tree care 2

POLLARDING. Pollarding is an old, well established woodland management technique. It involves the cutting of branches back to the main stem, to encourage new growth. As this is effectively the same as topping, starving the tree of its food manufacturing capabilities, it quickly grows more shoots - up to 20 feet in one year. In forestry, these poles are valued as they are long and relatively straight. Forestry pollarding is done low to the ground, enabling the harvesting of poles on a regular basis.

Within the urban environment, pollarding makes little sense. It carries the same health problems as topping; allowing decay to enter into the stem, creating excessive amounts of weak, poorly attached shoots that soon attain the same length as the branches removed, but with many more branches than originally removed. Therefore, unless you wish to manage your tree for timber, we do not recommend pollarding.

The only pollarding we will undertake will be the re-pollarding of an existing pollard, as pollards, once created, need to be maintained due to the poor structural strength of the branches. This is especially important if the pollarding has been done at high level as the weight of branches falling off can cause considerable damage.