Definition: In arboricultural terminology, pollarding a tree means cutting a tree back nearly to the trunk, so as to produce a dense mass of branches for aesthetic purposes. Pollarding begins on young trees, and the process is repeated throughout the life of the tree.
Kangaroo Island Narrow-leaf Mallee trees have a 'lignotuber' from which the tree will re-shoot when cut. The lignotuber is a woody underground swelling at the base of the trunk that contains a food reserve. This lignotuber enables the tree to re-shoot. Pollarding involves cutting mallee trunks to ground level to encourage the tree to regrow.
Do not pollard any other species of Eucalypt - they may not survive.
An Extract from: http://www.herbquarterly.com/issue96page20-2.html "TheyÂll remain between four and eight feet high with pollarding, a pruning technique that involves cutting all growth on the main stem down to one or two feet. This will result in a bushy plant, retaining juvenile foliage. (You can also stool or coppice eucalypti, which means cutting the plants back to ground level each year, though pollarding is the preferred method.)
Pruning to ground level is coppicing according to my Pruning and Training text. Pollarding is cutting back to the clear tree trunk - an elevated form of coppicing. This text says that many Eucalypts respond by producing attractive juvenile foliage and a shrubby habit. Types grown for juvenile foliage like Gunnii or Cinerea would be suitable, and I understand are grown in this way for the florist trade. Seems logical though that you wouldn't do it and also expect the tree to be withstanding the drought and heat that they are so good at dealing with. Growth of course requires adequate moisture. I have noticed that Mt Annan Botanic Garden coppice a range of varieties when they start looking crap - particularly those in the Mallee section, although even Euc Caesia has responded to some extent. I notice that pollarding is sometimes practiced in situations where the landholder wants to restrict the size of the tree. There's one smooth barked Euc in a property up the street from my mum's place. It was lopped of neatly at quite a height, and though it took a while, I notice that it is now displaying a neat crown of bushy young foliage, a bit like an out of proportion lollypop. Another house just near us, has what must have been a very large tree, that was taken out with a fairly clean cut at ground level. It's amazing, it has sprouted five young trunks, now each a few inches thick, spaced perfectly evenly around the "stump" It looks pretty nifty really. I've planted a Gunnii with the intent of Pollarding it. It's tall enough but still a bit spindly. Worth experimenting I reckon.
John, I have several points to add. Firstly, I have a 50m row of E. neglecta some of which have been coppiced by borer. At least 5 of the trees have fallen over as the insect has done circle work around the base of the trunk. The result is as the previous writers have stated. Lots of juvenille leaves and a healthy tree. Ironically I had been intending to do the same myself but as the trees looked so good anyway I didn't intefere.
Secondly, for larger trees and especially those that are pollarded I have been told that the new epicormic growth is not as stable as the original branches. People already seem to look up at large Eucalypts and say "ah, widow maker".
Have a look at Eucalypts under overhead wires in urban areas. Electricity authorities cut back lots of different Eucalyptus species, and seem to be mostly successful, although they mostly raise the ire of local residents.
In my experience, "pruning eucalypts" is not a good idea if you wish to keep their height down. The new growth is weak and prone to dropping branches more often than the original growth. Don't plant them if you want to chop them every year - there are plenty of other trees and shrubs which respond to this sort of treatment. E curtissii has multiple trunks. Jane
Hi John,I moved into a place with a hugh Eucalyptus tessellaris that had been pollarded. It was more than 30 m high and had 8 major branches. Consequently it had much more leaf on the crown than would have been naturally. After a dry period we had a lot of rain and high winds and the tree came down. There are others of this type in the area which did not fall.
Hi John I'm no expert but am also interested in the use of this method to manage the size of eucalypts - I've been reading and talking to arborists and am having a go with a young gum tree in our backyard! One point I haven't seen mentioned above is that pollarding (at least my understanding of it) is a training method (like producing a hedge or topiary) and an ongoing process, quite different from lopping the branches off short then allowing unregulated "epicormic (?)" regrowth which can be weak and poorly attached. The new shoots need to be pruned back almost to the original cut before they are a finger's thickness (at least this is what I've been told ...). I'm still not sure exactly how to do this ot what it will look like but I'm having a go with a young E. leucoxylon - I have a sentimental attachment to this species and want the flowers, leaves and bark and some light dappled shade but don't have room for the spread, height and form of the natural tree. I have lopped the top off the young (less than 2 y/o) tree about 2m from the ground and hoping to produce a mop of regrowth (one month, still waiting) which I can thin out and periodically remove shoots/branches when they start to get too thick. If this doesn't work I'll cut it back to nearly ground level (coppicing) as it has a ligno-tuber and will resprout from that. The main thing is that if the pollarding works I would probably have to inform any subsequent owners of this property that the tree needs to continue to be maintained in this way or removed, as my feeling is that it could be unsafe if just "let go" after this treatment...
Hi all, I am no expert in this subject, but I just wanted to say that we coppiced a eucalyptus (sorry, I don't know what type it is) ten years ago. It sprouted up 6 or 7 new trunks very successfully. We now keep it at about 5 to 6 metres high with an annual "haircut". It looks lovely and gets many admiring comments. We were told it had to go because of overhead powerlines so we thought we'd give it a try. I am so glad we did!! Cheers, Dee.
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