Coppicing

[niemeyjt]

Around here ancient woodlands have been coppiced for hundreds of years for firewood and smaller wood for working. When I worked in them 25 years ago we certainly coppiced Field Maple (Acer campestre).

However, coppicing is normally at ground level - not at 5 feet. That was more like what we called pollarding (done in historical times to put regrowth above the deer nibbling height).

If you do not have a deer issue, I would go with others and take it off lower down - proper coppicing - and if it does not recover, well you have cleared a space to replant something else.

J

 

[Mace Canute]

Years ago part of my duties as a Lineman was trimming trees that were growing under the power lines. I remember a couple that for some reason ended up looking like tall stumps! No branches at all. They were as ugly as my buddy's mean fat sister-in-law but after a couple of years of growth, they were very nice looking, unlike the SIL who remained mean and ugly.

We did a row of trees under the line on a golf course one winter...they were into the line already and needed trimming badly. The owners said if we loped the tops off they wanted to remove the trees totally, so we cut them off about 10 feet below the lines which left just trunks sticking up about 15 feet. The GC failed to follow through on their promise to remove the trees for whatever reason. That following year was a very wet year and hot too and those trees suckered up a good 6 feet in just a handful of months but they sure looked nice! Fortunately we ended up rebuilding the line on the other side of the road and salvaged that stretch so their trees were no longer a concern.

 

[czechsonofagun]

To my surprise the tree made it through the three day of wind. There is a crack in the soil next to the crank, but that's it.

But the wind took our mailbox with the post and all. It was old.

 

[dieselbeef]

any tree is easier to cut on the grnd

 

[MossRoad]

To my surprise the tree made it through the three day of wind. There is a crack in the soil next to the crank, but that's it.

But the wind took our mailbox with the post and all. It was old.

Just don't park your car near it or have a picnic under it. :thumbsup:

I think there was a story here last summer where some man was just driving down the road on a nice clear day and a tree fell on his car and killed him. Just BOOM! Out of the blue, dead!

Last summer a friend's daughter was driving home during a storm and tree fell across the road in front of her. So she turned around in a driveway only to find another tree had fallen behind her. She was stuck and getting nervous about being around trees, so she pulled into a parking lot away from trees and called her dad. He had to go get her with a chainsaw.

 

[clemsonfor]

As a forester stump spouts are the way that a Hardwood forest regenerates itself. We do not plant hardwoods as we really do not have the reasearch and technology to plant a 2-3 yr old tree and ensure decent survival and do it cheaply. If your going to cut it do it near the ground. I did not pay attention the the maple species but reds are very prone to rot and cutting it 5 ft up will definitly rot and cause unstable sprouts. I understant the reason for the height is proably a limiting chainsaw, but rent an 066 with a 32" bar or something. To do it right it needs to be at the ground so there is little area to rot and compromise the regrows integrity. In the future one or two will take over and the others will die out and either one will ultimitly take over with the stump covering all or the 2 will grow into a huge stumed forked tree. Keep in mind you will never see any of this as hardwoods are 80-200 year to maturity trees. Stump sprouts are where all 2nd generation hardwoods come from.

 

[Baby Grand]

Leave the best and cut the rest.

 

[MossRoad]

Leave the best and cut the rest.

Except when it comes to cake or pie. :licking:

 

[Egon]

Coppicing

It works with trees; wonder if it will work with my bank account balance!

 

[MossRoad]

It works with trees; wonder if it will work with my bank account balance!

If you keep chopping at it it will never grow back to its original aesthetic beauty.

 

[Egon]

Gosh Moss, I was hoping that after the original cut numerous shoots would evolve that would be greater in mass than the original. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[MossRoad]

Gosh Moss, I was hoping that after the original cut numerous shoots would evolve that would be greater in mass than the original. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

99 singles are not worth one Benjamin. :laughing:

 

[Egon]

Uh; I'm from Canada Moss!:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[MossRoad]

Uh; I'm from Canada Moss!:thumbsup::thumbsup:

O.K. Bordens, not Benjamins. :licking:

 

[Egon]

Darned, I'm not up on my Canadiana either!:confused2:

 

[mmurphy]

My grandad always would cut a damaged tree up high and take a pocket knife to puncture areas up high for new shoots to grow, if he wanted to save them.

 

[clemsonfor]

My grandad always would cut a damaged tree up high and take a pocket knife to puncture areas up high for new shoots to grow, if he wanted to save them.

Well that may have been an old wives tale thing he heard. A hardwood had epercormic buds all along the stem that are poised to sprout if only given the chance. This chance is more light or stress on the main trunk. This can be seen in a thinned hardwood stand. All those little tiny branches that will come out of a hardwood that has been growing in a forest and the surrounding trees are cut, these are all epercormic branches that came from buds that were already there. This also will happen if the top breaks out of a tree or the tree is cut down, these buds will grow to replace the top. This is why most hardwoods with some exception will really never die unless they get a disease or just die from sever drought etc. Cut it off and it will resprout, this is natures way of ensuring that tree will stay there. Pines with a few exceptions do not have this. Thats why the stump rots out and no resprouts. The exception here is a young shortleaf pine and pond pine will both have epercormic branching and can stumpsprout if cut young enough.

Also those who cut the tops out of trees are know in the arborist industry as tree hackers. Im in forestry not arboristry (dont think thats a word) but i have 2 friends who are). This is what the previous guy was describing when he was talking about the golf courses trees they cut to a stump. Yess they will bush out and after 5 years look like a nice tree again. Same with those that cut their oaks in their yard back to just the main limbs so that they dont hang over thier house or whatever their reason. These branch points will be not be attached very solidly as the original branch or truck will begin to rot out in say 80% of the time creating an unstable bast to attach new heavy branches to. It may have healed over and look good but there is rot most likely under there and this creates a weak area to break from in ice, wind or heavy acorn years. Sont beleive me, ever seen an oak tree cut down on a road side that was alive and pretty looking to you but was hollow except for a 6" area all around the outside. Trees can rot from the inside out.

 

[grnspot110]

With that much root heaving, I would remove it! Looks to be too close to the next tree anyway. JMHO ~~ grnspot110

 

[scoutcub]

I've seen that much lean on similar trees and it's definitely going to come down, either by nature or you.

One thing I did last year with "leaner" like this was to dig around the high side of the roots, and the next windstorm that came along it came down. I have the advantage of larger equipment to move the stump, but could you burn it in place once out? I think it would be easier than dealing with it in the ground, and make replanting also easier.
Just a thought....

 

[WayneB]

If it goes down on it's own, there will be a huge stump I will not be able to dig or move with my 20HP Kubota. And the primary goal is to keep some trees on our land, we are planting some each year.

I would suggest that you keep an eye out for someone with a large bulldozer or excavator and maybe hire him to come in for a one-hour shot and bump the stump out of the ground. (I did this with some rather large stones about the size a VW bug)

Or you can cut it down and have someone come by and grind up the trunk. This will leave the root system in the ground so you would have to wait a good period of time before you could plow in that particular area.

I am not sure if how coppicing a field maple would work out? Although I am sure they do it and who knows it might look okay. Although I do not think they would leave it five-feet tall (?). here is a link to coppicing trees Our Trees - Field Maple

I do know a five-foot tall stump would be an eye sore for a long period of time and something that is three feet or larger in diameter would certainly look rather funny with a few branches sticking out of it. I have a pear tree that the top broke off of in an ice storm about eight years ago so I cut it down to about seven feet and left it. We still get pears off from it, but it is a very ugly tree.