Pollarding pic help please

Eric Frei

I need a pic of the overall form of a proper pollarded tree (not some topped abomination) and a close up of the pollard head.

Also, I have listed the following species as suitable for pollarding, care to add any more ...

Willow, lime, ash, field maple, holly, hornbeam, oak, plane and beech

And would you agree that pollarding is mostly suitable to deciduous trees as they're accustomed to defoliation and store reserves for a full blooming leaf and bud response in Spring. Obviously you pollard them back in winter.



If you wonder why it's coz I'm building this page for my site. http://www.weareallabouttrees.com.au/pruning.html

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Drouin Tree Service

Theres HEAPS of pollarded planes here (council trees)there coming up for pruning ill endevour to get some pics.

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Drouin Tree Services | Excavator Hire - Drouin and SE Gippsland | Landclearing Melbourne

jim1nz

No offence to anyone but i think pollarding is an abomination to nature. But some where i have some pics of a pollarded street in the UK.

Sean Freeman

I agree with you jim1nz, the only pollards that I can honestly say I like looking at are the ancient pollards in the UK, when I lived there I saw way too many mutilated street trees, there just isn't the money to keep up the regular cycle of pruning so it becomes an excuse for a 3 or 4 yearly massacre under the guise of pollarding.

Sean

Lee Winger

Beech don't respond to pollarding that well,and anyone who has seen the size of British streets will understand why we pollard!!

Pollarding has its place.

jim1nz

No doubt pollarding has its place, its just my personal opinion.

In NZ you should see the size of our street trees - Huge and beautiful.

Eric Frei

In the spirit of pollarding I snapped these shots off today of what I think is the closest I've seen in Brisbane but ...

Poor species choice as Umbrella trees are poor compartmentalizers and poor pruning as stubs have remained with growth eminating from them.

What's your opinions?

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TREE-SURFER

This picture is of a tree that has been pollarded. The top (mantle) will spread quite rapidly, whilst any growth to the main trunk would be removed to assist upper growth.
Pollarding is the complete removal of all the limbs of a tree leaving just a trunk section 2-5 metres high. The trunk then sprouts from the pollard head with multiple shoots. It was a historically common way of managing hedgerow trees and trees on commons to produce fuel wood and small structural timbers by cutting the regrowth (re-pollarding) on a cycle of 15-25 years.
Pollarding usually introduces decay to the main stem and once started the cycle must be repeated at intervals of 3-20 years, depending on species. If the re-pollarding cycle has lapsed, the tree may have become structurally insecure. However, it may be necessary to reduce the crown in stages (see below: crown retrenchment) in order to return the tree to an active pollard. Re-pollarding a lapsed pollard aggressively can all too often lead to its death.
Only young trees can be successfully pollarded for the first time and success may vary between species. However, regularly pollarded trees can live for centuries and the central decay of the trunk is a valuable habitat for different species of insects.

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The Aerial Arborist

Isle of Man Tree Surgeon| All Aspects of Tree Work

What experts say about TOPPING

TrevMcRev

Agree with everything treesurfer said.

I'll try to get some local pics.

I know of 1 mature London plane in Bentleigh that has been pollarded and regularly maintained through out its life.

Melbournes streets are full of london Planes with neglected pollards. 30-40 years growth on top of old "lops"

Ps. Good work on your other site ekka. Nice.

Sean Freeman

Umbrella tree as a pollard, interesting idea, hopeless common name should be umbrella shrub with tree envy Totally agree Ekka very poor compartmentaliser from your shots its clear that no pollard head has formed, and that the subsequent cuts have not been made with no clear intention of developing a pollard head.
To be honest though its probably an acceptable way of managing what is a very untidy sprawling shrub with grossly elogated branches that break very easily.

Tree-surfer there are some truely magnificent ancient pollards in the Midlands and Northern counties in the UK, well worth a day or two driving around to visit (though perhaps not enough to make me move back there!) In strong agreement with you re the many animals and fungi that survive in the decay columns in these ancient trees and feel that often they are more important to the ecosystem as a whole than the tree is. There is some variety in form from stem pollards (which presumably is what the photo is, although the tree looks almost too old for that treatment) to branching pollards, which are what most people are familar with as the pollarded street trees in larger European and American towns and cities. As you alluded to it is the maintenance of the pollarding cycle that is critical to the longevity of the tree.

Sean

Eric Frei

I would really appreciate high quality pollard pics ... not the pic quality but the quality of the pollard, it would be good to have one in dormancy pruned and one in full bloom.

I just want to make a distinction on the difference between a true pollard and say this pic.

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Lee Winger

i'll get a few pics of proper pollards this week...

Sean Freeman

Don't know why I didn't occur to me before but for anyone interested in how pollarding is still being used through Europe visit http://www.woodland-trust.org.uk/anc...elendiary2.htm and whilst you're there hunt around the web site its full of fantastic info on the management of ancient trees across the world not just UK. One of the best websites running on tis subject IMHO.

The diary running on the practice of pollarding in Europe may not answer all your questions but its great to see how some of these magnificent trees are being maintained for future generations to enjoy.

Sean

Drouin Tree Service

Ok Ekka heres a ash and plane they get pollarded every year,not one twig left on them.When they get done next ill take some close ups.

There is hundreds of these thru the district on council land,they look neat and tidy when the whole street is trimmed up.

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Drouin Tree Services | Excavator Hire - Drouin and SE Gippsland | Landclearing Melbourne

Eric Frei

Yeah yeah, keep it coming.

I want to see them in winter, hopefully they do a good job, big meaty chunky pollard heads, some good close ups and some distant shots.

I really want to try to make people understand what true pollarding is.

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Drouin Tree Service

Theyve changed trim contractors as well so time will tell!

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Drouin Tree Services | Excavator Hire - Drouin and SE Gippsland | Landclearing Melbourne

jim1nz

Not long until the leaves start dropping here now, will be able to get you some soon...

TREE-SURFER

Managed to find these Ekka, Don't know if it's the sort of thing you're after, but here you are.

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The Aerial Arborist

Isle of Man Tree Surgeon| All Aspects of Tree Work

What experts say about TOPPING

Eric Frei

Hmmm, not really. But keep an eye out.

Is that one years growth? Maybe two??

Looks like a topping job and doesn't seem to have a pollard head. What are they? Do they get trimmed often etc?

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TREE-SURFER

I think they were done about four years ago. They were "Pollarded" about then, I'm told. Others just up the street were topped recently.

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The Aerial Arborist

Isle of Man Tree Surgeon| All Aspects of Tree Work

What experts say about TOPPING

Eric Frei

Well 4 years is too long, I wonder why they're waiting so long?

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matty f

councils lack of money!!! some dont get done untill every resident complains for 10 years then they are redone...I redid some the other day that hadnt been done for 11 years..I would of been quite happy to do a 15% reduction and try and rebuild a decent frame work of branches but most the regrowth was on very dodgey old pollard points so best to do as on the spec!

Eric Frei

And what sort of trees are the ones in Surfers pics and what sort were yours?

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matty f

cant speak for tree surfer,and cant tell by the pics but mine where limes........pollarded street trees in the uk are either mostly lime or london planes.il post you some pics when i get time!

Eric Frei

Pollarding is high maintenance. And the repeated trimming every few years is a cost for sure ... so why do it in the first place?

Coz the trees get too big?? So why dont they choose a more appropriate sized tree?

Limes and planes dont self destruct like poplar do they?

I'm just trying to understand the rationale here. In our climate here we dont really have those species nor much pollarding but rampant topping/hatracking in the name of pollading.

Which is the whole purpose of this thread, to generate some evidence of the differences and the looks etc. Also trying to pollard many of the evergreens here just slowly kills them.

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matty f

I spose lime and populars are the traditional street tree's but people complain about sap and aphid secreation there size ect......

Many of the street trees i have delt with were originally done in the 40's! i suppose when labour was cheap and insurance was not an issue and they probably where done every few years.......there is an avenue of plains limes and beach in a local town that havnt been re pollared since the 50's i doubt they ever will be done again but you can still see the original pollard bowls that the new frame work has taken.....i felled one of them it was a beach that had died,and there was no worrying decay found when i ringed it up!wich very supprised me.

limes decay pretty fast not as bad as popular but i would say they are the most commonly traditionally pollarded/hacked tree in europe...most molested ones i work on have great cavities from previous topping wounds!

Tim Craig

I regularly work on previously pollarded(topped) Limes(Lindens) in Glasgow.

Like you say maybe some done up to 30 years ago, some maybe up to 70/80ft tall. I'm always concious of climbing and rigging off them due to the weak attachment point where previously topped.

Hundreds of years ago in Britain Limes were regularly pollarded to provide extra food for the livestock.

I crown reduce them now mostly, if you thin them they replace the lost foliage easily within one growing season.

I like to climb on Limes(not in the rain) very easy and light to cut with Silky. Rigging them down is ok as well as they have relatively light wood.

Sean Freeman

Ekka I'll put this PDF in the tree fact threads too, its a very well written piece laying out the essential elements of pollarding and its impacts on tree physiology written in Oct 2006 and focussing on Italian cultural and historical experience. Combine this with the recent(ongoing) study being done at the Ancient Tree Forum and you've got just about all the data anyone could need on the topic.

Pollarding and tree physiology Italy.pdf

Sean

Eric Frei

And Boa comes thru with another PDF from his stash.

Now you have to post a couple of links to the relevant areas of that Ancient Tree joint.

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Sean Freeman

Here's the link to the diary of travels through Europe on a discovering pollarding trip..
http://woodlandtrust.org.uk/ancient-...elendiary2.htm
Its not got a lot of analysis but some great photos and interesting reflections on the cultural and historical differences in such a geographically small area.

Again take the time to look around the site as a whole it has some really excellent info and facts, they also really want to hear from Arb people about your experiences with veteran trees...so drop them a line.

Sean