Hornbeam pollards?

[Welshfred]

10 hours ago, Stere said:

 

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

CORE.AC.UK

 

 

 

 

Very interesting.

 

I'd say go for it with a few and see what happens. Worst case scenario you get some good standing deadwood stumps for fungi and invertebrates. I did similar in a stand of Alder /Oak , thinning the Alder, and had some with regrowth, some died and after 1 year had a variety of fruiting fungi. 

[dumper]

Hornbeam pollards Hatfield forest is full of them

[Stere]

Any pollards underneath oaks though i thought they were more spaced out and not overshaded?

 

Also how old  was the  tree normally when cut to make  a pollard?

Edited March 7 by Stere

[Mick Dempsey]

Coppice them.

Do a proper job.

[JonnoR]

On 05/03/2024 at 10:16, Stere said:

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

 

 

 

 

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

CORE.AC.UK

 

 

 

 

Thanks Stere, for both your response and the link! The hornbeam nurse trees, and the self-seeded understory trees seems to have done a pretty good job of keeping the oak straight and minimised the epicormic growth.  The crowns are pretty poor though, and I'd assess it's a good decade overdue for some thinning.  Once thinned, I did wonder if hornbeam pollards (or coppices) would be in sufficient dappled light to make a go of it, if only for shrub like ground cover for deer and weed suppression.  From what I've read, the hornbeams that remain don't occlude the light in the lower story to the same degree as other species.

 

My main concern now is not rushing the thinning and either stressing them with a sudden environmental change, or expose them to excessive risk of windblow.  The canopy is super anorexic but if I rush I imagine I'll overly stress the trees that have had a pretty hard time of it with 2 years of hotter weather.

[JonnoR]

On 07/03/2024 at 08:47, Stere said:

Any pollards underneath oaks though i thought they were more spaced out and not overshaded?

 

Also how old  was the  tree normally when cut to make  a pollard?

I think Hornbeam is slightly more tolerant of being pollarded or coppiced at an older age, but they really are pushing the limits I'd say. The explosive growth in the stumps of trees selectively thinned over the last three years is pretty nuts

Edited March 9 by JonnoR

[JonnoR]

To my inexperienced eyes, the crowns are terrible, given the height of the trees.  I'm not too sure that I'm being a bit overly killy in my selection for planned thinning.  Would you take a couple winters to get rid of those marked trees to be sure not to shock the ecosystem?

[JonnoR]

On 07/03/2024 at 17:12, Mick Dempsey said:

Coppice them.

Do a proper job.

I think I'd have to invest in some fencing, or improvise with branches to give the stools chance to re-establish growth, given the deer population I have at the moment.

[Mick Dempsey]

Just now, JonnoR said:

I think I'd have to invest in some fencing, or improvise with branches to give the stools chance to re-establish growth, given the deer population I have at the moment.

I’ve seen people stack the brush on the stools.

[JonnoR]

20 minutes ago, Mick Dempsey said:

I’ve seen people stack the brush on the stools.

I did that with an overstood hazel, essentially creating a brush fence with some uprights to stabilise it and it worked perfect - pushing up some great straight rods from the stool