What is Pollarding?
Posted on 9th April 2025 at 14:09
Pollarding might sound like a complicated term, but it's actually a straightforward way of managing trees. Think of it as a special kind of haircut for trees, where we carefully trim the upper branches to encourage a dense, bushy regrowth of leaves and smaller branches. This isn't a new idea; people have been pollarding trees for centuries to help them live longer, stay a manageable size, and even provide useful resources. We are experts in using the right pollarding methods to keep your trees healthy and looking their best.
Why People Started Pollarding Trees
Pollarding isn't a modern invention. It has a long and interesting history, with evidence showing that the Romans were doing it way back in the first century! Over time, people found that pollarding served several important purposes:
Feeding Animals: The Original Tree "Hay"
One of the main reasons people started pollarding trees was to get food for their animals. The young, soft shoots that grow back after pollarding, often called "pollard hay," were a great source of nutrition for livestock, especially during the winter when other food was scarce. By cutting the branches high up, farmers could keep the regrowth safe from grazing animals, ensuring a steady supply of food.
Getting Wood: A Sustainable Way to Harvest
Pollarding also provided a sustainable way to get wood. The branches that were cut off were perfect for making things like fences, bean poles for gardens, tool handles, and, importantly, firewood. Unlike cutting down whole trees, pollarding allowed people to harvest wood regularly without killing the tree. This was really important in areas where wood was limited or carefully managed. The process encouraged the growth of lots of smaller branches, which were ideal for these smaller wood needs.
Managing City Trees: Keeping Urban Areas Livable
As towns grew into cities, people realised they needed a way to control the size of trees in these confined spaces. Pollarding became a useful tool for managing urban trees. By regularly trimming the upper branches, trees could be kept at a reasonable height, so they wouldn't block buildings, get in the way of roads, or cast too much shade. This allowed cities to have trees without the problems that come with them growing too big. The unique shapes created by pollarding also added to the look of many old cities.
Other Historical Uses:
Besides these main reasons, pollarding was also used for:
Growing More Fruit: For some fruit trees, pollarding could help them produce more fruit by encouraging the growth of fruiting spurs.
Producing Special Wood: In certain cases, pollarding could influence the type and quality of wood that grew over a long time.
Marking Boundaries: Pollarded trees could even be used as living markers to show where one piece of land ended and another began.
Understanding why people started pollarding trees helps us appreciate its long-standing value and how it has been used in different ways throughout history.
Doing it Right: The Best Ways to Pollard Trees
We know that pollarding is more than just chopping off branches. It requires a good understanding of how trees grow, how different types of trees react to pruning, and careful techniques. Our way of pollarding focuses on these important steps:
Starting Young: Building a Strong Base
The best time to start pollarding a tree is when it's young, usually between two and five years old. At this age, the tree can adapt more easily to being pruned, and the first cuts help create the "pollard head." This is the point on the main trunk or branches where new growth will always come from. Starting early helps the tree develop a strong structure that can handle regular pruning without getting too stressed. It also shapes how the tree grows from the beginning, making it easier to manage in the long run.
Regular Trimming: Keeping Trees Healthy and Strong
To keep a pollarded tree healthy and looking good, regular trimming is essential. We usually pollard trees every one to three years, depending on the type of tree, how fast it grows, and what the owner wants. This regular trimming makes sure that the new shoots are removed while they are still small, ideally about one inch thick.
Pruning at this size has several benefits:
Less Risk of Rot: Small cuts heal much faster and more cleanly, so there's less chance of fungi and decay getting into the tree. Big, uncontrolled branches can become heavy and weakly attached, and when they're finally pruned, they leave large wounds that take longer to heal.
Stronger Structure: Regular pruning encourages the growth of lots of small, well-attached branches at the pollard head, creating a strong and resilient framework.
Managing Fast Growth: Pollarding makes trees grow back vigorously. Regular trimming prevents these new shoots from becoming too big and dominant, which can spoil the tree's shape and make it structurally weak.
Cutting Carefully: For a Long and Healthy Life
Our skilled tree experts use precise cutting techniques to make sure the pollarded trees stay healthy for a long time. We always make clean cuts just above where the previous pollarding cuts were made or where the knuckles (the swollen areas where new growth emerges) are forming. This careful cutting avoids:
Leaving Stubs: Stubs of branches can die back and become entry points for rot and disease.
Cutting into Old Wood: Cutting into older wood, which doesn't heal as well, increases the risk of decay spreading into the main parts of the tree.
Damaging the Pollard Head: Keeping the pollard head healthy is crucial for consistent and healthy regrowth.
Our team is trained to make accurate and clean cuts that help the tree heal quickly and minimise stress.
The Many Benefits of Pollarding
When done correctly, pollarding offers a wide range of advantages for both the tree and its surroundings:
Controlling Size: Perfect for Limited Spaces
One of the biggest benefits of pollarding is that it keeps trees at a certain height and spread. This is really useful in cities, small gardens, along streets, and anywhere space is limited. Pollarding stops trees from getting too big for their surroundings and prevents them from interfering with buildings or other things.
Making Things Safer: Reducing Hazards
Pollarding helps make things safer by reducing the chance of branches falling during storms, strong winds, or just because they've become too heavy. Regularly removing large, potentially weak branches minimises the risk of damage to property or injury to people, especially for trees near buildings or public areas.
Living Longer: A Long-Term Investment
It might seem strange, but pollarding can actually help trees live longer. By regularly removing older or weak branches and encouraging new, vigorous growth, pollarding helps the tree stay healthy and strong over many years. This continuous cycle of renewal can help trees better withstand environmental stresses and resist diseases and decay.
More Sunlight: Good for Everything Below
The controlled and often more open canopy created by pollarding allows more sunlight to reach the ground. This extra light can help the plants growing underneath the tree and even improve the local environment. It can support a wider variety of healthy plants at ground level.
Looking Good: Shaping the Landscape
Pollarding creates a unique and often very attractive look. The knobbly pollard heads and the dense regrowth of shoots can add character and architectural interest to gardens and streets. Different pollarding styles can be used to achieve different looks, from very formal and symmetrical to more natural and free-flowing.
Choosing the Right Trees: Species That Love to be Pollarded
Not all trees like being pollarded. Whether a tree will do well with pollarding depends a lot on its natural way of growing and how easily it can regrow after being cut. We have extensive experience in identifying suitable species for pollarding, including:
London Plane (Platanus × hispanica): This tree is famous for tolerating city life and regrowing strongly after pruning, making it a common sight as a pollarded tree in urban areas.
Common Lime (Tilia × europaea): The Common Lime is another tree that responds well to pollarding and is often managed this way to keep its size and shape in formal settings.
Willow (Salix spp.): Willows grow quickly and regrow very easily, making them ideal for pollarding. They are often pollarded for both their look and practical uses, like producing biomass.
Mulberry (Morus spp.): Mulberry trees handle pollarding well and often develop a thick and attractive canopy when managed this way.
Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus): Hornbeam is a tough tree that can be successfully pollarded to control its growth and create specific shapes, often used for hedges and topiary.
Other Suitable Trees: Depending on the specific location and goals, other trees like Ash (Fraxinus spp.), some types of Maple (Acer spp.), and even some Oaks (Quercus spp.) can be pollarded, although the methods and how often they need pruning might be different.
Choosing the right type of tree is crucial for successful pollarding and the long-term health of the tree. Trying to pollard trees that don't tolerate it can cause them stress, make them decline, and even kill them.
The Best Time to Trim: Timing and How Often to Pollard
When you pollard a tree is just as important as how you do it. The timing affects how the tree responds and its overall health:
Late Winter to Early Spring: The Ideal Time
Generally, the best time to pollard most deciduous trees (trees that lose their leaves in winter) is in late winter or early spring, before they start actively growing again. At this time:
Lots of Energy Stored: The tree has stored energy in its roots and lower trunk over the winter, which it can use to fuel new growth after pruning.
Less Sap Flow: The sap isn't flowing much during dormancy, so there's less risk of the tree losing a lot of sap from the cuts.
Clear View: Without leaves, it's easier for tree experts to see the tree's structure and make precise cuts.
Considering Different Trees: Adapting to Specific Needs
It's important to remember that the late winter/early spring rule might not apply to all trees. For example, Maple trees are known to bleed a lot of sap if pruned in the spring. For these types of trees, it might be better to prune in late summer or early autumn. Our experts are knowledgeable about the specific needs of different tree species and will adjust the timing of pollarding accordingly.
Regular Intervals: Keeping the Shape
As we mentioned before, pollarding is usually done every one to three years. This timing allows new shoots to grow but prevents them from getting too big and causing problems or making future pruning more difficult. How often a tree needs to be pollarded depends on factors like the type of tree, how fast it grows, the look you want to achieve, and the specific goals for managing the tree.
Fixing Neglected Trees: Managing Lapsed Pollards
Sometimes, trees that have been pollarded in the past are neglected, leading to overgrown and potentially dangerous situations. Dealing with these "lapsed pollards" requires careful evaluation and a thoughtful approach:
Asking the Experts: A Professional Assessment is Key
The first and most important step in managing a lapsed pollard is to get advice from qualified and experienced tree experts. We will carefully look at the tree's current condition, including:
How Overgrown It Is: How big and heavy have the unpruned branches become?
Structural Strength: Are there any signs of weak branches, rot, or instability?
Type and Age of Tree: What kind of tree is it, and how old is it?
Overall Health: Is the tree showing any signs of stress or disease?
Based on this assessment, we can decide on the best way to proceed.
Gradual Restoration: Taking it Step by Step
In some cases, it might be possible to slowly bring a lapsed pollard back to its original shape by carefully cutting back the overgrown branches to the original pollard heads. However, this depends on several things, including the type of tree, how overgrown it is, and the tree's overall health. Branches that have grown very large might be too heavy to remove all at once without causing significant stress or creating large wounds that could rot. In these situations, we might need to prune the tree in stages over several years.
Other Pruning Methods: Adapting to the Situation
For some types of trees or when the overgrowth is very severe, simply cutting back to the original pollard heads might not be the safest or best option. In these cases, we might consider other pruning methods, such as:
Creating New Pollard Heads: This involves establishing new pollarding points higher up in the tree's crown, gradually reducing the overall size over time.
Crown Reduction Techniques: This involves selectively removing branches throughout the crown to reduce its overall size and weight while keeping a more natural look.
Managing lapsed pollards requires expert knowledge and careful work to ensure the safety of the tree and its surroundings while working towards a healthy and manageable shape.
Embracing the Art of Pollarding with Cedardale
Pollarding is a time-honored way of caring for trees that, when done right, offers many benefits. From controlling size and improving safety to extending a tree's life and enhancing the beauty of the landscape, it's a valuable technique.
At Cedardale, we are dedicated to the art and science of pollarding. Our expertise, our focus on tree health, and our unwavering focus on safety make us the ideal partner for all your pollarding needs. Whether you are looking to establish a pollarding regime for young trees, maintain existing pollards, or restore neglected ones, our team is here to provide expert guidance and professional service.
Contact Cedardale today to discuss your tree pollarding requirements and discover how our expertise can help you cultivate a healthy, safe, and beautiful landscape for years to come. Your trees deserve the best care, and at Cedardale, we are committed to providing it.
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