Topping Garden Trees

Colonialboy

Can you top an ash thats 8 years old ?

I have some Ash, Cheery, Beech,Birch in the garden, 10-12 of them , I planted as seedlings in a tight copse just for fun 8 years ago but now a few have developed into tall trees.
Is it okay to top them, cutting off the main top 10-12ft from the ground say?
There about 30 feet high , but quite thin and pointy as they were closely planted.
What type of cut, I presume an angled cut .
If its topped where will the tree put its energy into growing, does it just get wider and bigger limbs or does it try to go high again.

I dont want to dig them up, there not bothering anyone way at the end of the garden, but Id like to keep the height down.

thanks

gk5000

Colonialboy wrote: »

Can you top an ash thats 8 years old ?

I have some Ash, Cheery, Beech,Birch in the garden, 10-12 of them , I planted as seedlings in a tight copse just for fun 8 years ago but now a few have developed into tall trees.
Is it okay to top them, cutting off the main top 10-12ft from the ground say?
There about 30 feet high , but quite thin and pointy as they were closely planted.
What type of cut, I presume an angled cut .
If its topped where will the tree put its energy into growing, does it just get wider and bigger limbs or does it try to go high again.

I dont want to dig them up, there not bothering anyone way at the end of the garden, but Id like to keep the height down.

thanks

Sounds good - seriously - 30 feet in 8 years. How big were they when you planted them - are they all 30 feet?

My unprofessional opinion - cut the ash and beech now or anytime - they are hardy and shall regrow. Cut the cherry in mid spring after the leaves have came out, so that it is during the growing season to avoid infection.
Not sure about the birch but think now is fine.

Generally they will produce multiple new shoots from where you cut it - good for "pea-rods" etc.

Goggle "Coppice" where you cut at the stump or "Pollard" where you cut higher up, originally to keep the new shoots out of reach of cattle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coppicing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollarding

gk5000

http://www.coppice.co.uk/
Another site on coppicing. Suggest best to cut ash in the autumn, and I would agree for it, beech and birch, but would not over worry about the timing. Again some may suggest a south facing sloping cut, but would not over worry about that either.

But would do the cherry in the spring.

greysides

Do the Birch really soon as they 'bleed' a lot of sap.

Colonialboy

Thanks to everyone for the replies. I think Im all set to just top them.

Yep the soil is very good, only a few ash grew to 30 ft, they grew real tall reaching for light as I planted them real close but are very thin at the top.
I want to keep some crown on them for visual.
Ive already got some hazel thats coppicing but thanks for the reminder.

The ash were all sorts of lengths, I will never forget I answered an advert for free ash saplings, I called to this old fellas house and I half expected to find some nice uniform saplings in neat bundles. Well he showed me all sorts of ash odd sizes and shapes, growing in different locations all dotted aroud his property under his caravan, behind a shed, where they had grown wild. Call it a wild ash chase.
He was a nice old fella I spent a couple of hour cleaning up the place for him, I think he didnt want to cut them down and kept asking me would I promise to re-plant them.
Anyways I took them home thinking what would I do with them, so I planted them way down the end of the garden while i considered what Id do, so 8 years later they are all well grown. Ive learned a valuable lesson, you dont need the 'nursery uniform' stuff to plant out. I always think of that old fella when i look at the trees.

Boardnashea

I would probably take the ash out at a low level. They will be back up again in three years. Also cutting at 10ft has a few safety issues. The smaller species will then get a chance to get some light and develop into nice trees.