarding induce ramification by removing most of a tree's mass above the root. Fruit tree pruning increases the yield of orchards by inducing ramification and thereby creating many vigorous, fruitful branches in the place of a few less-fruitful ones.
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Eventually, Paulownia is succeeded by taller trees that shade it and in whose shade it cannot thrive. An acre of empress trees can absorb 103 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year. Once the trees reach maturity, farmers harvest their wood for use in houses or musical instruments. The characteristic large size of the young growth is exploited by gardeners: by pollarding the tree and ensuring there is vigorous new growth every year, massive leaves are produced (up to 23in/60 cm across).
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Willow was harvested using traditional methods of pollarding, where a tree would be cut back to the main trunk. New shoots of willow, called "withies", would grow out of the trunk and these would be cut periodically for use. In 1970 a few dozen of the traditional willow baskets were made and installed by the fishermen at Goldcliff. To make a putcher by hand, a low bench was used approximately high and square into which 9 holes were made, in a circle in diameter.
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Sections of dense growth of Reed Sweet-grass and Creeping Bent are removed in the autumn to create areas of bare soil necessary for germination of Adder's tongue Spearwort. Pollarding of the adjacent willows controls light and the water levels. There is a potential risk of a catastrophic event wiping out this isolated population of Adder's-tongue Spearwort with the gradual encroachment of Cheltenham's boundaries. A new pool has been built to try to establish another colony at the far end of the reserve.
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Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeatedly cut down to near ground level, resulting in a stool. New growth emerges, and after a number of years, the coppiced tree is harvested, and the cycle begins anew. Pollarding is a similar process carried out at a higher level on the tree.
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The Major Oak in October 2012 There are several theories as to how it became so huge and oddly shaped. The Major Oak may be several trees that fused together as saplings, or the tree could have been pollarded. (Pollarding is a system of tree management that enabled foresters to grow more than one crop of timber from a single tree, causing the trunk to grow large and thick.) However, there is only limited evidence for this theory as none of the other trees in the surrounding area were pollarded.
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Retrieved 2018-03-25. The stand was refurbished in 1972 and in 2012 Kent launched an appeal to raise money to construct a new stand to replace the existing structure.Gidley A (2012) Kent County Cricket chiefs announce plans to refurbish Frank Woolley Stand, Kent Online, 2012-08-23. Retrieved 2018-03-25. The Colin Cowdrey Stand was built in the 1980s, partly financed by the sale of mementos after the pollarding of the lime tree that stood on the ground, and formally named after Kent's longest-serving captain during Canterbury Week in 1992.
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Epping Forest ceased to be a royal forest and was placed in the care of the City of London Corporation who act as Conservators. In addition, the Crown's right to venison was terminated, and pollarding was no longer allowed, although grazing rights continued. This act laid down a stipulation that the Conservators "shall at all times keep Epping Forest unenclosed and unbuilt on as an open space for the recreation and enjoyment of the people". In compensation for the loss of lopping rights, Lopping Hall in Loughton was built as a community building.
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Chitemene field in Zambia Chitemene (also spelled citemene), from the ciBemba word meaning “place where branches have been cut for a garden”, is a system of slash and burn agriculture practiced throughout northern Zambia. It involves coppicing or pollarding of standing trees in a primary or secondary growth Miombo woodland, stacking of the cut biomass, and eventual burning of the cut biomass in order to create a thicker layer of ash than would be possible with in situ burning. Crops such as maize, finger millet, sorghum, or cassava are then planted in the burned area.
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Manipulating this natural response to damage (known as the principle of apical dominance) by processes such as pruning (as well as coppicing and pollarding) allows the arborist to determine the shape, size, and productivity of many fruiting trees and bushes. The main aim when pruning fruit trees is usually to maximize fruit yield. Unpruned trees tend to produce large numbers of small fruits that may be difficult to reach when harvesting by hand. Branches can become broken by the weight of the crop, and the cropping may become biennial (that is, bearing fruit only every other year).
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From the 1920s the increasing cost of employment led to jobs such as the pollarding of trees being neglected, . When 5th Duke died in 1963, the Earldom and the house went to his niece, the recent Countess of Sutherland, while the Dukedom had to pass to a male heir and went to John Egerton, Earl of Ellesmere. Between 1965 and 1972, the house became a boarding school for boys, taking on forty boys and five teachers in its first year. Since 1973, the house and grounds have been open to the public, with private accommodation retained for the use of the Sutherland family.
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Repeated pollarding has shaped the growth patterns of centuries-old trees. The discontinuous canopy favours a diverse understory, dominated by holly Ilex aquifolium, whitebeam Sorbus aria and rowan S. aucuparia with birches. The absence of chemicals in the environment is one aspect that has encouraged an unusual diversity of insects and other invertebrates. The landscape of Woolmer Forest has been classified by the South Downs National Park Authority, in its integrated landscape character assessment of the park, as falling within the Wealden farmland and heath mosaic, namely a landscape that has developed on the sandstones of the Folkestone Beds (part of the Lower Greensand formation of the Lower Cretaceous).
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Human horticultural practices that exploit epicormic growth rely on plants that have epicormic budding capabilities for regenerative function in response to crown damage, such as through wind or fire. Epicormic shoots are the means by which trees regrow after coppicing or pollarding, where the tree's trunk or branches are cut back on a regular cycle. These forestry techniques cannot be used on species which do not possess strong epicormic growth abilities. Pruning leads to growth of suppressed shoots below the cut - these may be from epicormic buds, but they may also be other growth, such as normal buds or small shoots which are only partly suppressed.
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Forest glasshouse of eighteenth century Cathedral of St. Denis, Paris The vast amounts of wood needed to produce glass in this way dictated that glasshouses be located in forest areas and that the woodland be managed carefully by coppicing and pollarding to maximise the wood resource and to optimise the size of wood pieces used. Even so, periodically the glasshouse would have to relocate, as the woodland was depleted. The glass industry had to compete for wood supplies with other industries such as mining, and domestic demand. In sixteenth-century England, an embargo was placed on the use of wood for fuel for glassmaking.
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When apical meristems (apical buds) are continually removed, the shape of a tree or shrub can be manipulated remarkably, because newer, uninhibited, branches grow en masse almost anywhere on the tree or shrub. Topiary garden, Beckley Park manor, UK When the apical bud is removed, the lowered IAA concentration allows the lateral buds to grow and produce new shoots, which compete to become the lead growth. Pruning techniques such as coppicing and pollarding make use of this natural response to curtail direct plant growth and produce a desired shape, size, and/or productivity level for the plant. The principle of apical dominance is manipulated for espalier creation, hedge building, or artistic sculptures called topiary.
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Nowadays, the practice is sometimes used for ornamental trees, such as crapemyrtles in southern states of the US, Southern Living 2003 garden annual, page 111; published 2003 by Oxmoor PublishingTree Care Industry Magazine, Volume 17, page 38, published 2006 by National Arborist Association although the resulting tree has a stunted form rather than a natural-looking crown. Pollarding tends to make trees live longer by maintaining them in a partially juvenile state and by reducing the weight and windage of the top part of the tree. Older pollards often become hollow, so it can be difficult to determine age accurately. Pollards tend to grow slowly, with denser growth-rings in the years immediately after cutting.
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Depending on the use of the cut material, the length of time between cutting will vary from one year for tree hay or withies, to five years or more for larger timber. Sometimes, only some of the regrown stems may be cut in a season – this is thought to reduce the chances of death of the tree when recutting long-neglected pollards. Pollarding was preferred over coppicing in wood-pastures and other grazed areas, because animals would browse the regrowth from coppice stools. Historically, the right to pollard or "lop" was often granted to local people for fuel on common land or in royal forests; this was part of the right of Estover.
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Portrait of Garrick by Thomas Gainsborough Garrick's Ait is named after David Garrick, the actor whose Temple to Shakespeare and Villa (house) are on the Hampton bank and as such is the only island in the country named after an actor. In common with most Thames islands near developed places, it became used for growing and harvesting willow/weeping willow trees when they arrived in the country in the 18th century. Wood from pollarding could be used for cricket bats, paddles, ladders, gun stocks, crates and poles for fences. Harvested branches, called osiers, are strong, flexible and resistant to rot – they were used for fish traps, basket making and for reinforcing riverbanks.
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FMNR can also play an important role in maintaining not-yet-degraded landscapes in a productive state, especially when combined with other sustainable land management practices such as conservation agriculture on cropland and holistic management on range lands. FMNR adapts centuries-old methods of woodland management, called coppicing and pollarding, to produce continuous tree-growth for fuel, building materials, food and fodder without the need for frequent and costly replanting. On farmland, selected trees are trimmed and pruned to maximise growth while promoting optimal growing conditions for annual crops (such as access to water and sunlight). When FMNR trees are integrated into crops and grazing pastures there is an increase in crop yields, soil fertility and organic matter, soil moisture and leaf fodder.
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Dried Mahua flowers Tendu patta (leaf) collection Non-timber forest products (NTFPs), also known as non-wood forest products (NWFPs), minor forest produce, special, minor, alternative and secondary forest products, are useful substances, materials and/or commodities obtained from forests which do not require harvesting (logging) trees. They include game animals, fur-bearers, nuts, seeds, berries, mushrooms, oils, sap, foliage, pollarding, medicinal plants, peat, mast, fuelwood, fish, spices, and forage. Research on NTFPs has focused on their ability to be produced as commodities for rural incomes and markets, as an expression of traditional knowledge or as a livelihood option for rural household needs, and as a key component of sustainable forest management and conservation strategies. All research promotes forest products as valuable commodities and tools that can promote the conservation of forests.
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Examples of trees that do well as pollards include broadleaves such as beeches (Fagus), oaks (Quercus), maples (Acer), black locust or false acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia), hornbeams (Carpinus), lindens and limes (Tilia), planes (Platanus), horse chestnuts (Aesculus), mulberries (Morus), Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis), tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima), willows (Salix), and a few conifers, such as yews (Taxus). The technique is used in Africa for moringa trees to bring the nutritious leaves into easier reach for harvesting. Pollarding is also used in urban forestry in certain areas for reasons such as tree size management, safety, and health concerns. It removes rotting or diseased branches to support the overall health of the tree and removes living and dead branches that could harm property and people, as well as increasing the amount of foliage in spring for aesthetic, shade and air quality reasons.
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Development of the milk-based industries, such as Ilchester Cheese Company and Yeo Valley Organic, have resulted in the production of ranges of desserts, yoghurts and cheeses, including Cheddar cheese—some of which has the West Country Farmhouse Cheddar Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). Traditional willow growing and weaving (such as basket weaving) is not as extensive as it used to be but is still carried out on the Somerset Levels and is commemorated at the Willows and Wetlands Visitor Centre. Fragments of willow basket were found near the Glastonbury Lake Village, and it was also used in the construction of several Iron Age causeways. The willow was harvested using a traditional method of pollarding, where a tree would be cut back to the main stem. During the 1930s more than of willow were being grown commercially on the Levels. Largely due to the displacement of baskets with plastic bags and cardboard boxes, the industry has severely declined since the 1950s. By the end of the 20th century only about were grown commercially, near the villages of Burrowbridge, Westonzoyland and North Curry. The Somerset Levels is now the only area in the UK where basket willow is grown commercially.
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