Ornamental pears - just remove them and come up with a better solution.

Coppice = a thicket; copse, mott. If you cut them off without dapping them with a stump killer, depending on the roots onto which the scions are grafted, they may try to form a copse by coming up everywhere. I vote with esh - frippin' pears should be removed and another, better solution applied.

hortster

a_paul1 - if they are pears the others are right. But your idea of coppicing trees to make a hedge or barrier is a workable one with the right species.

the pix link is not working this morning ...

so i cant see the situation ...

but i am wondering.. if you think you will be saving some hard work.. by coming up with a solution.. other than removal ...

and if they are pear ... unknown pear.. thinking of flora's answer ... then you are basically avoiding ONE weekend of work ... to sign yourself up for two three weekends every summer ...

a suckering pear.. is a fairly aggressive plant .... and is not going to be conducive to your idea.. and most likely.. will start suckering in the lawn or garden beds.. 10 to 20 feet away.. ANYWHERE there is a live root ...

suck it up.. get rid of them ... and plant the right plant.. for the picture in your head ...

ken

ps: and i speak from experience ... i spent years.. trying to force things to do things i wanted.. trying to avoid the blindingly obvious.. only to lose that battle ... and in hindsight.. wonder why i wasted the time, labor and years ...... only to end up doing what i didnt want to do in the first place ....

Not to mention that the suckers from that pear understock are likely to be wickedly thorny.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:459994}}

Thank you all for your suggestions. I am a little bit afraid of both the options now i.e. coppice or complete removal, as that may bring down the value of the house.

Because as of now, the do look beautiful... nice, even, round, and symmetrical :) Here is the picture again: http://postimg.org/image/unl909t0z/

They are practically useless though as explained before.

May be I should just trim them from the top as much as I can and plant some hedge in between that can still grow fair bit in the shadow of the trees?

Here is a link that might be useful: Trees

lucky, I don't see any thorns on my trees. So I guess these are not callery pear.

Remove them. Coppicing is just another word for mutilation.

Didn't notice the link to the photos til just now. LOL

Those look like Bradford Pears in the pictures.

They probably never provided privacy, there's no sign there were ever branches near the ground since they've been planted there. Whatever the purpose, privacy was unlikely to be one of them (or the previous owner was an idiot).

Since they are Bradfords and they are not doing what you want, I'll upgrade my response to "remove with extreme prejudice" lol

'Coppicing is just another word for mutilation.' That is a highly personal opinion and ignores the importance of coppicing as an ancient and effective form of tree management. In some parts of the world it is, or has been, a vital technique for producing a usable crop of timber, fuel, fodder, food, foliage, etc. It is a way of harvesting trees more or less ad infinitum rather than felling mature specimens. There are woods in the UK which have been coppiced for a thousand years and continue to be healthy and productive with a uniquely adapted ecosystem of flora and fauna. We consider them a beautiful and sustainable feature of our landscape - not mutilated.

I coppice poplar trees for waddle fencing and am able to manipulate the size and length of needed branches. Nowadays it seems everything has a purpose in my yard. Otherwise, I'd be laboriously trimming these "trash" trees without gain twice a year.

They do not look very appealing when they're growing, though.

@florauk: We're just gonna have to disagree on this one. I guess growing up in a land where trees are allowed to grow the way they intended to, its hard to see it as anything else.

famartin - there are plenty of trees here which grow naturally. Coppicing is not an alternative to that. And it is practised in the US too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Coppicing in US

Link doesn't work. Anyway, we're not going to sway one another.

Never mind the swaying - but please don't persist in the idea that all our trees are 'mutilated'. We are a tiny country but we do have trees growing 'as nature intended'. Mutilation is not exclusive to the UK.

This is the other link again just in case you're curious to see coppicing in the US: http://www.coppiceagroforestry.com/

Here is a link that might be useful: Examples

This post was edited by florauk on Thu, Oct 17, 13 at 5:18

That's nice, but I still feel that its mutilation, here, there, and everywhere. Like I said, we aren't going to sway each other.

lucky, I don't see any thorns on my trees. So I guess these are not callery pear.

They are callery pear. What he means if that if you coppice them that it triggers the tree sometimes to send up sprouts that can be thorny.

Admittedly, I will not persuade you, either. However....coppicing the right tree at the right time the right way can produce "something" that works in the garden. (a short bushy shrub-like tree with big leaves)
not to be confused with topping ...the particular kind of mutilation practiced on tall things beneath power lines
Or pollarding, as in trees on some European boulevards. This my opinion only, but those are butt-ugly man-made trees. However, they are specific to particular geo-cultural environments and I bet they elicit some warm feelings when ex-pats see them after a long absence from the motherland.

I am confused now. Can they be coppiced or not at this age? 8 yrs.

If I completely remove them, I have to pay for removal + stump griding/extraction + for 7 new trees.

If I coppice them, I have to pay for 7 less trees. Also, I imagin the cost of coppicing would less than complete removal (because of no stump grinding and root extraction).

thank you.

Coppice them and you will have ugly winter trees forever and because they are TREES, they will have to be coppiced again and again, every single year (more money). Also, as lucky_p mentioned, they may respond by sending up root sprouts which you will have to deal with as well.

Bottom line, these trees are not meant for that treatment.

ok, got it. Thanks!

esh_ga - if they are coppiced a_paul1 will not end up with 'trees', ugly or not. Are you thinking of pollarding? Coppicing is cutting them right to the ground whence they throw up multiple shoots, if they are a good coppicing species. In the winter they will just look like a clump of stems or large shrub, not a tree.

You're right, florauk, I think I was confusing the two. But either way, it would be plenty of work each year to maintain it.

Actually, coppicing can work in certain situations - Especially for using suckering/sprouting trees for a screen (Like sassafras, sweet birch, cherry, etc.). Actually doesn't look too bad! Coppicing is usually done on a 5 to 10 year interval.

I'd be judicious about taking cutting every branch way back at once. I did that to a smoke bush and it took a full year to even put out a branch again, two years to look like it was recovering. I thought I'd done it in.

Below is a link to a USDA website that lists characteristics of the Bradford Pear. Lists "No" under coppice potential. I don't know if that's because it just doesn't coppice and wont grow back, or because if you chop the grafted Bradford cultivar off the top you are left with the thorny wild type rootstock to re-sprout.

Here is a link that might be useful: USDA

I'll guess the latter.