an hour ago by hprotagonist
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coppicing the technique is widely known.
not every coppiced tree can be convinced to grow straight, though.
13 minutes ago by oasisbob
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollarding is another similar technique, probably most similar to this one.
It's an interesting one to discuss with arborists. In North America, there isn't a long history of pollarded trees, so the technique is generally frowned upon since it's essentially "topping", a universally derided pruning method.
European arborists who maintain historical trees are more familiar with pollarding, and commonly are asked to explain why they believe their continuance of topping is defensible as a modern or scientific technique in the care of trees.
43 minutes ago by Isamu
I came here to mention coppicing as well. In medieval Europe forests were highly managed or farmed, and this technique produced a steady source of straight poles that were used in various diameters.
16 minutes ago by ed25519FUUU
Once you see coppicing it's one of those things you'll notice everywhere that was cultivated for a long period of time. I'm surprised at how straight the shoots would grow, and farmers were pretty good at managing and multiplying timber using this method.
10 minutes ago by Zababa
The twitter thread from which the images came is also worth a read: https://twitter.com/wrathofgnon/status/1250287741247426565
21 minutes ago by BugsJustFindMe
> Done right, the technique can prevent deforestation and result in perfectly round and straight timber
It's annoying that this doesn't explain what the hell "done right" means. What does one have to "do right" to get perfectly round and straight timber out of it? Graft the right tree?
16 minutes ago by jeffbarr
There's more info in the Twitter thread (https://twitter.com/wrathofgnon/status/1250287741247426565). Patience and pruning every two years are key!
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