Pollarding a willow

[spandit]

I have several medium sized willow trees that have been pollarded/coppiced in the past but not for a few years. Had a go at one today but wondering whether to take it right down to the base to give me one trunk. I'm hoping to harvest whips from it next year - it's a grey willow so not much good for weaving, sadly, but I'm working on a stove that will burn sticks instead of logs

 

[Toddy]

You'll get hundreds of whips from that stool :yikes:

Incidentally, the grey willow makes quite good cordage
You could see if the bark will peel from your prunings and if it does rett it down.

Having another look at the cuts though....I'm no arborist, but if that's rott showing up in the heartwood, it might be an idea to cut those bits right out.

When people had to use what they could find/grow, they even used privet for basketry and fish traps. All the willows will work, even if the individual one is maybe not the 'best', iimmc.

I planted willows last Summer, it's going to be years before I can get a crop like the one I reckon you're going to get

M

 

[spandit]

This is one of about 10 that need cutting

You are right, I do need to cut the rot out but ran out of light (was using a chainsaw, the bow saw is mostly for scale)

I've planted a few hundred osier sticks so should get a better weaving product from there

 

[greensurfingbear]

Once its been pollarded you'll not get one trunk coming off it as Toddy mentioned. If you can get those branches cut shorter you'll get a tighter growth of new stems which you can cut as you need them.

If you really want you can take it back to the main truck like a coppice cut and then cut and trim the new stems.

You using a chainsaw or hand saw 10 trees is a lot of work....and a lot of brash.


Orric

 

[spandit]

Once its been pollarded you'll not get one trunk coming off it as Toddy mentioned.

I know it's going to be a mass of shoots but I'd rather have them sprouting from one main trunk than several

Yes, it's a lot of work but at least it gives me some firewood and the rest can go on the bonfire

 

[Toddy]

It's going to be a piece of work to bring that back to one trunk though. It looks like a loooong while ago someone pollarded it and then didn't take the crop and it just grew thicker and now the branches have started to grow into each other. Lot of rot showing too.

If it were me cropping it for basketry, I'd take it right down; thing is though, that's going to create a stool, not a pollarded tree, iimmc. Fine for someone cropping often, but otherwise no height to a 'tree' and if it ever gets left in the future it'll be a worse mess when it grows. That's called short rotation coppicing, which is different from pollarding to reduce height and breadth of a tree, and from the long rotation that produces good sized timbers.

Either way I think you're going to have to prune with forethought in the next few years to get something decent from the trees, even if it's just healthy growth.

10 of them ? You're going to be a busy man
Wonderful resource to have though

atb,
M

 

[spandit]

Here's the scale of the "problem"

Going to make a dead hedge out of the brash unless I hire a commercial chipper in to make mulch. Spent an hour this morning and dealt with one of the branches... Not helped by having a bad elbow

 

[Toddy]

Isn't it a real downer to discover that joints that you take for granted most of your life, like elbows and wrists, can ache like the very devil when they go a bit crocked ?

Invite some bushcrafters in to help.
It makes great charcoal it's great cordage, it's brilliant for basketry (or hurdle making at that size, splits etc.,) and it carves too. Lot of folks with no access might be happy to spend a day helping out in return for a play with tools and a bbq.

Actually, there's a topic that hasn't been coverd in a long while; making charcoal. Not just the sticks we make with children for drawing, but the stuff that'll keep a brazier going quite happily, or a bbq.

I found a link, but I don't know if it'll help or not ? You've probably got yourself very well organised.

http://www.countrysideinfo.co.uk/woodland_manage/coppice.htm

atb,
M

 

[spandit]

Charcoal would be good, I know someone with a small clamp (dustbin) that I might be able to borrow unless I make one from an old water tank

 

[mr dazzler]

From the title descripption, and the 1st pic I thought you had a pollard situation where there is a clear section of large trunk, then the cluster of shoots usually 6 foot or more above ground. But effectively whatt you have is a classic coppice scenario but one where the previous owner/s didnt cut clean to the ground. I would bite the bullet and cut every one of them clean to the ground. It seems the labor intensive method, and is. But you will get inudated next year with strong healthy new shoots. In 6 or 7 years the poles will be 4 to 5 inches. At that stage you could maybe introduce proper new pollardings, it would look great. Just needs a fair amount of patience and long term thinking. LOL willows were created for pollarding!
I once had the exact same situation in a garden, so bad that the "shoots" were twisted and gnarled up into a huge 4 foot diameter ball, an ugly useless mess. I cut it abruptly and mercilessly so that all that was left was a tiny wee stump. But a 12 month later the shoots were 12 to 18 feet long, astonishing. The tree looked sound and healthy once again

 

[spandit]

Then that's what I'll do - any excuse to get the chainsaw out!

Still processing the first tree anyway. Not 100% sure what I'm going to do with the bits I've graded but the charcoal idea sounds fun, or at least some torrefied wood which will help keep us warm. Hoping there's enough brash to heat the barrel to char the wood inside

 

[mr dazzler]

I havent got the photos right now, but I got a few tons of poles (average up to 5 or 6 inches) about 3 years ago that would otherwise have been chipped. They came from a crack willow that was right next to a wee bridge on a narrow lane, they are notorious for suddenly having major fractures and branches dropping, so it needed sorting. They made a few decent spoons and ladles, kindling and bulk wood for the stove. Any way I passed the tree (a pollarded crack willow) a few weeks ago, the shoots are now 2 to 3 inches. I came to the conclusion the more brutal you cut and prune willow the healthier it gets.

Any way Spandit good luck with the job!

PS you mentioned about a stove that worked well with sticks or small poles. My old one (franco belge) worked for that, usually if the small sticks were stacked and loaded into the stove front to back rather than side to side. If you get your willows producing decent poles (which they will) your fuel could be in part at least be free and sustainable...

 

[spandit]

They do seem to fight back when you prune them. I'd love a decent chipper but at least I have somewhere in mind to dump the brash which will be good for wildlife

 

[Toddy]

Do you know how to make faggots ? In the past when firewood was foraged and cutting was forbidden to ordinary folks then faggots were the normal fire fuel.
Basically you gather all that brash and fold it bit by bit into the length you would use a log and keep adding in more, keeping it tight as you do so. With willow such as you have there you can simply use the bark as the ties that keep it all together. That said, you develop a knack of wrapping in the stems so that the bundle is all fankled together anyway.
Faggots dry well, and well made ones burn like logs, though even loose ones work in a stove.

Just an idea, and a good way to get the kids involved too It really clears up a tremendous amount of loose airy stuff in short order.

cheers,
M

 

[spandit]

Was going to cheat and tie them with string but if I can find a better way.

Made some charcoal with it this morning anyway:

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38687&p=1448260#post1448260

 

[spandit]

Fighting back already:

Still got a load to do next winter (about 14 trees, I think) - would have done more this year but it would mean chainsawing in about 6" of water

 

[Goatboy]

Great fuel source, especially if you have a stove so that it burns efficiently, otherwise it can be a very hot racy fireplace. Was involved in an early biomass fuel project years ago using willow stems. Cut every 3 years or so, cut into small lengths for a bio furnace. Seemed to be working but didn't get the funding unfortunately. Think it's a great way to get use from otherwise sodden impoverished land you may own. And as the others have said you also get other products like fencing material and fuel/drawing charcoal, willow is also used as supplementary animal fodder in many places. As said cordage too, think one of the earliest fishing nets found was made of willow? Toddy may be able to confirm that.

 

[spandit]

I'm working on a rocket stove mass heater that should run well on it

 

[Goatboy]

I'm working on a rocket stove mass heater that should run well on it

You're going to be a toasty cowboy with that combo! Are you going to do a post on the stove once you get it going? Would be interesting to see.

 

[Nice65]

Here's the scale of the "problem"

Going to make a dead hedge out of the brash unless I hire a commercial chipper in to make mulch. Spent an hour this morning and dealt with one of the branches... Not helped by having a bad elbow

I'm not sure who your energy supplier is in East Sussex, but I work for SSE throughout Sussex and Hampshire cutting trees beneath the lines. You could potentially get the job done and cleared up for nothing. Willow grows fast, and those look like they'll be getting very close to the 11,000 volts above if left for another season. Trust me, you only have to yank one branch up and out to clip the lines and get a shock, it's very easily done.

The company will have a cutting programme in place, it might be worth a call to find out where you are in the schedule.