Chestnut coppicing – an alternative to the 15 or 18 year cycle
by Angus, 29 January, 2019, 5 comments
In Kent and East Sussex there are thousands of acres of chestnut coppice (see featured and last image). That means fairly uniform sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa), where every 15 or 18 years the stems are all cut off to create poles mostly used for fencing materials. Chestnut is a hardwood and splits well. The cutting is done in sections (“cants”) and the corners of each section are often marked by leaving a stem which is cut at about 1.5 metres above ground level. The great benefit of this sort of woodland is that it is very productive and the trees do not need replanting after felling - the coppice just sprouts back from the same roots or “plate”. Read more...
