Pollarding
Examples of Pollarding

Multi Knuckle Pollard

(click on picture to enlarge)

For many centuries in Europe, trees were maintained at a certain height with regular pruning.
This practice called pollarding, maintains a tree at a specified height, sometimes for centuries, and provides a formal look to landscapes. Traditionally, trees have been maintained at 20-30ft tall. Pollarding can be used to keep a large, mature tree small if it was located in a place with restricted soil space, such as a planter, narrow soil strip, car park or footpath cut out. It is also useful to control size if a tree has been planted too close to structures such as buildings, street lighting or electric wires.

Once begun it is essential that pollarding continues. Preferably, the pollarding process should begin when a tree is very young. We would leave one to two inches of stub if necessary to ensure that there will be buds to initiate next years sprouts. A knuckle of tissue called the pollard head resembling a ball develops several years after the first cut was made. Most shoots grow from this tissue, which enlarges slightly each year. Most are orientated upright; they do not branch and grow at a rapid rate. We cut back to this knuckle at each pruning. Shoots originating below a pollard head should be removed each time the tree is pruned.

A clear distinction should be made between pollarding and topping. Topping can be harmful to trees and can initiate decay inside a tree. Pollarding is a high maintenance practice requiring repruning every 2 to 5 years, however it can create unique trees that live for a very long time.

It should be noted that different species of trees respond to pollarding in different ways and pollarding may not be suitable Willow Trees have approximately 95% survival rate whereas Beech Trees rarely survive the procedure.