Hornbeam pollards?

[kevwrenn]

Can anyone advise how hornbeam responds to pollarding. We have a lot of roadside Hornbeams in Lincoln which are between 20 and 30 years old. They are begining to encroach on housing, blocking light to the windows, and also some being struck by passing lorries. Pollarding would be a possible solution to these problems, but none of us are sure how they will respond as a species. I know you dont all approve of this technique, but another solution which has been suggested is felling them all, so it has to be worth a try.

Kev.

[slack ma girdle]

Hornbeam responds well to pollarding, as do most hardwood species, and if done for long enough it will produce rare invertibrate habitate

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Sounds to me like you have a perfect situation for a pollard, go for it and so much better than a fell option.

[Mozza]

Pollard them mate, They'll be ok, Better to pollard than fell

[sean]

pollard them.....got to be better than felling them.

[alex_m]

judging by this picture you shouldn't have a problem....

 

[Leyburn Lad]

We carried out a load of pollarding in Hatfield estate about 9yrs ago now when fountains had a load of cabins there for there rail staff working on the railways at Wellyn gardens, they had been pollarded just after the second world war but not since, had a look a while back look good.

 

if your lowering them though just remember the wieght of the timber, think the lads have just forgiven me for the rope burns:001_tt2:

[felixthelogchopper]

Was re-cutting some very healthy hornbeam pollards on Thursday and Friday. Go for it!

[JonnoR]

Hi folks,

Forgive the attempted resurrection of this fossilised thread, but I thought it might be better to keep the topic in one place.  I have several stands (ash and hornbeam as nurse trees with oak standards) needing thinning.  Whenever I've felled the hornbeam, during the proceeding year they've erupted with growth from the stump, which has got me thinking that pollarding might be the way to ensure regrowth and a more diverse stock for wildlife.  There are deer and wild boar around, so I'm not convinced the coppiced stumps will ultimately lead to much - hence the pollarding idea.

The stands are about 40 years old, rod straight and very little branches until you hit the canopy.  So, question is, have I left it too long for this to be viable?  Is the single trunk non-viable for this technique? Given the amount of growth, and their apparent tolerance for slightly shaded understory, I'd really like to give it a bash.

As ever, grateful for your insights and suggestions!

Jonno

[Stere]

Pollards under canopy Im not sure that will work due the light lvls?

 

 

 

Iv'e read that a  hornebeam  understory is handy though to stop epicormic growth on the oak stems as they are thinned

 

 

Quote

Cleaning interventions are often conducted to remove unwanted species and wolf trees typically when the stand height ranges between 4 and 8 m. Subsequently pre-commercial thinnings are conducted, where good candidates (potential future crop trees) are passively promoted, removing unwanted species, wolf trees and forked trees (negative selection). At this stage stand density is kept high to favour natural pruning, and the presence of beech, hornbeam or other tree species is desired to prepare a future understorey for the oaks, although the understorey should be carefully controlled such that it does not overgrow the crop trees. The positive selection starts with the selection of future crop trees (see section 2.5.1), which traditionally takes place when the trees have reached a 8–10 m clear bole length, at a stand age between 50 and 60 years and a dominant height of approximately 18–20 m. At the same time an understorey of beech or hornbeam is managed under the oak canopy, to keep the stems of crop trees shaded and to promote self-pruning. Thinnings are light and frequent, where only one or two strong competitors are removed for each crop tree. The selection principle is crown thinning, targeted to promote crown development of crop trees while maintaining a high stand density to obtain narrow annual rings and prevent the emergence of epicormic branches. Thinning intervals increase with decreasing stand density, until the final stem number per hectare is reached. This is typically 50–60 tree ha-1 for pedunculate oak and 60–80 trees ha-1 for sessile oak. With a target diameter of 70 cm at breast height, the resulting rotation period is approximately 175 years in addition to the age to reach breast height.

 

 

Silviculture of oak for high-quality wood production - CORE Reader

CORE.AC.UK

 

 

 

 

Edited March 5 by Stere