hack job

[Guy Meilleur]

Originally posted by Tom Dunlap
If critics of pollarding would study the procedure and physiology they would understand that it is not harmful to the plant.

Absolutely--those pollard heads in jps's pic are healthy tissue, and the wounds made when sprouts are removed are small and sealable. Nothing like the crepe murder shown above. The difference is clear--pollarding forms knobs of callus, butchery does not.

If ORclimber is pollarding crepes to keep them small for a desired objective, that may fit. But it still will breed powdery mildew bigtime, in NC. Some butchered crepes that the owner wants to stay small, I say why not just cut em to the ground every 3 years??

Skinning out mature trees inner branches because the customer is paying for a tree sculpture is more harmful than proper pollarding.

Absolutely--Tom you should've seen the willow oak used for the ISASC TCC--skinned to the max to allow easy swinging room. It was ghastly butchery, and an embarassment for ISASC to do imo.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Nothing like the crepe murder shown above

You shoulda seen it the first year!

I had some poplars that I did for around four years when I was with TG/CL. They never really worked right and I could not figure it out. Till the home owner admitted to hacking them back a second time in summer because they were still too big for him.

 

[Nathan Wreyford]

I have notice that many people have no clue of what pollarding is. Thanks for pointing it out. Confusion starts when people defend topping by calling it pollarding.

Pollarded trees can be huge.

The Champs Elleysee (sp?) in Paris is a great example. Those trees look awesome a breath taking effect.

Attached is a pollard pic from a local biergarten. Not well maintained I may add.

The problem I see with pollarding, especially the so called yearly crepemurder is the age old problem of comtinuum of care. For a pollard, just the annual growth should be removed. That is 10-50 small snips per pollard head. Doesn't take long for some uneducated person to figure it is much quicker to just make a few big cut and take the heads off.

A pollard is an annual commitment for a very long perod of time. In most situations, I don't think it is practical.

Crepemurder is largely the result of monkey see, monkey do.....just none of the monkeys know what they are doing...

.02

 

[MasterBlaster]

That looks like something you would see on an alien planet!:alien:

 

[Nathan Wreyford]

Originally posted by rumination
Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that pollarding is an old pruning technique originally used for firewood production.

My understanding is that you are partially correct. But not so much for firewood, but for the ANNUAL switches produced. These were used to make baskets, roofs, etc. Also handy tools to whip disrespectful children with.......important life material.


Yeah google.......

"It is important to distinguish timber (legname), the product of standard trees, from wood (legna), which consists of the underwood produced by coppice stools and pollards, together with the branches of trees felled for timber. Underwood, whether as logs, faggots or charcoal, is still a major fuel in Italy, and there has been a revival of its use in England. Some underwood is traditionally used for fencing and in many specialized crafts."

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Life and Death Politics

Another historical reason for pollarding that I've heard is that it was a way for the peasants to harvest trees belonging to the king or church and not be executed for destroying royal property.

I used to think pollarding city trees might be a good solution to urban unemployment; until I pictured a wino on a tall ladder...

 

[Tom Dunlap]

One historical root of coppicing/pollarding that I read was that there were laws that forbade anyone except the King's servants from cutting wood larger than 4" diameter. Periodic cutting would keep the wood smaller.

Nate,

That biergarten must be nice in the summer when the sprouts fill out. Being able to sit where there are large trunks and a low, closed canopy would be delightful. I'd like to be on that planet. wanna join me for a brew MB?

Tom

 

[rumination]

Interesting thread guys. I think , maybe you are softening my feelings about pollarding a little bit. It can look kind of interesting sometimes. I just worry about instituting the practice myself because I know as soon as I leave people will go back topping the trees/shrubs.

 

[ORclimber]

Crepe myrtle has 2 things really going for it . Interesting bark and beautiful flowers. Pollarding has the potential to accentuate both. However, according to Pirone appreciating pollarding is a matter of preferance. I still think the origional tree in question on this thread should have been trained more symetrical and cut lower.

Guy I've never seen the powdery mildew. Crepe myrtles are fairly rare here, thought of as a warmer climate tree. The one I maintain has some trunk rot, but is still strong enough to hold me.

Gotta go back to the river and eat smoked ham and drink more beer. About 80 today, a record.

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Originally posted by ORclimber
I've never seen the powdery mildew. The one I maintain has some trunk rot,

HEre, trunk rot in crepes almost unheard of and powdery mildew is epidemic. Different climate, different diseases, same plant.

 

[MasterBlaster]

So, in a nutshell, pollarding is when you LEAVE the head? And removing the head constitutes topping? Correct?

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

One can do a pollard cycle longer then one year, some also propose that they be thinned annually vs. stripping the head out.

Cycle length relys on the siting of the plant and the owners budget.

I've worked on a few properties where the crews come in and do 2-3 year cycle pollarding under transmission, vs. having the ROW boys come ina and do what they do so well.

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Originally posted by MasterBlaster
So, in a nutshell, pollarding is when you LEAVE the head? And removing the head constitutes topping? Correct?

Correctimundo. The head constitutes the natural target to aim your pruning saw or clippers at because it contains many of the same structurally strong, decay-resistant features that other natural targets have.

The head is a node; topping involves cutting between the nodes, aka internodal.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Cool!

 

[Peter Pan]

Nobody happened to mention the horizontal cuts that is a big no no.