Oxfordshire Woodland Group

Hi,

I would be interested to know just what trees will coppice ?

Some are well known to be able to grow back from the stump includng hazel, willow, alder, elder, oak (young), ash, beech (pollarding above browse height is better), sweet chestnut, hornbeam, lime (pry), hawthorn, blackthorn, etc. but others have a tendancy to spread out and grow back through a process of root suckering especially elm and cherry though I am currently watching cherry grow back from the stumps of 2 trees felled last summer.

Would it be better for our woodlands if we were to encourage this method of woodland management thereby saving on replanting time, cost and effort ?

What tips do others have and especially about cost effective methods of protecting regrowth from browsing damage ?

Chilterns

Following the recent felling of a large ash tree a couple of young (45 year old) wytch elm trees were pushed over and as a result were cut off at the base. The butt logs yielded very nice straight grained creamy white timber that was cleaved into quarters for the production of Windsor chair legs by Derrick Dunthorne with the remainder ending up in the firewood pile.

Now that summer is here I note that these elm stumps have sprouted rather healthily.

Doubtless the deer will browse off this coppice regrowth once they find it however, following the advice received from the OWG secretary above I am now allowing a bramble patch to develope and hopefully this will provide the deer with a preferential feeding area.

Since my last post I have discovered that Wytch Elm (unlike English Elm) does not grow from root suckers, instead growing only from seed and hence as such roots of individual trees within a hedgerow are therefore not interconnected thus hopefully this should help provide better insurance from total loss due to Dutch Elm disease.

The stumps of these Wytch elm trees are known to contain 45 growth rings and so this would equate to a germination date of about 1968 which is a good 5-6 years before the major outbreak of Dutch Elm disease in the early - mid 70's. Possibly these trees are more resistant to Dutch elm disease than those that were lost and I wonder if this might possibly provide a species recovery example that supports the current strategy being put in place to counter the effects of Chalara Fraxinea in ash trees.

Chilterns

A few branches were placed around and on top off the Wytch Elm regrowth and by late September this had once again shot up.

Deer don't like to risk getting their legs caught in piles of loose branches.

Chilterns