When we talk of coppicing, we think of traditional woodland management, with acres of an evenly aged monoculture of coppice stools. These would be cut in cyclical coupes, typically on a seven to twenty year rotation, dependant upon species and intended use. There is, however, another way to use the method of coppicing (cutting a tree back to a stool which resprouts with multiple shoots), to provide landscape/garden ornament, for habitat, ecology and climatic resilience.
This approach is a very different to conventional coppicing, gardening or commercial landscape management. I have written about the design and management methodology in a previous post, which I’ll put a link to at the end. In this article, I am going to talk about a variation of coppicing which is particularly suitable for areas where you don’t want to create too much bare ground (I should mention that you never ‘clear-cut’ any area in this landscape method, but work on a selective rotation). It is illustrated by coppicing I have just done to a hazel in my ‘woodland edge’ garden.
Normally, when coppicing, all the growth is cut off at the base, forming a new stool, which gets bigger in diameter as it ages. For a garden or landscape use, this might be less desirable and retaining some of the younger shoots that are two-three years old, means that there is some structure retained after the main removal and ensures a degree of foliage cover and biomass provision. To achieve this, two or three years prior to coppicing, young epicormic shoots are selected and thinned; these will form the next canopy. You can see in the pictures above, there are the old trunks, a number of two-three year old shoots, and this year’s epicormic shoots. When it comes to coppicing, the current year’s shoots are removed first, to make room to work.
You need to take great care when cutting out the old trunks, especially if using a chainsaw – it is all too easy to cut off the shoots you have carefully nurtured to be replacements. In this regard, you will thank yourself later if you had selected shoots which will not be in the way at the time of cutting. Always take out the weight first at a convenient level before doing final cuts to the stool. These are traditionally angled slightly to allow rain run-off, though it makes little real difference.
With regards to tools, all this can be done with hand tools and all that is needed is secateurs, loppers and a good sharp pruning saw such as a curved Silky or Oregon saw. If using a chainsaw (and only trained operators should, especially for a top-handled saw), then a small electric chainsaw with a 1/4″ pitch narrow carving bar (the chain must be run loose) is ideal as this will get between things more easily. Whilst removal of old trunks is not difficult, care must always be taken with direction of fall, entanglement with other trees and shrubs and of course, personal safety when cutting – even a silky saw can inflict a nasty wound.
A part of the coppice landscape philosophy is to turn the arisings into mulch, for re-use in the planting around the tree – it’s always good to mulch with the same species if possible as this feeds the appropriate mycorrhizal fungi. I use a shredder rather than a chipper because it produces finer mulch, cuts along the grain, rather than chipping across. This, when applied fresh, is known as Ramail Chipped Wood, best done from branches of less than 7cm diameter, as this contains a high ratio of living cells. It can, of course, be stacked and composted if preferred. This is an important part of cyclical gardening, with nutrients cycled in-situ, rather than taken offsite or burnt. Larger wood can be cut for firewood or used for habitat creation. If coppiced regularly, the poles will be straight (unlike the hazel in these pictures) and can be used for bean poles etc.
The shredder I use is a battery powered machine, which means it’s relatively quiet (good for neighbours), yet far more powerful than the average mains electric shredder, which are limited by power draw/cable length. I have a conventional petrol drum chipper too, which doesn’t handle thin willow at all well, so am selling that, it’s no use at all! The shredder will handle wood up to 45mm diameter, so I will now regulate my cutting cycles to fit within that capacity. The final advantage for me is that I can recharge the removable batteries from my solar charging setup, giving me free energy. It has two 10Amp batteries and I have yet to drain them fully in a single session.
The finished stools will resprout rapidly in the Spring and have the advantage that the remaining shoots (some of which are 3-4m tall) will leaf first and provide energy back to the stool. The air gap created will let more light in to the understory, encouraging new growth and flowering amongst the surrounding herbaceous layers. The visual dynamic of the garden is always changing too, which adds interest and dynamism.
I have one hazel which is too magnificent to coppice, yet which is rather dominating the space. I intend to ‘coppard’ this one at a future date, once others have regrown sufficiently. Copparding is where you cut a coppice stool at height and allow it to resprout at that level. This was done, along with pollarding, to prevent the browsing of new shoots by livestock and deer. In my case, I don’t want to lose the feeling of maturity and beauty which the existing trunks carry. You can see the hazel in the first picture below, along with a smaller cobnut which I pruned back in this manner last winter. That has put on a year’s regrowth, which I thinned in the summer and have just cut back the remaining shoots to encourage branching and new framework development. It will be a few years before this comes back to nut production (which it does beautifully).
I have a lot of other shrubs and small trees which will be coppiced or copparded in this manner over the winter, always carefully selecting them so no large gaps appear in the garden. I also have a lot of new, bare root, willows, dogwood and other shrubs to plant, to help build up the ecosystem and increase the mulch supply! The garden becomes enriched and dynamic with this system, builds biomass, soil health and habitat for wildlife. It is cyclical, productive and I would argue, the basis for a climate resilient landscape.
Below are a few more blog posts exploring the theme of coppiced landscapes, I hope you enjoy them.