Can Beech be hedgelayed?

[Stere]

Looks really professional

 

What tools did you use for the larger pleacher cuts, chainsaw axe or billhook etc?

 

Iv'e done a LANTRA course but hedge we did never looked as good as any pics on here. We never trimmed the hedge a tidy shape along the top & sides after laying it.

 

Do you use a petrol hedge trimmer?

[Yorkshire Brummie]

Thought I'd just update we did the hedge. I don't think it looks too bad I know the professional hedge layers will think differently but customer was happy. Really enjoyed doing it and leaving something looking pretty smart at the end. 

That’s the dogs diddlers [emoji106][emoji106] great job!

[Duncan.]

Thanks! Yeah I was really happy with it. Although I think the crap camera probably makes it look better. I'll try and take a photo with a better camera. Used chainsaw and axe. Most of the work with the chainsaw then finish it off with the axe. A lot of the trees were around 8-10 inches so would be hard going with just an axe.

Also struggled to get a nice straight line with the stakes and binders because the wood was so big it made it hard to thread them through the hedge.

[Guest Gimlet]

Nothing wrong with that Duncan. You've done a fine job, looks smashing. Should leaf up nicely. Ideally the customer needs to resist the urge to trim it for a year or two.

 

Keeping the stakes straight can be tricky. It's best not to try and weave too much of the top growth in too tightly until the binders have gone on. Sometimes you need to tension a pleacher against a stake and that pushes the stake out of line. If you lay a few more, those pleachers will then tie the tensioned one in place and you can go back and lift the wonky stake and reposition it. If a stem is really stubborn and misshapen and you can't stop it pushing a stake out of line, I'll leave that stake there and drive in another that's in line than go back and trim the other one off below the binder line afterwards. 

 

I like stakes that aren't perfectly straight, If they've got a bit of a kick at one end I'll put the kinked end in the ground, then you can get some directional adjustment from the stake after its been hammered in by turning it. 

You can also go back and lift wayward stakes after the binders have been wound on. Lift the stake through the binders until the tip is clear of the hedge stems and more often than not the binders will pull the stake back into line and it can be driven back in correctly. 

[Yorkshire Brummie]

Thanks! Yeah I was really happy with it. Although I think the crap camera probably makes it look better. I'll try and take a photo with a better camera. Used chainsaw and axe. Most of the work with the chainsaw then finish it off with the axe. A lot of the trees were around 8-10 inches so would be hard going with just an axe.
Also struggled to get a nice straight line with the stakes and binders because the wood was so big it made it hard to thread them through the hedge.

Are the stakes and binders hazel? How did you source them? Did you coppice them yourself?
The job has transformed that hedge, great legacy for nature and I’m not surprised your punters are chuffed, that’s great to see every time you drive home.

[Duncan.]

Nice one Gimlet some very useful advice there thanks.

Yeah they are Hazel, I found a chap not too far about 15 miles way who works a coppice and was really helpful. 

Yes used a hedge cutter for a bit of tidying the hedge but mostly with loppers cutting off the wayward bits that I couldn't weave back in.

[John Esling]

Yes.  I've done it.  Its a year old now and looks fine. (apologies for the quality of the picture).