[Fleecewife]

Hi [member=168592]Greenwood_Pete[/member]


Just read your intro and I see you do woodland work including coppicing.  When we moved to our smallholding in Scotland over 20 years ago, there was one tree, an ash, which promptly blew down in the first storm.  Since then we've planted hedges right around the place and areas for coppicing, a wildlife strip and a tiny woodland. 
My question is about coppicing.  We planted up a small area, surrounded by various willows as wind breaks (it's very windy here), with ash and hazel.  We have cut back the willows every now and then when they start to keep out the light, and we're in the process of doing that at the moment.  The ash are now coming on for 25' tall.  When we planted them there was no ash dieback, and    we have none here.  However, the fact it's around makes us nervous of coppicing or pollarding the ash in case spores get in.  What would you advise we do?
The hazel trunks are less than 3" across, but the plants are healthy and strong, with their first catkins last year.  They are too small to coppice yet, so what size would you advise they need to be before we do it ?


Oh by the way, welcome to TAS     

[Backinwellies]

I'm not G P  .... but  thought it might help to tell you the ash trees I pollarded got die back

[Steph Hen]

And another "I'm not GP or an expert but" voice, I was advised not to coppice my ash trees because it would make them more susceptible to it, but they were looking pretty ropey at the end of last summer anyway. :-(

[Greenwood_Pete]

Hi,

Firstly, to avoid litigation(!)  I would recommend following the FC guidelines: http://www.forestry.gov.uk/ashdieback#managing infected trees

Whilst, as I understand, ash dieback is quicker to display in younger trees, it will also affect mature trees.  What are you wanting from your ash trees?  If it is shelter/cover, it might be best to start thinking about planting alternative species for the longer term.  If you planted the ash to provide a product (ie firewood), I would fell when they get to the size that you require.  Unfortunately with climate change and anthropological influences, it is very hard to predict what the future holds for our trees.

With respect to coppice, I would advise going for multi-species to increase resilience against tree disease, but always bearing in mind what use you will make of the stems when it comes time to harvest.

[Fleecewife]

Thank you all  .  It did seem logical that cutting ash would make it more susceptible to dieback, so thanks for confirmation  .
Yes the ash are for firewood.  As well as those in the coppice, there are several dotted around in the hedgerows, most of which are being left as standards, as that is typical for our area (most of the old hedges are now gone, but the huge ashes remain).  At least one ash in our hedge has been accidentally trimmed by the cutter bar - should we cut that right back to the ground?
In the coppice, the ash trees are too close to leave to mature fully, so we'll do as you say GWP and crop them when they are large enough to fell. That will give the hazel more room to grow.  Where I grew up, our farm backed on to ancient woodland which had large areas of hazel coppice, so it's close to my heart.
We also have an older ash in our garden, which gets chopped back by Scottish Power every couple of years so it doesn't touch the power lines.  I'm loathe to chop it right down........
Most of our plantings are very mixed, just this small coppice which is all willow, hazel and ash.


At what size do you suggest we coppice the hazels for the first time?