1. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

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    I've been doing abit of study on coppicing and found some interesting sites and vids on this subject.(havent got around to checking them out but I'll posts the ones I particularly like).
    Hazel hurdles-I see trellises and walls of shade houses.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U08AiNxq17Q&feature=related
     
  2. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

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  3. Michaelangelica

    Michaelangelica Junior Member

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    Coppicing is a lot more common (and traditional) in the UK It is often used by charcoal manufacturers. They say Eucalyptus are good, though I have never seen anyone coppice a Eucalypt in Australia
     
  4. matto

    matto Junior Member

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    Eucalypt coppice really well, their lignotuber lasts for years. Most people dont appreciate it, but Dave Arnold is using his coppices for his annual tomato stakes.
    Actually i have heard that apple coppices really well and a study has shown it prolongs the trees life and maintains its health and vigour.
    Im particularly interested in coppice agriculture for biochar development and biomass production for on farm use.
    Can't wait for Dave Jacke's book on the subject, which I hear they are making good ground on.
     
  5. Pakanohida

    Pakanohida Junior Member

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    In my experience Myrtlewood, and Giant Redwoods coppice very very well.
     
  6. pebble

    pebble Junior Member

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    Mischief, the coprosmas coppice well (grow fast, and regrowth is long and straight). I've only done this with the large leafed variety.
     
  7. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

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    Southernwoods nurseries kindly sent me one of their catelogues-(probably cos I 'liked' them on facebook).
    Its been a hard slog chewing throuh everything they have on stock and trying to decide what I want and whether or not I actually have any room for any more trees.
    I did think of putting some along the fenceline behind the garage, but the neighbour has been naughty and planted his lot right On the boundary line-supposed to be at least 1metre from the boundary.hmm

    I was trying to find out what NZ natives can be coppiced after noticing that there really arent that many growing outside of the designated regenerating bush or the odd 'interesting one' like Puka or cabbage tree.
    This worries me and my thought was- if you can use it then it might become an regular thing again.

    Flip side of the conservation coin- what is useful gets propogated madly so find uses for these natives and start promoting them.

    I dont know too much about Coprosma, except the small scrubby ground cover types, are you sure its this and not the Pittosporum?
    This self sows around here and is slowly becoming a tall hedge between us and Puppies dad,as each little tree appears and grows.
    I havent noticed it as being a fast grower tho.
     
  8. ecodharmamark

    ecodharmamark Junior Member

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    G'day All

    Yep, various species of Eucalypt coppice extremely well. For example, my old favourite E. cladocalyx (Sugar Gum) loves it. As such I would suggest that, along with its other wonderful attributes, the fact that it does coppice so well makes it one of the most permaculture-significant Eucs for our (Western, Northen, Central Victorian) bioregions.

    Some more resources on the Sugar Gum (and coppicing Eucs in general):

    DPI (2000) Sugar gum for farm forestry

    Smart Timbers (no date) Sugar Gum: A unique farm plantation timber

    DPI (2000) Managing coppice in Eucalypt plantations

    Happy coppicing, Markos.
     
  9. pebble

    pebble Junior Member

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    Definitely coprosma (I don't know if pittosporums would coppice. They do grow back from a hard prune). The coprosma I had when I lived in the coast was probably C. repens. Do you have shining karamu up your way? I see coprosmas naturalised in non-native areas quite a bit. I'd be very surprised if you didn't have a large leafed coprosma locally.

    Repens (or similar) will grow into a small/medium tree but can be quite bushy. You can prune it to grow to the space you have though. The leaves make fantastic compost. Mollison lists them as a good fodder tree for chooks I think - they produce fruit at odd times of the year and over a long season I think.

    Landcare have a great key for IDing coprosmas. There are many species, and often they're hard to differentiate, but once you get the basics on ID you can pick them anywhere without having to get the exact species ID.

    https://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/research/biosystematics/plants/coprosmakey/index.asp
     
  10. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

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    We have a self sown Karamu which all the birds love, going by the amount of seeds they drop everywhere.
    Cant really tell if its a shining one or not.
    It doesnt grow that fast, well the one we have doesnt.

    I really want someone one to tell me that I will be able to coppice the manuka, seeing as I'm getting seeds for this one and I know its not only great firewood but the bees love it too.lol

    I had heard that the Eucs are also fantastic firewood and coppiceable, but they are Aussies and I want KIWI's if at all possible.
    Will do alittle more study up on the Coprosma's.

    Thanks Peb's.
     
  11. pebble

    pebble Junior Member

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    I'm not sure if coprosmas are that great for firewood. I have burnt it, but I used to use the long poles in the garden rather than chopping for the fire. Have you ever cut your karamu back hard?

    I don't think manuka coppices. I'll ask around and have a look locally, but I've seen kanuka cut off near the ground and not regrow.
     
  12. pebble

    pebble Junior Member

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  13. pebble

    pebble Junior Member

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    Is there a reason you want natives?

    I'm struggling to think of many.... mahoe/whiteywood regrows. Maybe the houherias do too?
     
  14. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

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    The reason for wanting natives, is because I look around where I live and dont see very many of them.
    Most of the parks seem to be in exotics and although there are alot of lower native plants in peoples gardens there arent many native trees.
    What seems to be planted out along the motorways in Ak and I assume in other cities are the lower plants as well and it doesnt look like there is alot of variety being planted-mass plantings.

    Because we only have a 1/4 acre I wanted everything to be multi purpose-feed the natives birds,keep our trees from becoming museum pieces seen only in the National parks and defray our firewood bill.

    From the link you posted above, neither Manuka or Kanuka will coppice, so I will just grow all the seed and then give out to others what we dont have room for.
    I wanted to grow them to copice for firewood but so far havent found much info on which ones will.
    When I learned that its deciduous and not evergreens that will coppice, I thought I might have to rethink what we do on this.
     
  15. pebble

    pebble Junior Member

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    That makes sense about wanting natives (it's like that where I live too).

    "When I learned that its deciduous and not evergreens that will coppice, I thought I might have to rethink what we do on this."

    Do you have a link for that? We have so few deciduous natives, although there is a class of semi-deciduous too:

    https://nzpcn.org.nz/page.asp?help_faqs_NZ_plants


    Thinking about it, maybe coppicing means cutting down to a certain height. I used to 'coppice' a large coprosma that had many trunks or branches from the base (a result of previous cuttings back I assume). I don't know what would happen with a young, single trunk tree if it was cut off say a foot from ground level. What's the definition of 'coppice'.
     
  16. labradel

    labradel Junior Member

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    coppicing is cutting down the tree as close to the ground as possible and then allowed to grow new shoots the eucs tend to send up many new shoots which usually need to be thinned to 3 or 4 and then allowed to grow to what ever length required. when the tree is cut at a height above the ground the process is called pollarding and is often done in puplic areas this not often done with eucs as the new shoot when they get large tend to be not strong enough at the new growth joint and break away from the trunk.
     
  17. pebble

    pebble Junior Member

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    Thanks. I think I was doing a combination. Pollarding in public places is about control of tree size and shape isn't it? Rather than harvesting timber.
     
  18. Grasshopper

    Grasshopper Senior Member

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    Has anyone successfully pollarded a Pecan ?
    Ive got one that I was going to have to do in a few years.
     
  19. pebble

    pebble Junior Member

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  20. ecodharmamark

    ecodharmamark Junior Member

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    G'day All

    Pebble, the previously-linked to, DPI site provides a pretty good working definition:

    Regrowth from a cut tree stump or the base of a damaged stem is known as “coppice” and felling a tree leaving a short stump to encourage regrowth is called coppicing...

    Further, from the same article:

    Coppice growth arises from buds that lay dormant beneath the bark. Figure 1 shows coppice regrowth in a eucalypt forest after a fire. The practice of coppicing, on both short and long rotations, can be traced back to Neolithic times (4000 BC). Nowadays, the use of coppice in wood production is widespread, especially overseas, as a method for regenerating eucalypt plantations. In Australia, coppice systems are primarily used in firewood and pulpwood plantations and in the management of drier and low yielding forest types...

    And it goes on, and on...

    Concerning the identification of NZ (and exotic) tree species suitable for high grade/value timber growing/harvesting (as to whether they coppice well or not, you'll have to do your own research), there are many commercial websites available providing this information. For example:

    NZ Wood (no date) Timber Species

    Don't forget, government departments hold a wealth of information regarding agro-forestry, silviculture, etc. In NZ, for example, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) has a pretty extensive range of publications available on its website:

    MAF (no date) Publications

    Cheerio, must run, Markos.
     

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