Tracey has asked Welsh woodland owners to join this forum, and be active....so I'll post this question about coppicing, with some trepidation given my almost complete ignorance. Then another here about seasoning wood in rivers.
I found this hazel with 10-20 vertical branches, around a circular space I think you call a "stool"? It looks wildly overgrown, with some of the uprights 5" or more in diameter, sort of the size of a well-built upper arm, and a few much less so.
If I cut them all down, what will happen (Ive got no shortage of uses for the lovely wood)? Is there an age beyond which the tree will die if you do this? Should one cut in stages?
Finally, and nothing to do with coppicing, I am very struck as a newcomer to this field, how much mumbo jumbo is uttered with such confidence by so many about the seasoning of firewood. Wood sellers are distributing completely unseasoned wood (we are desperate at home this year) and the opening line from one guy I called was that he had 25 year-old wood, as if this was some kind of selling point (his wood was newly felled, I then discovered). But one comment from a tree surgeon
I met really struck me as contrary to all that I am learning. He sliced some hawthorne, hazel and a few other species in my wood, left them stacked in the open for me to split, and said: "Dont worry about covering up the wood. Its good for it to be out in the open for some time, even a couple of months", and then he said, to my astonishment, "Some Welsh farmers cut down their trees, slice them up, and then leave their wood in a stream for a few months". Now Tracey, you asked for Welsh contributions, now tell me, is this mumbo jumbo?
OK, I'll duck for cover, happy and ignorant.
Cheers,
Steve