Alder Coppicing

[Louise]

Hi

 

When is the best time to coppice Alder or can it be done all the year round?

 

 

Thanks Louise

[Ty Unnos]

The traditional time to coppice trees is when the leaves are off and the sap is down.

Roughly speaking Nov-Feb. You can coppice at other times of the year but it will be more disruptive to birds / wildlife. The timber you get will also be wetter because of the sap. The only time you must not coppice is late in the summer Aug-Sep. If you do the new growth can be nipped off by the frost and killed.

[Louise]

Thanks Ty Unnos

[Stereo]

It's getting a bit late on but not too late I would say this year. Ours are just starting to bud so marginal but should be OK.

[Louise]

Spring is always weeks behind up in Northumberland, so if the tree are not budding yet do you think it will it be ok?

 

even if I start and do about 10 to 20 trees then at least some of them can start to dry out over the summer, will people buy the timber while it is still wet?

[Ty Unnos]

If you are felling over the next few weeks you should be ok but I would not fell any later than that.

 

I have some Alder in the woodshed that was felled last summer and it is a long way off being ready to burn. I reckon another 6-12 months.

 

If you are selling to domestic customers they will expect seasoned wood ready to burn and will not be happy with wet logs. If you want to sell bulk cordwood then yes people will buy it off you wet but will expect it to be roadside with access for an artic to pick it up.

[Louise]

sorry for my ignorance but what is corkwood?

[Louise]

sorry I meant cordwood

[Ty Unnos]

cordwood - basically trunks cut to a specific length (10'+) but not split. Commercial customers buy cordwood - usually by the lorry load - which they then season / cut and split to sell to domestic customers.

 

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/firewood-forum/40676-images-26-ton-cordwood.html?highlight=images

Edited March 7, 2012 by Ty Unnos

[treedave]

Cordwood - practically its regular lengths of timber sold for processing into firewood. Traditionally a cord of wood is a stack of timber of certain length, depth and height of stack, known as a cord.