Coppicing silver birch

[nickliv]

Would I be right in thinking that if I were to take a tree off at a height of about 6 to 8 inches, it'll regrow from the stump?

And would this be a good time of year to fell a couple (I'm in NE Scotland, and have the permission of the landowner, as long as the trees will regrow) There are a couple of blowdowns I could trim off, and let the rootball fall back into its hole too.

I'm looking to coppice them pretty regularly after that for sticks, and the constituent parts of besoms

Ta

 

[Toddy]

I didn't know that they could be coppiced

I'm quite fond of them, they're pretty, graceful trees, but they grow like weeds around here. If I don't pull the seedlings out of the pots and pavings, I'd not be able to get out of the house in a year or two

Definitely a pioneer species, those wee fine windblown seeds get everywhere. You could maybe just plant them like a crop if they don't coppice ?

cheers,
Toddy

 

[pete79]

I don't think they do coppice. I've never seen birch regrow when taken right down, and I've chopped loads of them. They might regenerate if you chop them at a height to leave some limbs on them.

 

[bhofmann]

Will the owner allow you to plant some Ash or Chestnut? Those are far better suited to coppice.

 

[robin wood]

It depends on the diameter. Trees have dormant buds under the bark which can grow if the top is lost. Different species retain them for different lengths of time. As a rule of thumb I would say a birch up to around 2" diameter is likely to regrow and one 6" or more is not likely to and in between it may and it may not.

Once a stump has regrown you can cut it regularly every year or every other year for besom material.

 

[nickliv]

Cheers for the info. There are ash trees about, I just thought of the birch, as it's so prevalent round here.

 

[SOAR]

It can be pollarded but doubt it could be coppiced.

 

[Mad Mike]

You can coppice most broad leaf trees - European ones at least. Nothing is 100% with a sample size of 2 you may be just unlucky. Cutting of coppice is usually done in an area so light can reach the ground. Trees coppiced in this way do well as they have a developed root system & access to light.

Chestnut , oak, ash, hazel, hornbeam, willow, birch, hawthorn, blackthorn, holly and alder all all regularly coppiced in the woods where I volunteer.

Please note the areas of coppice below are larger than normal - twice the average size of others on the reserve.

December 07 note the centre left large tree & Land rover

Deceber 08 cutting the next area back. The regrowth from 1 year - including the birch is almost hiding the land rovers parked in the same place as in 07

Lots of birch cut again

Mike

ps Remember leave no trace

 

[Hairy Steve]

Birch up to c. 6" at breast height coppice very well, and now (before the sap flow starts in earnest) would be a good time to do it.

Larger stems may be very slow to re-grow, but are likely to produce something eventually.

You don't need to leave a 6-8" stump for birch to re-grow: 4" will be fine

One caution though: mature wind-thrown trees can be very dangerous to deal with - the stresses in the timber can be all over the place, the stumps have often moved, and the rootplates can weigh well over a ton.

 

[treelore]

yes you can coopice ( betula pendula ). i`ve cut hundreds down and seen them regenerate back. As for the wind blown trees i would stay well clear as it`s one of the most dangerous jobs you can do.... take it from me i`ve had a few close shave doing wind-blown.

keep us posted if the coppicing works