Willow Pollarding

This morning, armed with the long reach chainsaw, regular chainsaw, loppers and bow saws, we set about pollarding one of the large Willow trees in Coupe 5. 

Pollarding in this way allows the tree to rejuvenate and produce new shoots. When cut, epicormic buds lying under the bark emerge and produce new shoots, giving the tree a new lease of life. These buds usually lie dormant and are suppressed from growing by hormones released by the active shoots higher up the tree. However a sudden environmental change, such as pollarding will allow these buds to develop active shoots. 

It won't be long until this tree is covered with new shoots!

After pollarding all the major branches, a small number of small stems were kept and were laid around the main tree. Laying is done by partially cutting the branches at the base, and pegging them down to the ground as seen below (peg partially knocked in). 

A small area under the peg is scratched off, allowing it to root and grow up from where the stem is pegged down. This is a great way to produce new shoots around the current tree, and can be done with many trees  like Willow and Hazel.