Coppice

[woody paul]

Been asked would it be possible it coppice tree's in an area of woodland I work on, the area was planted 30 odd years ago mixture of oak, sweat chest, hornbeam, lime and Ash all in blocks. 

So was thinking of coppicing part of a block something like 30 trees, was going to do it with the Limes as probably the trees in the worst condition on site. 

Do you think they are to old to do. 

[dumper]

What diameter are they lime regrows from stumps very well

[agg221]

I would expect the SC and hornbeam to also coppice well. The problem with the ash will be Chalara fraxinea.

 

Diameter will determine what is useful for what purpose. SC could potentially be useful by now.

 

Alec

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, dumper said:

What diameter are they lime regrows from stumps very well

Yes and it does so from the base, so over time the stump rots out and the coppice grows as a ring around it.

[openspaceman]

30 minutes ago, agg221 said:

I would expect the SC and hornbeam to also coppice well. The problem with the ash will be Chalara fraxinea.

 

Diameter will determine what is useful for what purpose. SC could potentially be useful by now.

 

Alec

Yes hornbeam coppices well but  often older maidens fail to resprout.

[agg221]

10 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

Yes hornbeam coppices well but  often older maidens fail to resprout.

It's a risk. 30 is a funny sort of age. At 40-50 you would say it would fail but at 20 it would probably be fine. 30 is more of a guess. I would guess enough will come back to get a decent density, perhaps with a bit of replanting in the failures but depends a bit on what the owner is prepared to risk/invest in - you could try coppicing the hornbeam but leave the decent ones as standards at normal density as they should be pretty upright and not throw much shade? If it re-sprouts then great, decide what to do about the standards. If it doesn't then underplant with hazel or a mix? Otherwise it's just a case of thinning for a hardwood stand, but I'm not sure what use the hornbeam would be as an eventual timber crop.

 

Alec

Edited March 23, 2021 by agg221

[woody paul]

2 hours ago, dumper said:

What diameter are they lime regrows from stumps very well

They are only a foot across. 

Hornbeam is about the same.