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Coppicing (and my trees have arrived)

KatTai
02/02/2011 16:04

My trees have arrived!  They are pretty big too, they can't even stand up properly in the house lol

I have a question though - I've been looking at options of keeping them (rowan and whitebeam) on the smaller side and have read that both of these can be coppiced.  I'm thinking that this could create a nice dense habitat for the birds and other beasties in the garden (we are unlikely to get deer up here to cause any problems).  At the moment the trees are 2 years old, if I were to coppice them ideally when should I start and how long will it take for them to regrow?  Do you think it would provide a better habitat for the birds and would it help keep them to a more manageable size?  If I start coppicing, do I then just cut the branches that are growing from the coppice every few years?

Millie & Fly the Border Collies

  • 02/02/2011 16:20

    Hi Katti i would let them get going this year then in feb next year come down by half of what growth they have put on, to a shape you find the best, i have just started doing this with my second year gooseberries, as a want them done like a fan, a lot easyer to pick,  Alan

    i say always look on the bright side of life, as you cannot see anything on the other ?

  • 02/02/2011 17:10

    Hi Kat

    Coppicing means cutting back to a stump every year so that a tree maintains it's juvenile state. It would not look like a tree anymore, but would look like a bush sprouting from the bottom of a tree.

    Is this what you mean?

    In my humble opinion, pruning branches back every year will make a taller tree bushy, will make a nicer shape and will be more attractive for birds than a coppiced tree which will look more like a bush in your border.

    Coppicing Wikepedia

    Best wishes Chris

    Click Here to see my photos

  • 02/02/2011 23:48
    Hi kt. My 15 year old rowan tree blew over after the floods a few years ago, the council came and cut off the whole tree but I managed to salvage the roots. It has grown very quickly into quite an attractive upright shrub of about 12 feet and berried better than my rowan tree this year. I intend coppicing it every 3 - 4 years. So you can grow your rowan as a tree and if you change your mind you can always coppice it some time in the future. You will lose the berries for a year or two though. BTW what variety of apple did you get? I'm thinking of replacing a couple of big shrubs with two small apples this year. Best wishes, Ness.
    A garden is a thing of beauty and a job forever!
  • 03/02/2011 13:51 in reply to nessthehat

    Thanks for the info Ness!  I'll keep it open as an option should the tree get too big :-)

    The apple varieties I have are three dwarf (patio) apple trees (Braeburn, Gala and golden delicious) plus an apple tree I bought from Lidl at about this time last year - but I can't remember what type that is lol  Haven't got much apples from any of them though, but maybe this year!  They are only a couple of feet tall so they are very tiny.  The tree from Lidl is larger - about 6 foot tall.

    Millie & Fly the Border Collies