In the time between coppicing – this might be a single year or 15 – the light and soil moisture levels will change, inviting ephemeral plant species to make their home. You can create kindling to burn, to say nothing of what coppicing does for the space around the tree ecologically. Coppicing introduces light back into a space there’s the aesthetics of new growth and you can create a multi-stemmed shrub, rather than a larger single-trunked tree (an excellent option for that sycamore seedling, Acer pseudoplatanus, that has now become a tree). Many shrubs and trees can be coppiced and there are benefits to this other than creating material for the garden and house. By coppicing you also promote the brilliant colour of young stems This way, the bulk of the tree's energy is stored in its root system and very little is removed with the prunings.įinal harvesting takes place whenever the stems reach an appropriate thickness and height for fence posts, garden stakes, broom and ax handles, fuel wood, or for whatever purpose you have in mind.I won’t be saving the planet with my hooks and poles alone, but this gentle diversion of chopping and carving my way to something I might have instantly bought has been a useful lesson in the pleasure to be had from creatively finding your own way. This concentrates all the tree's vigor into just three new trunks, and growth will be rapid and fairly uniform.Īll pruning and, ideally, all harvesting should be done after a tree has gone dormant. Allow these to grow through the summer but after leaf drop in the fall, prune out all but the three most vigorous stems. Your local forester can advise you on the best species for your region.Īfter the tree is first cut, a number of sprouts will shoot up from the old stump. Otherwise, grow a whole new plantation from scratch.įor harvesting within a few years, start with super poplars in the North or cottonwood in the South. Even so, I know of a much older apple tree that seemed to be completely rejuvenated by this treatment. Trees more than 30 years of age do not always sprout well again. Young trees (under 20 years) coppice best. If you plan to start a coppice plantation - even a tenth of an acre could meet your fuel-wood needs - you would presumably start with what is already there. Poplar, alder, cottonwood, willow, box elder, and locust coppice best of all. Among the top-quality hardwoods, only ash coppices well. Oak and hard maple also do poorly, but all the rest send out new shoots readily. Hickory is one hardwood that does not readily coppice. As a result, coppice production is up to 10 times greater than would be achieved by starting afresh with seedlings after each harvest. What is known as the wounding syndrome - trees reacting vigorously to reestablish themselves after damage - also comes into play. New growth is particularly vigorous because the tree has an established root system. In other words, a family's fuel-wood needs can come from a much smaller wood lot when coppicing is undertaken.Ĭoppicing is based on the ability of deciduous hardwood trees to send up new growth from the old stump year after year. One acre of coppice wood, particularly if planted to hybrid poplars, will yield five cords a year. Its appeal lies in the exceptionally high productivity that is possible from a very small area.Ī conventional wood lot produces a sustainable harvest of about one-third of a cord of hardwood to the acre each year. Now the practice of coppicing is being revived in much of Europe and is also surfacing here in the United States and Canada, particularly among small-wood-lot owners and even in some large home gardens. Before coal came into its own, coppice wood provided the bulk of Britain's charcoal. Without realizing it, my friend was practicing the art of coppicing - a timber-harvesting and management system that was widespread in Britain and other parts of Europe by the time the Pilgrims landed on the shores of Massachusetts in 1620.Īt that time, coppice wood was used for furniture, fencing, dowels, and baskets, as well as for fuel. So, adopting an ''if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'' approach, he now harvests some very useful garden stakes from the tree every few years. The two most straightforward of the trials will involve large-scale planting of trees and bioenergy crops, including Miscanthus grasses and coppice willow. What is coppicing Coppicing is a traditional woodland management technique that dates to the Stone Age. Two years later it was doing the same thing again, only this time five stems of up to 1 1/2 inches in diameter had replaced the single trunk originally cut down.Īfter this second cutting, the tree responded by growing still more new stems - and more again after they, in turn, were cut. An acquaintance of mine once cut down a vigorously growing tree because it shaded some nearby blueberry bushes.
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