Beech hedging

ganger

I got 5 foot beech hedging planted about 1 year ago,they are thriving but i was wondering do i need to "top" them ?.If so when is the best time ?//

paddy147

Now,as in June-July

LaChatteGitane

We trim our beech hedges once in June and once in September.

Oldtree

I trim mine with a sacutares in mid winter, optimum time to prune a tree but now is also a good time as paddy147 suggested. Avoid spring and autumn. I prune to just above a bud on the branch with each cut which avoids dieback.

paddy147

My missus just pruned back the hornbeam hedging today,for the 1st time this season.

Going to make for a lovely full hedge,and the hornbeam is growing rather rapidly too,thanks to the soil preperation and regular liquid feeding..:)

LaChatteGitane

Oldtree wrote: »

I trim mine with a sacutares in mid winter, optimum time to prune a tree but now is also a good time as paddy147 suggested. Avoid spring and autumn. I prune to just above a bud on the branch with each cut which avoids dieback.

Strange isn't it ? In Belgium it is the 'rule' to trim beech hedges twice a year as I said in my previous post. When I said September, I meant early September.
Pruning, if needed, gets done in February.

Oldtree

I only trim mine once a year as I like the effect there is no reason not to do it twice a year if you are that way inclined.

As regards when to prune beech, a tree, you can prune what you like when you like in your garden, but the best advice as to when to do pruning of a tree (in general Paddy147 ) i.e. the optimum times to allow the tree to recover from the wounds, is mid summer and mid winter, as in spring the tree is best focusing its energy on startup rether than recovery and in autumn the tree is best focusing its energy on shutdown.

The Waxbill

Wow paddy the hornbeam has come on well, I remember following the thread when you planted it. I've got a hornbeam hedge in it's second year myself, I was thinking of giving it a liquid feed. Do you mind me asking what feed you used? It could work out expensive for me though as I've 150m of hedge.

paddy147

The Waxbill wrote: »

Wow paddy the hornbeam has come on well, I remember following the thread when you planted it. I've got a hornbeam hedge in it's second year myself, I was thinking of giving it a liquid feed. Do you mind me asking what feed you used? It could work out expensive for me though as I've 150m of hedge.

Doff multi purpose liquid feed with a bit of homemade tomato feed mixed in too.


45ml added to each 10 litre watering can,and then we spray the leaves down at the base with the watering hose,to wash off any liquid feed that may get on the leaves (possible burning of leaves).1 full watering can does around 5 hornbeams.

The hornbeam is absolutely flying,but thats all thanks to my missus,who spent alot of time with regards the actual soil preperation,prunning back,and then the liquid feeding.

She designed the garden on paper and on laptop,then she built it and then planted it up,all from scratch.:)

PS-Soil prep was a case of taking out all of the old shyte soil and adding in a few tons of new screened topsoil,and then mixing in various amounts of compost,manure,fertiliser pellets and also horticultural grit too.

The Waxbill

Thanks Paddy, as I thought that would work out expensive for me, I think I've got around 250 hornbeam in there, it seems to be doing alright anyway. I hadn't thought about pruning it back a bit yet though.

paddy147

The Waxbill wrote: »

Thanks Paddy, as I thought that would work out expensive for me, I think I've got around 250 hornbeam in there, it seems to be doing alright anyway. I hadn't thought about pruning it back a bit yet though.

Could you buy liquid feed in bulk somewhere,like an agri co-op or a wholesalers like NAD??;)

My missus swears by pruning back hornbeam around this time of year.Shes the real gardener,not me,I only take the pics.:D

rhonin

paddy147 wrote: »

Doff multi purpose liquid feed with a bit of homemade tomato feed mixed in too.


45ml added to each 10 litre watering can,and then we spray the leaves down at the base with the watering hose,to wash off any liquid feed that may get on the leaves (possible burning of leaves).1 full watering can does around 5 hornbeams.

The hornbeam is absolutely flying,but thats all thanks to my missus,who spent alot of time with regards the actual soil preperation,prunning back,and then the liquid feeding.

She designed the garden on paper and on laptop,then she built it and then planted it up,all from scratch.:)

PS-Soil prep was a case of taking out all of the old shyte soil and adding in a few tons of new screened topsoil,and then mixing in various amounts of compost,manure,fertiliser pellets and also horticultural grit too.

That hedge looks great. We have a hornbeam hedge which we planted last year. Been wondering what to feed it with. Might give that a try.
Cheers for that.

paddy147

rhonin wrote: »

That hedge looks great. We have a hornbeam hedge which we planted last year. Been wondering what to feed it with. Might give that a try.
Cheers for that.

Im only typing what my missus was saying to me yesterday.;)

Shes currently off opening up the bee hives at the moment and making a new nuc of bees.:D

rhonin

paddy147 wrote: »

Im only typing what my missus was saying to me yesterday.;)

Shes currently off opening up the bee hives at the moment and making a new nuc of bees.:D

How much does she prune off the hedge?

paddy147

rhonin wrote: »

How much does she prune off the hedge?

Havent a clue how much or how she prunes it,but I will ask her when she gets back from the bees.:)

I know that she only prunes certain branches and in at a certain angle too.
She will probably even post here later on herself.;)

PS-I know she pruned them back hard when they were planted,and now she pruned them back again yesterday,but I wouldnt know how exactly,as Im not the gardener..

paddy147

I do know that soil preperation and soil quality is allways top of her aganda when planting anything,and regular feeding too.

paddy147

I can post pics of the soil/ground preperation for the hornbeams and the entire garden,and what was involved in planting them in "bareroot" form.

Might be of some use to some people out there.??:)

rhonin

paddy147 wrote: »

I can post pics of the soil/ground preperation for the hornbeams and the entire garden,and what was involved in planting them in "bareroot" form.

Might be of some use to some people out there.??:)

Yeah would be a good idea if you don't mind.

paddy147

rhonin wrote: »

Yeah would be a good idea if you don't mind.

I,ll "dig" them out so (bad pun,sorry).:o:D

paddy147

some pics.

Several tons of old shyte soil,grass and rubble removed by the missus and new topsoil,manure,compost horticultural grit and fertilizer pellets installed/dug in.

Breroot hornbeams watered down,prior to planting,to prevent drying out and shock.

Bareroots planted and pruned back too,so the energy goes back into the roots and not the shoots.

Watered daily and liquid fed every 3 weeks.All work done by my missus.:)

paddy147

Other side of garden.

LaChatteGitane

We've got a few 100 mtr of beech hedge, which we 'inherited' when we bought the house. They were tall, some still are and if we're still here come winter, they'll be cut back a fair bit.
Here's just a snippet of hedge (a pic from last year)

muckyhands

If planting hedges with bareroot plants, cut back by a third to a half straight after planting. Cut back any branches growing at right angles to the hedge.

Always prepare the soil well, esp if beside a wall, add plenty of farmyard manure(helps hold moisture as along a wall will be dry).

With beech/ or hornbeam as I happen to have planted in my garden- and I have said this before :D:D dont prune in spring theyre busy producing new leaves, dont prune in autumn theyre shutting down for the winter...

Dont prune in winter, theyre resting/ dormant and cannot deal with it, IMO:D.

Prune in the summer but wait til late summer if you dont want hedge to put on too much growth before autumn.

As in beech/ hornbeam- flower/ berry considerations not taken into account as not usually grown for these qualitys.

I usually use blood, fish and bone or mulch with farmyard manure- might be more cost effective/ liquid feeds can be good too though.

Hope this helps some.

muckyhands

Just to add, in case... because its pruning, at not the best time. :rolleyes::eek:

The reason being, IMO.

With Bareroot plants they have been grown in the ground/ then dug up- which equals root loss- you compensate for this by cutting back shoots at planting time, but thats not the only reason.

bareroot or not- formative pruning is essential.

LaChatteGitane

More pics of our many beech hedges

At the front of the house. Has been trimmed last week.



Arches


This was also a very tall one, which we cut right back a few winters ago.

paddy147

When you dig up your bare roots,make sure to give them a good watering over the roots,as this will prevent/delay any shock to the bare roots,before being replanted.

This is important for the bare roots to survive and establish themselves.


Also,the more crap and crud you can take out of the ground,then the better the hedging and various plants/flowers will grow.My missus had ro remove alot of 804 hardcore and builders rubble that had got trampled/enbedded into the ground around the house from when the builders were working away.

There was also alot of sharp sand,dashing and cement mashed into the ground too,so allmost all of the soil and ground was dug up by herself,and it was disposed of to a recycling centre.Then several tons of new topsoil,compost,manure,horticultrual grit and fertilizer pellets were shoveled in and leveled off to make the new gardens


They key to good hedging and plants is good soil/ground preperation.:)

paddy147

Chip bark/bark mulch is also very good at keeping out frost in wintertime and also keeping moisture in summertime,after it has rained.So too is Mypex membrane.

Allways handy on those "rare" warm sunny days.And on those long cold icy/frosty winter days and nights too.