For those of you who have never seen our place or what are hedges looked like here goes. We have hedges that go all the way around our property (sides and back but not in the front). Here is a picture of what some of our near 8 feet tall hedges look like. You can tell that they are misshaped as they look like a V and are supposed to look like an A. Dave loves our hedges as it is our living fence and really isolates us from the neighbors (you feel like you are out in the woods) and reduces a ton of noise, etc.
I convinced Dave to let me cut down some test pilot hedges to see how the rejuvenational method would work. He told me in no uncertain terms that I could only cut down 6-8 hedges in the back of the house. Well, I did that back in April. Every day since I cut them down he would run out to check to see if there was any growth. Here is how far I cut them back. I cut them down to 2-3 inches from the ground/root stalk to rejuvenate a healthy shrub.
As we were nearing June our hedges were still brown but had a few random green leaves here an there and looked like the bottom was trying to come back. I quick visit with Dr. John Ball, SD State Forester and he confirmed that our hedges were winter killed and injured and gave me/us two options. Cut them down now (had to be done the first week in June--no later) in hopes of rejuvenating them or wait till next spring and see what over winters and then cut them down to 2-3 inches. Basically, we needed to cut them down and we needed to decided when we were going to do it as there was no guarantee that they would come back either way. We decided to go for broke that weekend and cut down all the hedges. We did leave the small patch that came back--basically because we were sick of cutting hedges and hauling branches! Let's just say with all the hedges being cut down around our place we are left feeling totally exposed.
Here is a picture that we took about a month ago showing the sprouting hedges. We or I should say Dave has already trimmed the hedges once this summer. You get two sprouts for every one cut you make and our plan is to shape the hedges into a healthy A hedge where you have green growth/tissue all the way to the bottom and not as much hedge towards the tops. Our hedges are about 2 1/2 to 3 feet already and need to be cut back again. We, I mean Dave needs to cut them again but all this rain that we have had lately has really put a damper on his hedge trimming opportunity. FYI, we have had all but one hedge come back but you know for as big as our hedges were it could have been dead last year and we may have just missed it.
I convinced Dave to let me cut down some test pilot hedges to see how the rejuvenational method would work. He told me in no uncertain terms that I could only cut down 6-8 hedges in the back of the house. Well, I did that back in April. Every day since I cut them down he would run out to check to see if there was any growth. Here is how far I cut them back. I cut them down to 2-3 inches from the ground/root stalk to rejuvenate a healthy shrub.
As we were nearing June our hedges were still brown but had a few random green leaves here an there and looked like the bottom was trying to come back. I quick visit with Dr. John Ball, SD State Forester and he confirmed that our hedges were winter killed and injured and gave me/us two options. Cut them down now (had to be done the first week in June--no later) in hopes of rejuvenating them or wait till next spring and see what over winters and then cut them down to 2-3 inches. Basically, we needed to cut them down and we needed to decided when we were going to do it as there was no guarantee that they would come back either way. We decided to go for broke that weekend and cut down all the hedges. We did leave the small patch that came back--basically because we were sick of cutting hedges and hauling branches! Let's just say with all the hedges being cut down around our place we are left feeling totally exposed.
Here is a picture that we took about a month ago showing the sprouting hedges. We or I should say Dave has already trimmed the hedges once this summer. You get two sprouts for every one cut you make and our plan is to shape the hedges into a healthy A hedge where you have green growth/tissue all the way to the bottom and not as much hedge towards the tops. Our hedges are about 2 1/2 to 3 feet already and need to be cut back again. We, I mean Dave needs to cut them again but all this rain that we have had lately has really put a damper on his hedge trimming opportunity. FYI, we have had all but one hedge come back but you know for as big as our hedges were it could have been dead last year and we may have just missed it.
2 comments:
That is interesting! We also have hedges that line our entire back yard. I agree, it makes a great natural privacy fence. I was going to email you this spring to ask for advice, becuase the drifts were so high this winter that the rabbits ate quite a few of them on one side of our yard, grrr. I thought they were going to completely die, but most of them have now come back quite nicely.
That's the nice thing about rabbits (if there is anything nice to say about rabbits) is they help with the rejuvenational prunning! But it is quite scary to see them chewed down to almost nothing!
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