Conny hedge reduction - best time?

[rowan lee]

Hi All

I have a well kept 8ft high x 4 ft wide x 50 feet long leylandi hedge I want to reduce in height. I want to take it down to about 4.5/5 feet so its a little easier to handle when giving its a cut.

Just wondering when the best time to do such a hard reduction is. I was thinking April when the worst of the frosts have past. Am I right in thinking a hard frost could do some serious damage to such a wounding this time of year?

thanks.

[Mick Dempsey]

No, won't do any damage, do it now, before birds start nesting.

[daltontrees]

Hi All

I have a well kept 8ft high x 4 ft wide x 50 feet long leylandi hedge I want to reduce in height. I want to take it down to about 4.5/5 feet so its a little easier to handle when giving its a cut.

Just wondering when the best time to do such a hard reduction is. I was thinking April when the worst of the frosts have past. Am I right in thinking a hard frost could do some serious damage to such a wounding this time of year?

thanks.

 

April is optimum, leylandii is best cut in spring just after its spring growth spurt. Cutting it earlier than that will leave it susceptible to drying winds that could turn it brown. The removal of a lot of height would weaken its chances of drawing up water to combat drying. Although frosts at 4 or 5 feet are not as severe as ground frosts, they can do damage to woulds particularly if you want to cut stems and branches in the optimum 'natural target' position to encourage healing over, a hard air frost I think would kill cambium back a centimetre or so on larger cuts and could be enough to cause healing to fail completely. That's what I've observed anyway.

 

A tight leyland hedge is not great for bird nesting, but if you're worried about birds in teh late spring, just watch the hedge for 20 minutes for any comung and going of birds, and be prepared to stop if you find an active nest while cutting, you cna apways come bact to it in early autumn (the next best time for cutting, after the autumn spurt).

 

Have a look here Care - Trimming and Maintenance | Leylandii it suggests spring.

 

Also maybe consider a phased job, 1 1/2 feet this year and the same again next year. Or better still, cut one side this year and the other next year. Or take out every second stem to the final height this year and the rest next year., it cnan be a nightmare extracting parts becuase they all knit together but it's possible and it's only 50' long so not that bad.

 

8 down to 4 1/2 is a lot, I am involved in a lot of high hedge cases and I see hedges dying from one-off reductions of this scale.

[Mick Dempsey]

The top of any central stems of a lowered leylandii hedge are effectively dead anyway.

A tight leylandii hedge IS great for bird nesting. Many years of reducing them has shown me that.

Phased job? Ridiculous

Every second stem? Even more ridiculous.

[rowan lee]

Thanks for the info lads. Slightly conflicting answers, but I'll have a go at it middle of this coming month I think.

[daltontrees]

The top of any central stems of a lowered leylandii hedge are effectively dead anyway.

A tight leylandii hedge IS great for bird nesting. Many years of reducing them has shown me that.

Phased job? Ridiculous

Every second stem? Even more ridiculous.

 

Must you insult? I have done phased reductions and they worked, saving a hedge from otherwise certain death. The OP can make his own mind up from the conflicting advice, my advice being based on research, experience, checking 3 authoritative texts and yers of experimentation and a presumption that the OP doesn't want to take excessive risk of the hedge dying. Your one-liner would rely on the OP assuming you know everything about everything. Which you clearly do, so I must be wrong. Sorry.

[Gary Prentice]

8 down to 4 1/2 is a lot, I am involved in a lot of high hedge cases and I see hedges dying from one-off reductions of this scale.

 

I wouldn't want to be guaranteeing survival on those percentages either. In certain circumstances I've reduced well over the recommended 30% maximum, but always on tall hedges.

[Mick Dempsey]

Must you insult? I have done phased reductions and they worked, saving a hedge from otherwise certain death. The OP can make his own mind up from the conflicting advice, my advice being based on research, experience, checking 3 authoritative texts and yers of experimentation and a presumption that the OP doesn't want to take excessive risk of the hedge dying. Your one-liner would rely on the OP assuming you know everything about everything. Which you clearly do, so I must be wrong. Sorry.

 

Apology accepted.

[inthewoods]

Must you insult? I have done phased reductions and they worked, saving a hedge from otherwise certain death. The OP can make his own mind up from the conflicting advice, my advice being based on research, experience, checking 3 authoritative texts and yers of experimentation and a presumption that the OP doesn't want to take excessive risk of the hedge dying. Your one-liner would rely on the OP assuming you know everything about everything. Which you clearly do, so I must be wrong. Sorry.