Hedging - When do you cut back?

yop

Folks
I have privet down a year exactly, its about 1ft to 18 inches high now. There are buds/leave on the last 6 inches of each plant (500 in total)

when should I cut these back?

How much do you cut down?

Could I use the cuttings for more hedging? If I can how do you go about using cuttings?

Thanks very much

para45

Dear Yop

I am not sure about when to cut privet but what I have been doing with clippings of hedging and other is taking root powder and puting them on the bottom of the stem and then placing these cuttings in pots with compost in my conservatory. If they are woody type cutting then wet the tips before putting the hormone root powder on . Dont dip the wet stem into the container but tip some out on to the lid as not to get dampness in the container and to spoil it .

500 that must have been some job


Sorry dont know the correct time to cut:)

looksee

Privet is a very tough plant that will survive almost any abuse! Trim it now, and cut off maybe the top 4 inches or so. Go for a straight line rather than worrying about individual bushes. If you do not cut it back regularly at this stage it will grow with a bare patch along the bottom. Try putting some of the cuttings in water and some with the rooting powder to see which works best for you.

para45

Yob . Look see has a lot of knowledge . He helped me with hedging stuff.

para45

Sorry Yob

for crashing on to your tread but want to ask looksee while he is hereD

Look see do you know anything about
Elaeagnus x ebbingei

I put some Elaeagnus x ebbingei down almost 6 weeks ago and they are not loking that great. They were in 2 L pots 50- 80 cm and lovely looking .

I put loads of lovely compost down etc and as they were in pots they were buried as deep as per they should . Well we had the mad winds 4 or 7 days after they were put in and were madly shook up been watering them the first week almost every day or every second and then every third day afterwards.

Every third bunch of 2- 4 is looking dead with the leaves withering the ones that werent planted the best and loose from the wind are the best looking which doesnt make sense .

I know they are hardy and dont need a lot of water but also know they need more water when newly planted before establishing

looksee

I am flattered by your kind words!

About the elaeganus, I am not particularly familiar with the ebbingei, but generally elaegnus is a fairly robust plant. Its very possible your plants got windburn, though its a bit strange for odd ones out of a number to be affected. All I can suggest is that you leave them for a while, you could trim off any very badly affected withered twig ends and see what happens.

What sort of compost was it? Was it commercial? Are the affected ones exposed to wind more than the others? Any chance of a photo? I think you were just unlucky with the weather, if the plants had come out of a sheltered nursery area straight out into an open garden they could have been affected by the bitterly cold weather.

para45

Hi . No they are totaly withered no good leaves on some of the plants that are affected.

Ah this compost stuff. comercial ( The compost was mixed in with t he soil) you buy in bags that I have used many times over most likely same stuff that was in pots with plants. I live by the coast and it doesnt look like windburn .

I know they got knocked about with those bad windy days that we had for 2days a few weeks ago but I have double windnetting you know the comercial building netting you put next to scaffolding to stop debris falling on people. as a wind break more from the bad windy side re sea burn .

The funny thing is I ran out of netting and the first 5 or 8 dont have any netting to protect from the elements from the bad side and they look OK . well maybe 2 of them have started looking withered but weeks later and they sill look beter than most. 3 of them have netting on the one side and a bush of some sort on the other and they look brilliant .

They were on the side of the house for a week before planting and was used to the wind which didnt seam to affect them at that point . They were watered and look after well at this point also


I dont understrand it as they are very hardy and did all the same with the lot. They werent the most expensive but still forked out €4.28 each * 70 and its more the time that was spend for preperations etc . The were nice healthy big plants when they arrived. And its not like me to have plants dieing on me normally

looksee

I really don't know what the problem could be, apart from shock of moving. Scrap a tiny bit of bark away with your thumbnail and see if there is any live green/white on the stem. You could cut away any that is dead, back to live wood, but if it is dead all the way down it is gone and it would be worth taking one up and seeing what the roots look like. They really should not have died completely in the time. You are always going to lose one or two in a mass planting, but this is very quick.

para45

Thanx. The misses actually went out this afternoon and did the nail scrapping and she says it looks like they not dead. Should i cut them down a little bit then now or is it to soon:)

I Am more thinking it might just be shock from moving them from the lovely nursery environment

looksee

I would cut them back to live wood now, encourage new buds to form on the green wood.

yop

Thanks very much folks, I appreciate the info.

Ok so what you are saying now that I cut (the lovely budding top of each hedge plant ) down by 4" in a straight across cut and I can do it now??
If I do it now do I still need to water it regular or will it be ok?
In nearly all cases the bottom 1/2 of the hedge plants are bare, if I cut these back will these inspire the bottom stems to bud?


So then I have about 500 ( I think about 30 died in frost ) hedge cuttings.

So if these are "straight cut" at the bottom do I just break off the bottom few stems about 1" up the steam?
Then I dip these each in a tiny bit of rooting powder and put in a pot of compost?

If I have a 10" pot how many hedge plants can I put in each?
How long do I leave each plant in the compost before I transplant into the ground again?

I presume I water these daily and keep in a sunny and wind shelter spot?

Sorry about all the questions but I tried to do cuttings last year and none survived!!


When you cut back say an 18" hedge plant by 4", will it grow again faster or that a myth?