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Advice for a tired overgrown hedge.

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  • 03-09-2018 2:35pm
    #1
    andybookie
    Registered Users Posts: 123 ✭✭


    I have recently bought a house and the hedge is overgrown and looking rather tired.

    https://imgur.com/OO6Cq63

    According to Google Street View the same hedge once looked like this (9 years ago).

    https://imgur.com/acArbeR

    Can this hedge once again achieve it's former glory and if so, how best to go about this?

    Or is it a case of ripping out and starting over?

    Thanks
    Tagged:


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    #2
    Harry Palmr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 40,061 ✭✭✭✭Harry Palmr


    Was the hedge chopped back before your bought the place? Was it like that when you first saw it for viewing? It looks like someone went at it and the greenery is this summers growth on top of previously bare branches (after the likely cutting back).


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    #3
    andybookie
    Registered Users Posts: 123 ✭✭andybookie


    I'm not sure when but it seems as though it has.
    Some advice I'm getting is severely cut back even cut down the trunk to 6 inches above ground.

    I'd like to know the cheapest and most effective way to save it.


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    #4
    Harry Palmr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 40,061 ✭✭✭✭Harry Palmr


    Cut it back as suggested though maybe a foot would be fine - it'll obviously take some years to fully form as a green hedge but that's the way of it. Given the Autumn is here I'd wait until the winter and then cut it - buy a pair of good "loppers" and a standard hand saw, if you don't have them already. Just lop/cut every thing off above a foot and then chop back any protruding lateral branches on each trunk so you end up with a coherent shape to each.

    Another close up picture of say two 'clusters' from inside the front wall would be handy :)

    Any dead wood within the structure should be removed and the whole thing given plenty of water once done, if left till winter the dormancy will help reduce the "shock" as all the greenery/photosynthesis is lost.


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    #5
    Teyla Emmagan
    Registered Users Posts: 5,641 ✭✭✭Teyla Emmagan


    Someone has hacked it to bits. It will recover if it is left alone


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    #6
    GrumpyMe
    Registered Users Posts: 1,195 ✭✭✭GrumpyMe


    Teyla Emmagan wrote: »
    Someone has hacked it to bits. It will recover if it is left alone
    ^^^^

    That, and the dry summer wouldn't have helped as well.


    Get it some serious watering and a mulch to keep it moist.


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    #7
    my3cents
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,764 ✭✭✭my3cents


    Just wait OP in a couple of years you'll be cursing that hedge for how well it will grow.


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    #8
    Lumen
    Registered Users Posts: 31,072 ✭✭✭✭Lumen


    Two hard prunes in the same year doesn't leave enough recovery time.

    I'd leave it for a year or two.


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    #9
    Hocus Focus
    Registered Users Posts: 754 ✭✭✭Hocus Focus


    A more effective and quicker acting solution would be to 'lay' the hedge, i.e. cutting part-way through the stems/trunks and bending them over. The result will be that new vertical shoots will appear all along these horizontal bent-over sections and you will have luxuriant growth quite quickly.

    First cut back all the branches on the side which will be facing down when the trunk is bent, then with a normal hand-saw make an angled cut (about 15 deg from the vertical)about 3/4 way through and bend it back from this.

    Google laying a hedge to see pictures, don't be intimidated by the complicated techniques suggested and make your cuts 9-12" from the ground.


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