Hedging/Hedgelaying advice

[Mattn]

We have a hazel hedge which runs the length of the garden. You can see the hazel has previously been laid but there has been no new growth from the pleachers and much of it is dead and has broken off from the cuts. All the new growth is from the stool which is roughly now 15-25ft therefore I want to lay it again. It is so tall it is encroaching on other trees along the border which we would like to open up so we are able to appreciate them.

 

It is also quite a patchy hedge and I would quite like to put more varieties in to bulk it out. This means it is currently a hazel every few feet with dead material laid inbetween. Therefore shall lay the hazel and then plant saplings? Or plant some and wait until the saplings become more established and lay it all as one?

 

If I lay the hazel shall I remove the previously laid material (even if it still attached to the new growth). It looks as if some of it has been laid quite high off the ground meaning it will be difficult to lay the new growth over the top. 

 

Another option would be to coppice the hazel and plant other varieties and wait for several years and lay it then? If so how many years could it be before it is established enough to lay. 

 

I have some experience hedgelaying but never just Hazel. Any tips/advice will be greatly appreciated. 

[Will C]

Put a picture up, it’s easier to help so you will get better and more responses.
 

For a start I would remove the dead, depending on the height of the hedge you should fill some of the gaps by laying it. 
If you lay it in a low style like Dorset you can plash down some hazel so it takes root in the gaps as well. (This can be done with higher styles but the stem layed flat to take root may look a little odd.)

 

where abouts are you in the country? There are some of on here that lay or look up on here:

NHLS

WWW.HEDGELAYING.ORG.UK

 

Edited September 23, 2021 by Will C
NHLS link

[Guest Gimlet]

Agree we need pics, but it sounds like a standard neglected and overstood hazel hedge. Pleachers die when the new leaders which sprout from the heal cut out-compete them. The tree then transfers its energy to those leaders and the old pleachers die. Not all species do this but hazel certainly does, and when the leaders start to look mossy and sickly and there's a mass of new leaders growing from the stool, it's a sure sign that the hedge needs to be relaid. So yes, you need to cut out the old pleachers. 

 

As to gaps, with these hazels hedges I tend to infill with more hazel whips when the hedge has been cleaned out prior to laying, and then lay the existing stems over the new whips. You can mix in other species but hazel will vastly out compete pretty much all of them, so if you want your infill planting to keep pace with the new growth, only more hazel will manage it. You can (and should) plant other species for bio-diversity but they're a future investment. Don't rely on them to fill gaps because you'll have laid the hazel probably at least twice more before they make any structural contribution. 

 

Hawthorn will cope well with being overshadowed by fast growing hazel, but it will take much longer to become layable. Guelder Rose and Wayfaring Tree will manage quite well too (Wayfaring tree is fairly fast growing) but Crab Apple will struggle if it is swamped.