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Pollarding


Guest CFrost
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Can anyone point us to a site which describes how to pollard a tree?  I have found a few sites which describe what the term means but not actually how to do it.  We have inherited a couple of trees which have been pollarded and believe that the job is now due but have not the faintest idea how to go about it.  Do we just cut off the twiggy bits with snips or does it require a saw?  I have read somewhere that if a tree has been pollarded into maturity that it can become a bit of a nightmare  mess if the pruning is not continued regularly.

Hope someone can help.  We are only in a location but we would like to keep the garden in as good order as possible.

Thanks,

Anne

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I was in the same position last year and experienced the woes of leaving the trees unpruned for the previous four years. I watched the behaviour of the contractors who were tending the many tree lined avenues in the local town. You should have a close look at the state of the pollarded trees in your area and copy what you see. Don't leave it too late as they will start sprouting in early spring. I am no expert but I decided to prune our trees in February (Central France) when it was still very cold. The resulting growth and appearance this summer was very rewarding.

Be bold and cut it back very close to the old hard wood. Copy the experts. Do it every year.

                        Regards, Alistair

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I've been pollarding several acers for a few years now and have always gone right close to the wood. No problem. I've also left them for one year with no problems and cut as per normal in following Nov.

It seems in France you can pretty much cut off a tree at it's base and it'll still come up over the year. My aged Kiwi was cut back to just a couple of stumps last March and the sap fair gushed out and I thought I killed it. Not so, Within minutes (well, a couple of months) it was shooting and as I write I can see the fruit needs picking, like now.

Fig trees can also be treated v harhsly.
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There have been terrible problems in France and many a good tree has died because it was butchered rather than pollarded correctly. In fact at one point it got so bad that tree surgeons were brought in from the UK to try and save trees in some areas.

Many of our trees around the place de la Mairie died and the situation got so bad that all the trees were cut down and new ones planted.

So watching what 'they do' is not necessarily a good thing.

Good luck and if in doubt ask the owner of your property what they want done. Better than doing any damage.

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Thanks everyone.

Have had a look at some in a local "park" and think we can see what has been done.  We will have a go at them as soon as the rain stops.  The link helped a lot as well and between it all we have enough confidence to try a cautious effort.

As for the owner of the house Teamedup, well probably not.  She is an absolute darling but Methuselah(sp)'s great grandmere.  When I pointed out the live woodworm in the ceiling beams she shrugged and said it was no problem and that everyone in France had it.

Anne

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Hi Anne, if your trees are 'Platain' (plane trees, I think that is the smelling [?]) then we have 2 in our garden and if I hadn't seen what they had been pruned to then I would not have believed what they need to be cut to. They are the typical 'sun umbrellars' that you see all over France. When we moved into our  house in late March all that we had was 2 skeletons and I said to my best friend/half that there was no way that we were going to get any shade from those in the summer. I was WRONG. The new growth was incredible with 5 foot branches and complete shade within just over 3 months! We were advised to prune before the leaves drop then you only have to pick up the branches with the leaves attached and not the leaves then, you know what I mean.....

Well I took the bull by the horns, me-long-lopper by the handle and I cut them back to the old wood as they were when we arrived. I did not even have to get my ladders out. The leaves were then stripped from the cuttings, the branches were put through our chipper and it will all go into our compost bin when it's rotted down a bit in the bags.

As for the live woodworm in the beams. I don't think that there would be many houses with roofs if all the houses had the little darlings. That's why so many of the DIY sheds here sell the stuff they do to get rid of them!

John.

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No Jonzjob, they are not plane trees, I know them.  These have longish compound leaves which are rather pale green and soft.  Don't know what it and haven't got around to buying a French "what tree is that" book yet - must look for one.  Anyway, the rain has stopped and I have sent my husband out and up a ladder with snips and a small saw.  The long thin 'withie' things he is cutting off will make great whips if he looks like slacking.

Anne

PS I see that the new software has declared me annonymous.

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Hi, sorry to hijack but we too have plane trees that we inherited when we bought our house in the summer 04. It does appear that they too have been pruned at some stage. In your opinion, is it necessary for their health to prune them or is this done to keep them under control?  I love them and would like to see them grow as big as possible as they are not near the house. Thank you in advance.
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[quote user="WJT"] In your opinion, is it necessary for their health to prune them or is this done to keep them under control?  I love them and would like to see them grow as big as possible as they are not near the house. Thank you in advance.[/quote]

I don't think plane trees have got to be pollarded.  Before we came here to France we lived near Durban, South Africa and the road on which we lived was an avenue of mature natural plane trees, about 4 to 5 kilometers of them.  In summer they used to meet from both sides creating a cool leafy tunnel.  They were magnificant and perfectly healthy.

Regards

Anne

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Miggimeggi (an incredible name!), ours are Platain Murier and have fruit that look like long blackberries. not sure if they are edible, but our family pig (chocolate labrador) eats them, but then again she will eat anything! The leaves are very much like the maple leaves, quite large too.

I use a long lopper (cheeky?) to prune ours. It extends to 4.5 meters so I keep both feet on the ground. I also use it to get the processionary catapillar cocoons out of our pine trees too, then I burn the little things[6]!

John.

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Hi Miggimeggi (an incredible name!), ours are Platain Murier, I think, and have fruit that look like long blackberries. not sure if they are edible, but our family pig (chocolate labrador) eats them, but then again she will eat anything! The leaves are very much like the maple leaves, quite large too.

I use a long lopper (cheeky?) to prune ours. It extends to 4.5 meters so I keep both feet on the ground. I also use it to get the processionary catapillar cocoons out of our pine trees too, then I burn the little things[6]!

John.

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[quote user="Jonzjob"]

Hi Miggimeggi (an incredible name!), ours are Platain Murier, I think, and have fruit that look like long blackberries. not sure if they are edible, but our family pig (chocolate labrador) eats them, but then again she will eat anything! The leaves are very much like the maple leaves, quite large too.

[/quote]

Hi John, the name was the pet name of one of our dogs, (Mythsvalley Megan Le Fey no less), sadly she is no more and I couldn't bear to let her name die as well. Your trees sound like some at the Mairie at our old place but I am curious about the fruit, we were there four years and never saw any fruit at all.  The fruit themselves sound rather like mulberries but the mulberry leaves that I know were shaped rather like a fat spear blade.  We had weeping mulberries in Durban and the dogs used to go inside the tent made by the drooping branches and glut on the fruit, they also used to hear the avocados drop and we had to race for one for ourselves. Made the daily pooppatrol even less attractive than usual. I must look for some of those long loppers.  My OH has now done most of our two trees except for a couple of boughs on each that are very difficult for we wrinklies to reach.  Perhaps the long loppers are the answer.

Next time they are ripe why don't you take some of the fruit into the local pharmacy and ask if they are edible.  Perhaps they are a variety of mulberry.  If so they dry freeze with some sugar quite well and make rather good apple & mulberry pies.

Anne

 

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That's a good idea. I will see if the chemist can identify. We have taken champignion in before, but I hadn't thought about the fruit. They possibly are the same as the ones at that Marie. You see them all over the place, but the leaves are definatly like the maple. Not sure about working anywhhere around you if you are a bit handy with 'whippiesticks' though (thinks, I wonder if that will get past the censors?).

The long loppers I have are made by Friscars. They have a head that cuts at various angles, an inset tape that operates the cutter and are very light and strong. They cut a branch up to well over an inch thick. Bit expensive, but worth their weight for me. The inset tape does not get tangled up if you have to go through the branches to get the one you want.

John (shudder to think!)

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