Pollarding Willows - you harvest up off the main trunk - for cultivating Shiitake mushrooms and saving the trees!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzrWVOPrhe8

I started pollarding the willow trees - I think I got better results from the Alder but that should have a similar reaction to Pollarding I think. So this is very promising to have a regrowing harvest that is sustainable since it prevents the tree from falling over due to the trunk getting too big!!

That is what I really needed to know about pollarding.

I'm going to use coppiced "stakes" for the deer fencing from the Willow and Alder trees. I've been watching vids on coppicing - and how this actually keeps the willow trunks from getting too big. The Willow trees fall over if the trunks are too big - so better to coppice or cut higher up the trunk - cut off. Same with Alder. 
These are Nitrogen-fixing trees so they will hold up the fencing to keep out the deer but they will also improve the soil for the Hazelnut trees. They grow from cuttings -
I can do that for next year's Shiitake harvest also! So it's pretty exciting.
thanks,
drew
 Probably a daft question, but here goes. Why pollard, rather than coppice? To keep the new growth above browsing animals?

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