Coppicing.

[pebble]

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.

[pebble]

http://www.lifestyleblock.co.nz/vfor...p/t-30582.html

sorry.

[pebble]

Is there a reason you want natives?

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

[mischief]

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.

[pebble]

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:

See the Deciduous plant section of this website. Approximately 28 species (4.8%) of the New Zealand woody flora have a marked loss of leaves in winter. Only 11 species are consistently fully winter deciduous (adults are entirely leafless, or nearly so, towards the end of winter) although juvenile plants in some populations may retain significant foliage during the winter. They are:

Discaria toumatou
Fuchsia excorticata
Hoheria glabrata
Hoheria lyallii
Muehlenbeckia astonii
Olearia fragantissima
Olearia gardneri
Olearia hectori
Olearia odorata
Plagianthus divaricatus
Plagianthus regius
The following 11 species are best described as semi-deciduous, the degree of leaf loss varying markedly according to exposure, site, and geographic location:

Aristotelia serrata
Carmichaelia odorata
Carmichaelia arborea
Coprosma virescens
Coriaria arborea
Fuchsia perscandens
Fuchsia procumbens
Muehlenbeckia australis
Muehlenbeckia complexa
Olearia fimbriata
Urtica ferox
Some populations of Sophora microphylla and Sophora tetraptera are brevideciduous meaning they lose their overwintering leaves in spring at the time of flowering and before the new leaves have flushed, but are otherwise annual evergreens.

Coriaria angustissima, C. plumosa, C. pottsiana, and C. sarmentosa are rhizomatous subshrubs in which the above-ground stem and leaves die back completely in winter. They are rarely included in lists of indigenous deciduous trees and shrubs because they have a herblike appearance. However, they have woody rootstocks and should be regarded as deciduous.

For more information about deciduous trees see:
McGlone et al. 2004. Winter leaf loss in the New Zealand woody flora. New Zealand Journal of Botany, 2004, Vol. 42: 1-19.

http://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'.

[labradel]

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.

[pebble]

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.

[Grasshopper]

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

[pebble]

According to wiki pollarding was done traditionally in areas that were being grazed, to stop animals from eating the regrowth buds

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollarding

[ecodharmamark]

G'day All

...What's the definition of 'coppice'...

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.