So I had one more job to do on my willow coppice and that was to manage the growth that came back from last years cut.
Each stool had put up loads of shoots, which might be ideal depending on what you're after. But as I want to grow this for firewood I'd rather have a few good stems where the growth could be directed to.
So in this video I show what I'm taking off each plant to grow on, there are a few risks involved (rabbits or deer could eat the remaining shoots) but hopefully this will direct the tree to grow a lot stronger and have larger firewood for me to burn in a few years time.
Watch the video and let me know what you think.
Reminds me of hazel coppicing 50 years ago in Sussex, although there we were on a 5-6 year rotation as we were after bean poles and pea supports. Always on the lookout though for any new hardwood saplings to see whether any would make decent trees to keep the canopy cover going.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I love that type of thing where you can plan what you want your harvest to be. If you watch my latest video you'll see me tackle a stand of hazel to lay as a hedge repair. I'm hoping if I manage it well in the coming years my hedges should provide some resources for the smallholding as well.
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