aging sweet chestnut

[martingarwood]

Does anyone know how to age sweet chestnut stools ? I have looked in various books (inc Rackham) but have not come up with an answer so far. We have several acres of chestnut, which I have always assumed was planted during the 1870s when demand for hop poles was at its peak. Recently a visitor suggested that the chestnut could be a lot older, but I was not convinced.....and my question remains !

[tracy]

I was told that it is very difficult to, as it depends on how often the coppice was cut in the past....

[tracy]

Mark from the Surrey Sussex coppice group has told me:

I wouldn't get too hung up about age of coppice stools as most are rotten in the middle & counting tree rings is impossible; also, different species ( ours, S.Cumbria, are mainly hazel, ash, oak, small-leaved lime, alder & too a lesser extent, elm )grow at different rates anyway & the same spp. can grow faster/slower within the same site depending on geology & soils.

So, stop trying to work it out ;-)

[Catweazle]

Hi Martin,

I looked at trying to age some Chestnut too, I gave up because the formula meant I had to look at historic rainfall, sunshine, soil fertility and more.

You might find it easier to look for the largest standard tree and quess that the coppice is the same age, then have a look on the veteran tree forum to find one of a similar size and see if they have estimated the age of theirs. It's only a rough guess though.

I have a windblown standard which I cut through to clear a track, I'll measure it and count the rings at different sizes, that might help make a rough table.