Hawthorn reduction advice please.

[Gnarlyoak]

I've got no real issue with walloping them in one hit, just wanted to make sure that by doing so the trees had some reasonable chance of survival afterwards. In particular my concerns lay around the timing. I know hawthorns are pretty bomb proof and respond strongly to judicious pruning, but practically felling the tree to a 6-8ft stump just as the leaves are starting to open I was unsure of what the long term implications might be.

 

I should mention that these trees appear to be part of some former hedgerow boundary, a number of which have grown taller than others, the overall plan is to reduce them all to approximately the same height, which entails a drastic reduction on some whilst other can be more sympathetically reduced without losing most of the leaf canopy area.

[Mesterh]

Wouldnt you be better off trying to lay them rather than cut down to stumps?

 

BTW dont ask me for advice on how to do this because I aint a clue but thought it may be an option.

[Peter]

If its a choice between reduce to 6 foot or fell, then it doesnt really matter whether they survive or not. Either way, you get paid and the client is happy.

 

FWIW, I think they will survive.

[MattyF]

take them too 6" rather than 6ft in my experience even in droughts it copices well wich is better than future hedge fliailing bouning off 6ft stumps to get a level

[Hodge]

It seems to me that your client isn't really that bothered as to whether they are there or not. If after all your advice his response is 'fell them' then that says alot about him:thumbdown: Would there be much difference in price with the phased reduction approach as opposed to reducing them to 6' stumps in one hit? Maybe this is bothering him as you suggest.

 

lovely bird in your profile pic grizzly.

[waz77]

Cant you coppice the ones that are too big to lay then lay the rest? Coppiced stumps will grow up through the layed hedge then. Are they too big to flail? A couple of hundred for a flail and driver for the day would save you a lot of hard work and scratches.

[Grizzly]

lovely bird in your profile pic grizzly.

 

Cheers mate, he's a wonderfull bird to fly, really well behaved:001_smile: