Is it to late to lay a hedge

[woodland dweller]

As per title, i told a customer i would do the job but been to busy.

Its a really scrappy / patchy hedge about 7ft tall, mostly elm with bare 1 inch stems and top regrowth from machine flailing.

I don't think it will last another year without being layed, and looks bad as it is.

 

 

[Exmoor Chris]

Are they on a grant for it? If so a definite no no. Birds are nesting now and the sap is rising. If you can I'd wait until winter. 

[drinksloe]

I don't lay hedges but I lad I work with does.

 

He was on about this the other week seemingly u can't flail a hedge after march but u can lay 1 till end April on grant schemes.

Was saying bonkers

He reckoned doesn't do any harm with sap rising, but possibly species dependant.

I only remember as was surprised, reckoned the old saying lay when an R in month wasn't too far off ( althou may depend how far south u are)

[Stere]

I read that coppicing in summer does no harm for hazels regen ability so wonder if  that means laying in summer wouls be ok for the trees

 

 

apart from the birds

[Will C]

Most trees are fine being cut in the summer.
I’ve layed the odd bit to fill a gap to make access harder for the wood fairies whilst in leaf, that was thorn and it just carried on like nothing had happened.

[openspaceman]

16 hours ago, Stere said:

I read that coppicing in summer does no harm for hazels regen ability so wonder if  that means laying in summer wouls be ok for the trees

 

Cutting a stool and adventitious shoots then sprouting in coppice is quite different from laying a stem. The laying depends on thinning down the stem to form a laminate of wood-wood cambium-bark cambium and bark such that it can be bent without disrupting any of the laminate layers. In spring the phloem is dividing  and soft so bending it disrupts it..

 

Just take a twig and bend it, the bark side on the inside of the bend wrinkles and this is exactly what you are avoiding with a plash cut where you want the laid stem to continue living by having a smooth transition that preserves all the layers.

Edited April 8, 2021 by openspaceman