Pollard? Don't think so

treevet

Was on another forum as we all do from time to time recently. A thread comes up called "What's a hack?" as is seen probably on any forum occasionally.

Question is what is your opinion of a pollard?

Seemed funny that so many defended the treatment we all call "topping". Internodal cuts made to attain a uniform shape regardless of the tree's acceptance of these cuts (dead stubs/decay/ram's horns). Most were Europeans that took pride in being called "hacks" if they were called this after "topping" a mature or over mature trees and then maintaining the sprouts with a bucket. Likely they top the tree to the reach of their bucket and it just becomes a revenue source every couple of years. Do they do this for revenue.

Many said they like the look of this procedure on avenues in rows and such.

My idea of a pollard is on a young dynamic tree that develops a pollard head in short order. Also it is only used with discrimination.

Well a guy from Northern Ohio, seeming with little education (spelling, grammar) enters the discussion and talks of "pollarding" silver maples as the main source of his income. Picture hacked up trees IMO.

Now that Shigo/the truth is dead, do we revert to old ways and topping, flush cuts and tree paint, etc. (seen both of them advocated recently) become commonplace?

I asked one guy if he wore spikes while pollarding the big trees for the first time he showed pictures of and he was deeply offended. I asked what is the difference if you are going to put all those wounds with your topping cuts indiscriminately all over a previously healthy mature tree. When I asked if it was just for your interpretation of aesthetics he disagreed but others agreed and liked the look.

newguy18

I am and will always be against pollarding,except in one instance which is where a storm breaks off all major leads of a tree,but i'd most likely opt for removal before pollarding.i only use wound paint for when i remove misletoe,where i remove it,i spray it because it smothers it and keps it from coming back.

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old schooler

Victor Lindsay

In Gilmans' book, (guide to pruning second edition) he goes into detail how to develop and maintain a pollard tree. When done properly, the tree can last for centures. The pollard head is never cut into, but sprouts are pruned off every year. This creates a gulfball shaped head. Now some tree services don't properly prune for pollarding, and this is hat racking. I've never done this, but have seen how its done. It's a great technq to have in your toolbox of knowalge, and if Dr. Gilman accepts it as an acceptable process for some plants, and gives a list of those plants, than who am i to not try to understand it?

Sean Freeman

I think there is little question that the history of how and why pollarding and coppicing developed is important to understand as part of gaining an understanding of the changes that happened to bring us to where we are today (yes I accept both good and bad in that history too) and trees that still live in our shared environment that display a record of that cultural past are for me anyway are really significant.

Gilmans seminal text on pruning is excellent and perhaps the most comprehensive guide we have, his published research in Arb Journal on species specific responses to pollarding is also great and informative. I don't have a problem with the advice he gives....

As in other countries some councils in Australia have permitted attempts at pollarding to be carried out where trees are say under power lines, the degree to which such efforts have been successful is open to debate, in the hills around Adelaide I have seen some good examples and some terrible examples. I think as Gilman suggests the ongoing maintenance requirements eventually get reduced due to cost cutting or other priorities for resources, and then problems can result.

Eric Frei

Just have a look at the amount of times the UK guys have to top a mature tree ... by council order.

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Victor Lindsay

Ekka, what's your position on pollarding then? Usefull or hat racking?

Sean Freeman

I think the variety of different UK experiences are good examples of problems created by past bad judgements having to be managed or attempted to be managed by people today.

Nearly all the LGA's in the UK that I know of have street tree populations that have been very severely impacted by decades of road widening, service installations and misguided attempts to manage conflicts even very misguided appraisals of risk of harm from potential tree failures.

The options that some of those councils now have are significantly limited...continue to approve/direct pruning/cutting works or attempt to implement long term restorative pruning/training of branch structures, and or removals and (maybe) replacements.

Just like here there are good people within the LGA's over there and good operators outside of council; private tree companies. (there are of couurse also some very poor operators and council officers too)

Their pruning standard is as good as ours but is circumvented in just as many ways as ours is.

Eric Frei

Remember where I live, sub tropical trees and not many that are deciduous.

From Qualified tree pruning Brisbane

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Victor Lindsay

I agree with, we are all about trees.

pcarborist

According to Matheny and Clark, Acer saccharinum silver maple: "often decay in snow and ice storms; trunk failure from internal decay; high rate of failure for old, mature individuals"

Silver maple doesn't sound like a good candidate for pollarding.

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parkcityarborist

H. convergens

Absolutely.

Pollarding is not topping and shouldn't be confused with it. I'd say that for most Americans, the aesthetics of pollarding are an acquired taste, simply because we "grew up" with space for trees, and haven't needed this kind of renewable source of fuel and fodder. If the choice along a narrow city street with no space for building setback is pollarded trees or no trees, pollards begin to have lots of appeal.

HOW to Prune Trees, Pollarding

Pollarding - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coppicing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pollarding Trees : GardenGateMagazine.com - Issue 63 Online Extra
(Ken Druse)

CUTTINGS; Art in Progress: The Quirky Appeal of Pollarding - The New York Times
(Lee Reich)

Effects of pollarding and weather on the incremental trunk growth of common lime (Tilia x europaea) in an urban context — Urban Forestry South

treevet

That is so true PC. Silver maple is also not a good candidate for planting.

As expected, contrary to that "other forum"....this forum has taken a trek towards the intellectual as opposed to the emotional. Great posts and info from Sean and Ekka.

Who is that quote taken from Ekka? Perhaps one of the best I have seen to date.

The pollard heads consisting of woundwood, not a meristem, and the cuts made either annually or bi annually initiate callus, a meristem to develop new sprouts that will ensure a canopy capable of feeding the tree (from the top of my head.....correct me if you feel I am wrong).

Great stuff.... all together An example for anyone involved in a discourse on this subject.

An intended but ignored after good intentions, pollard (due to budget restraints or negligence by a newly involved individual) becomes a huge liability.

This thread has, by 2 posters, nailed the difference between topping and pollarding, that took pages of rage of defense on another forum("it's always been done this way.....well no it wasn't) through emotion and got nowhere in the end.

(ps...whenever I journey to another forum and return, it is so obvious why I enjoy it here so much)

Eric Frei

That site is also one of mine, and I wrote that after considerable research, witness and evidence. Where I live I can comfortably say 99.9% of "pollarding" is absolute rubbish (disguised topping).

where some people have attempted it (usually on mature trees) it has resulted in decay and lots of epicormics of which many die, sometimes the tree also dies.

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pcarborist

Why not just plant the right tree for the right site?

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parkcityarborist

Buckstree

When i worked on the farm we did it yearly, it promoted growth, gave good fruit and was also helpful to keep the tree low, but we tore them out every 8/10 yrs. depends on the application..

pcarborist

Fruit production is different, what I'm referring to is in the landscape. "Pollarding" is high maintenance not to mention what it does to the health of the tree especially those that are poor compartmentalizers. If you have a site with limited space and/or overhead utilities why not just plant a columnar or dwarf variety?

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parkcityarborist

Buckstree

Right but landscaping in only dwarf and columnar is often difficult, everyone wants that kwansan cherry because of the spring color,, but you and both know how big they get, its the same with white pines pears, and almost all upright evergreens, I think it my situation it job security.....

(WLL)

I'm all for pollarding it must be done when the tree is young and it must be maintained. I'm also all for the right tree for the right spot. both good practices IMO. think before you plant
btw i like grafted trees

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Harder than theTH, and his pack of goons

Eric Frei

Yes. pollarding the correct species from young age is most acceptable.

However chopping a mature tree in half and calling that a pollard is absolute BS.

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Willard Holmen

I have two clients each with a single tree that I prune back to the pollarded cathead every fall. One is a mature silver willow and the other is a mature siberian elm. If a tree was to be nicknamed "grow like a weed" these two species would fit the bill. Amazing epicormic water shoot growth. I have pruned these 2 trees for 10 years now and today there is still very little deadwood in them. The one client was thinking of just removing her siberian elm, but I convinced her next fall I will experiment an leave one or two shoots to grow from each cathead and we'll see how they take over the next few years. I'm afraid though that the carbohydrate reserves in the catheads will migrate into the "new enlarging branches" and in short time the tree will become hazardous with its weak branch attachments.
I am not an advocater of pollarding but I have seen some beautiful pollarded linden trees in my travels through France. Rows of these trees have been pruned every winter for a few hundred years or more and still healthy with no sign of of decline. I believe this annual commitment of funds for tree maintenance, while not uncommon in France or other European countries, would be extremely rare in other parts of the world. Maybe as business people we can learn something from these examples.

kieren

When i was in Paris i saw many avenues of pollarded trees. I did some research and found that most of the trees were over 2 hundred years old, and all seemed healthy and still full of vigor. Espaliade was really popular there as well.

Eric Frei

When you inspect those pollards I bet they've been really well kept.

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Garry Brockley

Unfortunately people dont keep the trees pollarded they let them grow too far i re pollarded a tree last week that the customer left for 5 years so i informed him that it needs doing every year and would be cheaper than dealing with five years of weak growth and less dangerous as it was over the house.

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Eric Frei

I'd say that was a re-topping then.

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Garry Brockley

yup so would i but i talked with the boss to look at other options but the connective points would be too weak to support any real canopy, i tried for a complete take down but the ho didnt want it, old people set in thier ways, and its not my business so i cant walk away, i hate this job at times, i spent the whole time going (eric will be around in a minute with his camera click click) a bloody treeworld expos'e on me.

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Eric Frei

I also believe part of the annual to max biannual pruning related to the heartwood/sapwood ratio.

With 5 year old growth there's larger cuts with more heartwood.... less capacity to compartmentalize and greater distance for wound wood to grow to occlude pruning injury.

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Garry Brockley

The biggest problem with epicormic growth is the fact that it grows from the edges of a wound and forms from the sap wood and is nt generally attached to the heart wood hence its weak nature. and yes your right the wounds are so much larger giving the tree so much more work to do than if it was done annually/ biannually therefore more stress on the tree. there was alot of dead wood from die back within the crown ball that just couldnt be cut out.

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Eric Frei

Interesting, are they QAA Members?

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Garry Brockley

not any more apparently but im training the ground staff and getting the freedom to work it how i want to from next week after a long talk with the boss so things are looking up

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James Sayers

we used to pollard trees in england every year and they had been done from a young age and they where fine no decay but that was england i dont think i have seen a pollarded tree in brisbane plenty of topped trees though and retopped trees i think out hear its like 5 to 10 years as ssoon as the home owner is getting cold in winter from the shade ha ha