new to hedgelaying

[organic guy]

Looking good.

Important to pleach low as your regrowth will come from the stump(which you have done)

Use your axe or billhook to lever over the pleacher so it splits into the ground,  not up the stem(Hakes tooth).

It will still grow but has more to heal over so let's in more disease. 

Looks excellent for first attempt 

[fleehillfarm]

Thanks for the encouragement from the last replies. At the bottom of the field I am working in is a row of very overgrown and neglected hazel trees desperately in need of coppicing. Plenty of material for stakes and long thin bits for binding?. Is there really any point to the finishing touches or is that just for competitions? As one reply said a real life hedge that is overgrown for years is full of gaps and a lot of the growth isn't even in the original line of the hedge as it's just old hawthorn and blackthorn that self seeded years ago that you are using for pleachers. 

[Stere]

Binders & stakes would make  it more stock proof as well as looking tidy but as you already have pig netting I suppose its not needed.

 

 

[Will C]

Where it’s laid low I wouldn’t worry, most low styles like Dorset, Devon and iow don’t have stakes. Crooks could be as helpful

[organic guy]

You need to make sure your pleachers cannot get blown out of the hedge, hence differentethods of securing them.

Crooks in Devon ,different types of staking in different parts of the country.

I use string round to make a bundle on stuff I do on the farm but remove string in a year.

If you are not exposed to the wind you can do nothing. 

[organic guy]

BHHA "skills of the Hills" tomorrow. Anyone going?

[fleehillfarm]

Could I ask another quick question please. When I recently layed some hedge some of the pleachers were hawthorn which were quite big probably 5 inches or so in diameter. when I laid them I left most of the top growth on as can be seen in earlier pictures.  Is it the case that the tops should be cut back to help the pleachers survive? Is the small amount of bark left enough to allow sufficient sap to rise to cope with all that top growth? Many thanks. 

[organic guy]

2 hours ago, fleehillfarm said:

Could I ask another quick question please. When I recently layed some hedge some of the pleachers were hawthorn which were quite big probably 5 inches or so in diameter. when I laid them I left most of the top growth on as can be seen in earlier pictures.  Is it the case that the tops should be cut back to help the pleachers survive? Is the small amount of bark left enough to allow sufficient sap to rise to cope with all that top growth? Many thanks. 

Good question. I don't exactly know the answer and have never done accurate enough trials to work it out.

Devon hedges on a bank often remove 80% of the top growth.

I work on the theory of removing the top to the same % I have cut through the stem, so remove 75% of the top if I have cut 75% of the stem, particularly with big old stuff which is very brittle.

My tip of the day, if cutting old big stuff leave until you have "mouse ears" , little leaflets, the sap is rising so the stem is less brittle.

[kav]

On 12/03/2024 at 19:58, organic guy said:

Good question. I don't exactly know the answer and have never done accurate enough trials to work it out.

Devon hedges on a bank often remove 80% of the top growth.

I work on the theory of removing the top to the same % I have cut through the stem, so remove 75% of the top if I have cut 75% of the stem, particularly with big old stuff which is very brittle.

My tip of the day, if cutting old big stuff leave until you have "mouse ears" , little leaflets, the sap is rising so the stem is less brittle.

Yeah I found bigger stuff lays so much better late in the season-always risks running out if time though