Well, more like spindly little sticks. But there’s 500 of them…

I mentioned in a log burner thread about planting up my own Willow coppice supply of wood. And here it is:

250x Salix Viminalis – fast massing, producing 2m straight growth a year in 10-15 rods.

alternate rows with 250x Salix Viminalis x Triandra – Q83 hybrid which has a bit more curve to the stem but masses even quicker and provides a bit more screening.

Based on research done by Defra and the FC producing the Short Rotation Coppicing yield maps here:

http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/farming/funding/ecs/sitings/short_rotation_coppice_yield_maps_guidance.aspx
http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/Images/wm-src-yield-250-a_tcm6-4889.pdf

I should yield between 8 and 12 oven dry tonnes a year per hectare. That assumes a planting density of 10,000 whips per hectare (which is 10,000m2) so that’s one whip per 1m2. Ive actually planted mine a bit denser than that, but since I have planted 500 whips, taking up about 400 sqm, then in theory I should be able to yield half a tonne+ year dry weight. Doesnt sound like a lot but it’s probably worth about £100-150 of firewood bought locally.
Got the whips locally from Tim @ http://www.woodsideservices.com/ for about £400 including the rabbit protectors. Loads of helpful info.

Planting is as simple as making a 12″ hole in the ground (clay for us here, a Keuper Marl) and pushing the 3′ whip in. Heeling over the ground at the top of the hole to close up against the whip. Then on goes the rabbit protector. A mate of mine welded up a bit of rebar for me to make a dibber:

The coppice provides screening as well as some bulky habitat as we had to take out the old briar hedge and there’s little vegetation for birds on our land at the moment. Really want to encourage some more tits, finches and particularly wrens. The rest of the clear space will have some fruit trees and space for the boys to kick a ball around.

First cut is this time next year to set the stool height at which the rods will grow from, then 3 years until first harvest. Will be harvesting in thirds every year.

nice

How tall can they grow and are they directly underneath that power/utility line ? 😉

about 10-15′ and yes 😉
But the line is at 30′

Wonderful… I’ll look forward to seeing it progress!

@ stoner – is that your hedge to the right, also?

Nice.
How thick are the whips expected to be by harvest time?

Ive split the coppice in to two sections. One on the left of about 300 whips in nine rows and on the right about 200 along the boundary in five rows.

The cords should grow to 3-4″ in diameter over 3-4 years.

Should be able to harvest +10 x 4′ x 3-4″ cord off each third stand.
this obviously leaves upto say 6′ of thinner cord which I might try turning into charcoal. The guy who welded my dibber also makes steel charcoal makers so I should be able to get a design of him to have a go at.

Your back yard is small 😉

Good luck!
I planted a few last year, but combination of very dry spring, poor light and wild life caused them all to die. Will try again this year but not expecting much; I don’t have an open area like you, just existing woodland.

I never achieved anything like this when I was friends with the herb, you may want to rethink your username!

Good job, it’s food for thought.

cheers rich. I gather plenty of water early on is important. Fortunately my field is waterlogged half the year.

The ditch round the field is like a pond at the moment.

Different etymology Herman.

Now that’s impressive. Top effort. May see if we could use the spare land behind us, it’s just wasted space at the moment.

Yes, water well. I could only visit mine once a week, which, given the weather last year, was never going to be enough.

this time next year when I trim all the 1yr plants, I’ll have a load of spare whips which anyone is welcome to if you want to have a go with it on your wasted space roger.

Unless we have a genuine draught over the next 4 months I wont need to water them rich,

The only other use Ive seen for the thin tips is them being turned into artists charcoal pencils 😉

Also jealous.com

Stoner and McMoonter are 2 I would like to see banned on here….

that mcmoonter is worse. He gets his wood for free. harrumph 🙁

No Stoner makes nice trouser leg strappy tidy thing.

Cheers Stoner – new year’s mission to ID the owner and deliver an offer they cannot refuse – share of the fuel!!

With the smaller stuff you might get more from the willow weavers

Great effort Stoner. I cant wait to see what it looks like in a year or so.

Stoner – Member
that mcmoonter is worse. He gets his wood for free. harrumph

Sadly the sawmill now charges me for wood, £20 a load, and it’s about a 30 mile round trip, so its getting costly.

Most local rides are now spent scouting for fallen timber.

While we’re on the subject, heres my little project over the crimbo ‘break’-

The corner of my kitchen/family room as it was
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DSCF4880 by LOVATSTOVES, on Flickr[/img]

CD’s now on ipod and stashed away in boxes.

Mocking up
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DSCF4947 by LOVATSTOVES, on Flickr[/img]

Taking shape

DSCF4957 by LOVATSTOVES, on Flickr

First burn midnight last night!
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DSCF0273 by LOVATSTOVES, on Flickr[/img]

Some taping, filling, painting to do and then order a bit of glass for the hearth next week.

This is stove number 2 in my own house so I figured I’d do something a wee bit special and get the new Morso S10-70 wall hung.
It is a really lovely stove and works beautifully. Have had it on low most of the day to cure the paint. Down to the smalls in here tonight!

Another one to do for a friend next week!

whats the drying time for sally then?. we usually allow for year out & year in for our “hedge” trimmings which is mostly hawthorn, blackthorn & hazel. we trim bout 11/2 tonne per year of useable timber.
Malverns in the background.

love the login graham! Know Prout? 😉

I pollarded a willow on our boundary in April this year and stored it in the shed. When I burnt it it was showing <5% moisture.

Willow seasons very quickly, I reckon 6-9 months depending on conditions.

The willow stack shown at the top of the field is this years and I spent a few hours today logging and chopping some of it. It all tested at c.35% moisture. It’s now in the wood store and we’ll see how long it takes to get down to <18%sh.

Bedmaker, that is teh AWESOME! Cant believe you boxed it in though! Should have gone for the skandi built in look!
(ps Luv the retrofone)

Met his henchmen on several occasions. We now have the wood back for riding & dog walking in so no tears lost for him

Didn’t know it dried so quickly, many thanks for that

cheers

ah but did you ride over ….. it…?

good for 31 October….

Its the pore diameter in willow which makes it season so quickly. In cords, best stored on an incline to help seasoning.

Its also why willow is so low in mass by volume.

You’ve really made the best of such a small plot.

Not in the slightest bit jealous as I walk through the east wing of our ex council semi.
Top stuff mate.

Great OP. Very jealous.

The pheasant pens were not near the bridle path so missed “it”, his henchmen had a go at me when I was on the actual RoW but had to discuss finer points when loaded shotguns are in evidence. Even the local vicar was harassed. Not good times but now thankfully resolved, for now at least.

I’ve got a nice damp patch at the bottom of our field where I could easily get 500-600 whips in. I feel some prep work starting next week.

Many thanks for all the info & happy new year to you.

Here’s our green project – we’re trying to sort out the hortus conclusus at the moment. The intention is to relocate the Betula Platyphylla to allow peaches, nectarines and grapes to be grown as espailers against our south facing wall – however we have to balance this with a classic car restoration that’s also occupying our time/space.

happy new year to you too graham.

Tim @ Hartpury really isnt far from you and he’s very helpful. If you go and visit him you can see his field of coppice varieties.
I also got some red and green basket sets varieties which will look good in the garden, and some are planted up on the bank by the playhouse in the top pic.
I paid 40p for each whip and 25p for each rabbit protector.

TBH any willow will grow from a whip so you could just take stems from a nearby hedge willow and stab them in the ground. Poplar looks nice too, but is a bit slower.

Wish I had space for something like that – very nice.

With all the wind blown stuff around after the recent winds, I’m going to be busy for the next wee while yet though. 😀

Did you look into eucalyptus at all when you were researching this stoner?
Not something I’ve looked at in any detail as I don’t have the land. I\m burning some at the moment though and it is good fuel. My folks also have a couple of them in the garden which are 15-20 years old and huge, very quick growing.
Be interesting to know the pros and cons of it compared to willow.

I dont think eucalyptus is as fast growing, but I didnt research it specifically.
I did look at poplar, but there’s some issues about rust and genetic problems with the current species strains that are availble.
M&D recently had a massive one felled in their garden. Not a particularly nice tree to have around as the bark and leaves dont mulch well and it sheds it’s bark all year round making quite a mess.

I like willow because it seasons so quickly, is easy to split and since I dont have an open fire I dont have to worry about spitting.

#impressed#

Well done you.

One thing though, don’t you think you could have planted them in a slightly more interesting way than just straight lines? Make it look a least a bit more natural?

It’s not a criticism, even staggered lines would have looked slightly better.

Ive been told it’s really far easier to manage and harvest when there’s space to work. And the lines wont be nearly as noticeable once theyve grown a bit.

It’s not a criticism, even staggered lines would have looked slightly better.

Going by my hedge’s effort, once everything gets its growth on it will look plenty natural enough!