Pollards, the forgotten art-discussion

[born2trot]

I have mentioned not doing it in drought several times, and when reducing also, same applies. the only pollard i ever killed was a willow drought stressed I thought being beside a lake would help, but it did not. massive cambium death occurred.

 

Dr David Lonsdale is our finest academic arboriculturist and doesnt stick his neck out for anything less than proven fact and for good reason, he is a consummate pro, and I for one would aspire to be even half the professional he is, not saying you detracted, just my views.

 

He is also very approachable which is a rare thing for such a man, and it speaks volumes of the guy, especialy putting up with a tonka like me at seminars!

 

Hi Hamadryad,

I have read Dr Lonsdales book and can only but recommend it to anyone interested in Tree hazard management or just trees in general. Superb.

But if we cast back to your original post you stress the need for ' feel' and ' gut instinct' in relation to pollarding . Now for examples sake I'll use a previous post to illustrate where I'm coming from the one where an FC manager is expecting to see a pollarded poplar. What exactly is he expecting to see? A nice dutch style street pollard? A lovely story book type with hollowed centre ? What is the chances the tree is going to die because of the tree being a high risk species ?

Can the said cutter tell the manager he has a nice feeling about it? that its his gut instinct? Or can he give him sound advice based on facts and figures collected by experts.

Hama i'm cetainly not having a dig at Dr lonsdale , on the contrary .. but it would be nice for these guys to collate something which we could all try and impliment with confidence or else trees will just get felled.

Take care 'bt2'

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Hi Hamadryad,

I have read Dr Lonsdales book and can only but recommend it to anyone interested in Tree hazard management or just trees in general. Superb.

But if we cast back to your original post you stress the need for ' feel' and ' gut instinct' in relation to pollarding . Now for examples sake I'll use a previous post to illustrate where I'm coming from the one where an FC manager is expecting to see a pollarded poplar. What exactly is he expecting to see? A nice dutch style street pollard? A lovely story book type with hollowed centre ? What is the chances the tree is going to die because of the tree being a high risk species ?

Can the said cutter tell the manager he has a nice feeling about it? that its his gut instinct? Or can he give him sound advice based on facts and figures collected by experts.

Hama i'm cetainly not having a dig at Dr lonsdale , on the contrary .. but it would be nice for these guys to collate something which we could all try and impliment with confidence or else trees will just get felled.

Take care 'bt2'

 

All the top guys will say the same thing, that there is no substitute for experience, NO substitute, but you dont half have to pull your socks up to prove you know what your doing to those top guys! which is only fair I think.

 

I know what your saying about a need to put it all down in a decent format for all to use, a hard task as trees and conditions are so varied, each case has its own uniqueness, treework is art as much as science, that will never change, but the science will get better, we can all work on that by talking about our collective experiences and showing photographs of scenarios as many of us do here, thats why we do it, to further the art and science of modern arboriculture. its my only goal, better tree care by better understanding and natural empathy for the organism/s:thumbup1:

[born2trot]

All the top guys will say the same thing, that there is no substitute for experience, NO substitute, but you dont half have to pull your socks up to prove you know what your doing to those top guys! which is only fair I think.

 

I know what your saying about a need to put it all down in a decent format for all to use, a hard task as trees and conditions are so varied, each case has its own uniqueness, treework is art as much as science, that will never change, but the science will get better, we can all work on that by talking about our collective experiences and showing photographs of scenarios as many of us do here, thats why we do it, to further the art and science of modern arboriculture. its my only goal, better tree care by better understanding and natural empathy for the organism/s:thumbup1:

 

And thats nice words to end with .

[Pedroski]

Hamadryad, Borntotrot and Treecreeper1961 - I really appreciate you comments on the Pop that the FC guy said ok to pollard. He was so unspecific in what he meant and I was too slow to take it up with him at the time and the job is now imminent. This is why I think we should be kind to it - I don't want it dropping dead and causing the problem that we want to prevent!

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Did a nice reduction on a beech last week, in the front garden was this hornbeam, it is as perfect an example of a working pollard as youll see, I reckon its 15 years since it was pollarded last and now ripe for a re pollard, reckon it could be left another 5-10 years before we slip into a lapsed situation and would need to adjust our approach.

 

 

 

 

 

[David Humphries]

Did a nice reduction on a beech last week, in the front garden was this hornbeam, it is as perfect an example of a working pollard as youll see, I reckon its 15 years since it was pollarded last and now ripe for a re pollard, reckon it could be left another 5-10 years before we slip into a lapsed situation and would need to adjust our approach.]

 

So, would you remove back to the 'heads' or leave stubs ?

 

 

Sort of tree I'd like in me front garden

 

 

 

 

.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

So, would you remove back to the 'heads' or leave stubs ?

 

 

Sort of tree I'd like in me front garden

 

 

 

 

.

 

as this tree stands in its current state i would do four or five slight stubs evenly spaced in prime locations and cap the rest to collars:thumbup1:

[David Humphries]

Conventional wisdom tells us that a (relatively large) maiden cut 'Beech' will not sprout & will die instead of becoming a pollard or coppice stool.

 

One I spotted the other day.

 

Been reduced to this as it sits on the top of an Anglo-Saxon earthwork pretty exposed to flat local topography & unfetered southern winds.

 

Probably reduced due to the above and now sits down out of the wind.

 

It may well just be sprouting unsustainable epicormic or advantitious buds from callus & could just give up.

 

Will keep an eye on it to see if it prevails & developes over the next two or three years.

 

 

 

.

[RobArb]

has someone painted the cuts?

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Conventional wisdom tells us that a (relatively large) maiden cut 'Beech' will not sprout & will die instead of becoming a pollard or coppice stool.

 

One I spotted the other day.

 

Been reduced to this as it sits on the top of an Anglo-Saxon earthwork pretty exposed to flat local topography & unfetered southern winds.

 

Probably reduced due to the above and now sits down out of the wind.

 

It may well just be sprouting unsustainable epicormic or advantitious buds from callus & could just give up.

 

Will keep an eye on it to see if it prevails & developes over the next two or three years.

 

 

 

.

 

I think the one thing most folk dont take into account is the "natural nieghbourhood" which acts a support network. by this I mean that in a community of trees connected via mycorrhizea and grafted roots we might expect a wounded tree to be partialy supported by its brotherhood, and hence will survive even dramatic events. the opposite end being the field grown i think if we look hard we will see a big difference in the reactions to adversity:001_cool: