When should I first cut my recently planted new hedge plants ?

Mohandas

Hello all

I have planted a new hedge around the boundaries of my garden/site.
I used bare root plants, single row, about 15" apart.

I would like an informal natural looking rural hedge, so I was advised to plant beech, hawthorn, holly, dogrose, and horbeam.

I don't mind if they grow high in a few places, but in some sections I would like to keep them to about 4-5ft to preserve the views.

I have read on a few places that you should cut about a third off them in the second year to encourage side growth and keep the hedge from looking to stragly in later life.

What I'm not sure about is should I also cut a few inches off the main stems now as well in the first year ?

I'm going to let one or two random ones grow up to be trees, so obviously I won't cut them.

Any other advice greatly appreciated

Thank you, and happy gardening.

muckyhands

Mohandas wrote: »

Hello all

I have planted a new hedge around the boundaries of my garden/site.
I used bare root plants, single row, about 15" apart.

I would like an informal natural looking rural hedge, so I was advised to plant beech, hawthorn, holly, dogrose, and horbeam.

I don't mind if they grow high in a few places, but in some sections I would like to keep them to about 4-5ft to preserve the views.

I have read on a few places that you should cut about a third off them in the second year to encourage side growth and keep the hedge from looking to stragly in later life.

What I'm not sure about is should I also cut a few inches off the main stems now as well in the first year ?

I'm going to let one or two random ones grow up to be trees, so obviously I won't cut them.

Any other advice greatly appreciated

Thank you, and happy gardening.

Cut the hedge back hard now, immediately after planting, by about a third to a half. Theres no sense waiting until year two to start formative pruning as you want growth to be even on top and at the bottom so you wont have gaps. Another reason to cut back hard now is that because they are bare root plants they have inevitably lost roots when they were dug up so there wont be enough roots present to support the top growth.

Dont cut back any plants you wish to grow as trees as you need to keep a leader/ main stem.

Also in mid to late summer trim any shoots growing at right angles to the hedge to keep it growing upwards and thickly.

Mohandas

Thank you very much mr muckyhands

Some of my plants have been in over a month now, is it too late/risky to cut them back now ?

Cedrus

Do not cut them until the roots have had a chance to settle in, the plants have had enough trauma for now. If you want a formal hedge/bush you can be severe but this would go hand in hand with an intensive care routine which would include almost daily care and some failures. If as you say you want an informal natural looking rural hedge, leave them for a few years and watch as they settle. The plants you mention (beech, hawthorn, holly, dogrose, and hornbeam) are all slow growing and you will have plenty of time to let them fill out without taking over. How old/big are the bare root plants which you laid? 1 year old beech will take 5 years to even look like a hedge, 5 year olds will need shaping after 2 years.

Mohandas

Thank you Mr Cedrus.

As I live in the country, I would like an informal natural and healthy looking rural hedge.

I'm not sure exactly how old the plants were, I forgot to ask the garden centre. Planted, the dogrose would be about 2.5ft tall, beech/hornbeam would be about 1.5-2ft tall, the hawthorn about 1ft, and the holly plants are about 1ft tall.

paddy147

Mohandas wrote: »

Thank you very much mr muckyhands

Some of my plants have been in over a month now, is it too late/risky to cut them back now ?

Its actually miss muckyhands,as she is a woman.:D

Mohandas

paddy147 wrote: »

Its actually miss muckyhands,as she is a woman.:D

oops ! Miss it is then

Mohandas

Mohandas now has a dilemma. To cut or not to cut. Is there a consensus ?

looksee

You can do either, though there should be a trim before the spring is out. I would tend towards trimming them straight away, on the basis that when you are growing cuttings its better to reduce the amount of leaves the new plant has to support.

paddy147

Muckyhands is a horticulturalist and she will hopefully be along later on here this evening,to explain the situation with regards bare root loss to actual stem growth and sustaining it.

She knows what shes talking about,trust me on that.

muckyhands

What I was trying to say is because the plants are bare root they have lost roots when they were dug up.

Therefore there is not a sufficient root system present anymore to support the top growth that still exists.

So, you cut back hard in year one to balance out the root to shoot ratio, so the roots dont have too much top growth to support and also to ensure there are no gaps at the base of the hedge and you get even growth all over.

The plants in a hedge are planted close together in an unnatural way for the plants- so they tend to grow vertically rapidly because they are competing with one another.

To avoid this you cut back in year one.

The same principle applies whether its a formal or informal hedge.

Dirk Gently

what about laurel, planted from 2ft pots about 18 months ago. Haven't cut them at all yet but wondering if I should trim the tops to encourage side growth?

Mohandas

Thank you everyone for your kindly advice, Mohandas will get his pruners out.

muckyhands

Dirk Gently wrote: »

what about laurel, planted from 2ft pots about 18 months ago. Haven't cut them at all yet but wondering if I should trim the tops to encourage side growth?

The recommended time to prune laurel is late winter- presumably so you dont lose flowers/ berries the following year.

But they are prone to disease/ cankers which get in through wounds so for this reason prune in summer when the plant is actively growing so it can heal the wounds faster rather than it having to wait until active growth begins again.

You may lose flowers and/ or berries but thats the trade off.

Anybody else any thoughts on this?

paddy147

Newly planted bare root hornbeams in a newly made raised bed,and also clipped/pruned back to even out root to new shoot growth.

redser7

Wondering if now would be a good time to prune privet? 2 years old from bareroot. Most of it is doing nicely but some are doing the lollipop thing.
Cheers

muckyhands

redser7 wrote: »

Wondering if now would be a good time to prune privet? 2 years old from bareroot. Most of it is doing nicely but some are doing the lollipop thing.
Cheers

Usually prune in spring, before new growth starts and say twice in summer to maintain shape. Never prune in winter.


If new growth has started on your hedge I would be inclined to wait until say late april and again in the summer if needed. It may stress it out if you do it now because its using all its resources to put out the new growth- so having to put out even more growth due to pruning- may not be a good idea.

For the part of the hedge that is doing well- cut back the growing points of the main leading stems of vigorously growing plants so they will be less competition for their neighbours.

Cut back to shorten any shoots growing out at right angles to the hedge.

For those that are lollypopping- cut back the main leading stem by say one third. Shorten shoots coming off the main stem by about the same. This should stimulate growth at the base of these plants in the hedge and hopefully reduce the lollypop effect.

It may sound strange but the weaker the plant, the harder you prune it ( within reason- don' t go all out with a hedge trimmers. :eek:)

Pruning stimulates growth- so if you have one plant growing strongly and the one beside it growing weakly, cut back the weaker one more than the stronger one. This is because you dont want the stronger one to be stimulated into growing even more- due to pruning.

Apply the same principle if one side of a hedge or tree is growing more strongly than the other, to encourage growth that will help balance it out.

Don' t forget to feed your hedge after pruning because when you prune you are removing resources the plant has built up and you need to replace them for it.

redser7

Fantastic, that's a great answer. Thanks so much. Plenty of new growth going on so I'll wait a month or two.
Cheers

deremol

Muckyhands..

looking for some advice.. had an escallonia hedge which more or less got destroyed last year in the frost... left it since in the hope that it might come back to life....but it hasn't really... so I'm going to remove it and start again....:o

the advice I'm looking for is what to plant??? I need some thing that will grow to about 6 foot.. will fill out as I need to hide an old farm yard.. so it has to be something that will grow fairly quick too..

I've been looking at laurels, beech and the old reliable leylandii hedge... this I have on the opposite side of the garden, so I'm used to the hard work..... though not sure if I want another..

possibly 60-100mtr to be covered, depending on how much it will cost me..:rolleyes:

any help would be greatly appreciated..

Del.

muckyhands

deremol wrote: »

Muckyhands..

looking for some advice.. had an escallonia hedge which more or less got destroyed last year in the frost... left it since in the hope that it might come back to life....but it hasn't really... so I'm going to remove it and start again....:o

the advice I'm looking for is what to plant??? I need some thing that will grow to about 6 foot.. will fill out as I need to hide an old farm yard.. so it has to be something that will grow fairly quick too..

I've been looking at laurels, beech and the old reliable leylandii hedge... this I have on the opposite side of the garden, so I'm used to the hard work..... though not sure if I want another..

possibly 60-100mtr to be covered, depending on how much it will cost me..:rolleyes:

any help would be greatly appreciated..

Del.

Where roughly are you based? Are there any particular things it will have to cope with like exposure/ wind/ the coast/ sun/ shade etc.



I only ask because escallonia is usually wind resistant and ideal for coastal gardens but needs its own windbreak for cold areas and protection from cold winds so its only frost hardy to -5. You may want to choose something fully hardy to -15.

I think you are on the right track with beech or maybe another native hedging plant but laurel is only frost hardy so far as I know and and I would have to consider it might have the same difficulty your escallonia had in a severe winter. Our native hedging plants tend to be cheaper too.

I take my hat off to you for maintaining a Leylandi.

If I knew a little more about the site I' d be in a better position to recommend what to plant and also what would your preference be- a formally clipped hedge or something more informal/ flowering maybe?.

deremol

slap bang in the midlands...

For the most part it will be sheltered as I'm putting a panel fence behind to block out the old farm yard.... until the new hedge gets a few years growth..

The Leylandi is hard work alright, but it needs to be kept right from the start.. it's in about 6 years at this stage and I have it topped at just over 6 foot... great for privacy, but not too high to block out the views..

I don't know what to plant really... so let me know what you think..

muckyhands

deremol wrote: »

slap bang in the midlands...

For the most part it will be sheltered as I'm putting a panel fence behind to block out the old farm yard.... until the new hedge gets a few years growth..

The Leylandi is hard work alright, but it needs to be kept right from the start.. it's in about 6 years at this stage and I have it topped at just over 6 foot... great for privacy, but not too high to block out the views..

I don't know what to plant really... so let me know what you think..

All of these are fully hardy and would suit an exposed site plus make good hedging that will make the height you want.

Berberis darwinii evergreen 3m
Cotoneaster lacteus evergreen 4m
Cotoneaster simonsii decidious or evergreen 2.5m
Pyrancantha x waterii evergreen 2m

Not too sure about cost though.

Hawthorn, Crataeugus monogyna is fully hardy and would suit exposed site too and would make a good dense hedge. Likely to be cheap enough.

Beech, Fagus sylvatica is fully hardy too but might need a more sheltered site.

A fully hardy Laurel is Prunus laurocerasus 'Otto Luyken' good for exposed sites but only reaches 1.2m.

Have a look at those and see what you think of them.

muckyhands

If you are putting up a fence that is to provide shelter while a hedge establishes don' t go for a solid one. It will actually make the wind stronger as it hits off it.

Go for something that will allow the wind to pass through, like a hit and miss fence or willow screen type, or even just wind break netting, which will slow the wind down.

deremol

Thanks Muckyhands,

Going to go with the Laurel.. post and rail fence with netting on it.. so fingers crossed all will go well...

Old hedge has since been removed, a few stumps yet to get rid of but getting there...

I'm going to be busy next week.. :rolleyes:

I presume I still have a couple of weeks to put in the laurels??