the limits of coppicing

[steve rollnick]

Tracey has asked Welsh woodland owners to join this forum, and be active....so I'll post this question about coppicing, with some trepidation given my almost complete ignorance. Then another here about seasoning wood in rivers.

I found this hazel with 10-20 vertical branches, around a circular space I think you call a "stool"? It looks wildly overgrown, with some of the uprights 5" or more in diameter, sort of the size of a well-built upper arm, and a few much less so.

If I cut them all down, what will happen (Ive got no shortage of uses for the lovely wood)? Is there an age beyond which the tree will die if you do this? Should one cut in stages?

Finally, and nothing to do with coppicing, I am very struck as a newcomer to this field, how much mumbo jumbo is uttered with such confidence by so many about the seasoning of firewood. Wood sellers are distributing completely unseasoned wood (we are desperate at home this year) and the opening line from one guy I called was that he had 25 year-old wood, as if this was some kind of selling point (his wood was newly felled, I then discovered). But one comment from a tree surgeon

I met really struck me as contrary to all that I am learning. He sliced some hawthorne, hazel and a few other species in my wood, left them stacked in the open for me to split, and said: "Dont worry about covering up the wood. Its good for it to be out in the open for some time, even a couple of months", and then he said, to my astonishment, "Some Welsh farmers cut down their trees, slice them up, and then leave their wood in a stream for a few months". Now Tracey, you asked for Welsh contributions, now tell me, is this mumbo jumbo?

OK, I'll duck for cover, happy and ignorant.

Cheers,

Steve

[RichardKing]

Whatever they put them in rivers for its not for seasoning!

Please see my last comment on battery powered chainsaws

[tracy]

Hi Steve

Well, you are being active! Thanks. I am no expert -not at all -many others on this forum are and will reply too.....

Firstly, hazel coppices nicely- and overgrows quickly. So, as far as I am aware, what can kill the coppice stool is if it gets overstood (too big for the stool) and fall over - uproot and die. Coppice trees need to be coppiced - unless they are singled. Hope that makes some kind of sense. Coppicing won't kill it unless the tree is unhealthy.

BTCV has some really good reading material on coppicing:

http://handbooks.btcv.org.uk/handbooks/content/chapter/690

You can also read our blog

http://peplers.blogspot.com to see what happens to chestnut when coppiced- it is a similar idea - cut the tree back and it regrows. Some of ours regrew 6 foot last year!

As for firewood drying, in our experience, split and stacked wood dries pretty well out in the open air - and needs an airflow to dry nicely. Never heard of drying wood in a river!

Anyone else able to add to all this???

Tracy

[Darren]

Would you dry your washing in a river? The only thing I can think of is it's to rinse the sap out or to pull your leg.;)

I have heard that 1 in 10 coppice will die after they are cut, not sure if that is true. That's why layering is done.

[mikepepler]

I don't think 1 in 10 of ours died. We cut about 3/4 acre a year ago, here's some pictures form the end of it: http://peplers.blogspot.com/2008/04/summer-is-here.html

I reckon only 2 or 3 have not regrown, and they were ones that didn't look that healthy before we felled them. We planted some to fill gaps, but also I expect some of the self seeded ones to come up over the next few years now there's more light.

Mike

[tracy]

I have just been told by a coppice worker, that derelict hazel is more susceptible to die off when cut, than Hazel that is cut in rotation. Perhaps this is true of chestnut too? Too much of a shock to the tree?

[DaveTaz]

Another post from a welsh woodland owner!

Just found this brilliant website on coppicing

www.coppicing.com well worth a look as they are talking about and carrying out coppicing in a woodland that hasn't been coppiced for 50 years

It looks quite feasible to coppice really old stools by only removing a few stems every few years. This may sound time consuming and rather a long process but really worth it to save old stools

[steve rollnick]

Dave,

thanks, that's a lovely site. Such simple and skillfully annotated photos. I learned a lot.

I do have one question about oaks. I have many scores of oaks that seem to have been coppiced originally. They split into two or three right down at the base. Because I all but worship these lovely trees, I would never dream of cutting them down. Surely if one cuts down one or more limb it wont be good for the tree? My hunch is to let them be.

Cheers Dave and thanks, Steve

[DaveTaz]

Hi Steve, glad to be of help.

Reference the oaks, you may want to consider removing some of the stems on a selected few, leaving one strong and straight stem with a good amount of foliage/canopy. I don't think this will harm them as they should put their energy into the remaining stem and eventually produce nice standards. If they were coppiced some time ago they should have really good root structures and may actually benefit from this kind of treatment. You may have to keep nipping off re-growth from where you cut them back.

It is quite easy to forget that trees grow (in very basic and simple terms) by converting sunlight into energy through the leaves and absorbing water and necessary nutrients through the roots. Generally if these are in good order the tree should be ok.

Another website worth looking at is www.greenwoodcentre.org.uk

select Beanpoles and then research and information from the drop-down list

on this page is an interesting article on stocking density of hazel stools for coppicing - a bit long winded but wprth a quick read

[steve rollnick]

Dave,

Thanks. I get it. I have this hesitation to remove oak stems, and probably wont unless I can also find a good use for them besides firewood. For the latter I have plenty old neglected hazel coppice to cut back......

regards,

Steve