What Is Pollarding?

Tree pollarding is a pruning technique that restricts the height of a tree to a certain level in order to produce dense foliage. This method is usually conducted every year or once a planted tree grows to a certain height.

Does tree pollarding make trees healthy?

Pollarding is done for many reasons:

• Prevent the tree from exposure to failure or disease
• Prevent the growth of low and unwanted branches
• Protect the tree branch from the formation of co-dominant stems, making the point of origin weaker
• Protect the tree from dying

Is pollarding good for trees?

Generally, pollarding is good for trees. But you should be able to know which trees are suitable for pollarding because it is not applicable to all trees.

Pollarding is not applicable for mature trees, because there could be a risk of damaging the health of the tree through pollarding, especially when it is not the correct tree species.

It is best to pollard young trees as they grow fast and have better resistance against disease.

Perhaps, the main purpose of pollarding your tree is to reduce its shade and make it less dense. Seems ironic though when trees are important for shading, but the outgrowth can be detrimental in many ways.

The outgrowth of branches and leaves may cause:

• Encroach a neighbour’s property
• Damage street vehicles
• Hamper electrical cables
• Slippery roads from fallen dried leaves
• Fallen trees that can harm life

Brief Facts on Pollarding

Pollarding began all the way back in the times of ancient Romans. They wanted their tree foliage to be denser for shading purposes. A good canopy from a lush crown, can be very useful as shade from the sun.

Today, arborists select certain tree species for pollarding and wait for a certain height of these trees so they are ready for pruning.

Major benefits of pollarding

1. Pollarding improves the health of trees.
2. Reduce the risk of falling huge branches and clouding the surface with rotten stems and leaves including fruits.
3. Pollarded trees are beneficial for transplantation. This also allows the trees to bear fruit when they have to.
4. Trees are pollarded to eliminate branches for harvesting wood products.
5. A substantially pollarded tree may yield abundant flowers, and eventually fruits.
6. Wood from trees is also used a great source of fuel.

To avoid the death of the tree, some are cut depending on their seasonal bloom.

Pollarding for aesthetic purposes

Pollarding is done to trees primarily for aesthetic purposes. It means cutting the trunk to be able for the tree to produce massive or dense branches.

In Essex, England, beech trees and other trees around Europe, trees are pollarded for practical and aesthetic reasons:

• Parks need to look neat; local city officials ensure that trees are well lined or compact to prevent the excess branches and leaves from encroaching property and from avoiding leaves to intertwine with power lines.
• Private landscapes have limited space but need to keep their lawn immaculate by having their trees cut or removed when they start to look unsightly.
• Rather than cutting down trees and having access to its wood, pollarding helps in preserving the tree and keeping it together to grow over the years and benefit from it in cycles.

Suitable trees for pollarding

If you plan to pollard your tree, this should start as early as the tree is young and do it every year or more.

Trees suitable for pollarding:

• Oak
• Tulip
• Sycamore
• Ash
• Yew
• Maple

Is pollarding bad?

Pollarding lets you remove the tree’s central leader and its lateral branches. The height where you start pruning should be at least 6 feet from the ground to prevent grazing animals from reaching for new growth.

You never have to worry that your tree may look bare like a stick after trimming because the crown will eventually regrow.

Why choose young trees?

Young trees are less prone to disease and they regrow faster than the older ones.

As for many, pollarding is a bad practice. The bad practice for trimming trees refers to topping, not pollarding.

Topping is done when the top section of the tree or central trunk is cut, and it’s performed commonly to old trees. Thus, regrowth is hampered and discouraged.

For best measures, pollarding a tree should be consistent and periodic. The cycle will depend on the purpose of the pollarding.

For landscaping, every two years is enough. But if you intend to devote yourself to pollarding a tree for energy and sustainable resources, pollarding should take every five years.

Our tree surgeons can help

Serving different towns in the UK, Alpine Tree Surgeons are here to help.

Our Alpine team is always here to lend a hand and we offer a 24-hour emergency call-out. You’ll never know, unpruned or un-pollarded trees can cause emergencies anytime.

Check more of our services and reach out to us for your immediate assistance.