How are your hedgerows?

It really was one of the biggest slips back in the 90 at climate actions and negotiation not to get hedgerows included as Forrestery or even semi Forrestery. They are kinda unique to Ireland and the UK and we have substantial amount of them

If the average hedgerow is 2m wide we have 136k hectares of hedgerows or 1360sq km that we get no credit for. An awful lot has been planted in REPS/Glas schemes over the last 30 years. I say I have planted 200 meters.

I'm in the process of trying to get the hedgerows to thicken up low down. Most have been overgrown for a long time and the trees have shot up and up with little protection at ground level.

Took out a lot of high trees with the tree shear last month. The plan is to flail the hedges fairly bare and get them growing. Still waiting on the flail head to arrive though.

B at jobs with mature hedges is to lay them. Did about 60 meters for last GLAS. A good man on a track machine is the job. Cut out excess wood and throw it to one side to cut up for timber. Then let it grow for2-3 years before hitting it with a flail

When you say to lay them,do you mean to put in a new hedge or what?

I'm the man on the digger and I'm neither good nor bad 😂,I'm just me. The shears is a great job for talking them out and cutting them up as you are going along.

Another expression I have heard is "stretching the hedge". Smashing them down with a track machine, about 1.5 meters high, allowing individual trees to stand at intervals.

I prefer full height hedges, sides trimmed in September every second year. Full of berries, much easier to maintain without lateral growth interfering with the el fence.

i planted a hedge for glas and have ear marked where a good bit of hedging will go for the next eco scheme.

the last hedge I planted I sprayed off the ground, planted them with a spade in December and fenced off. The following winter I cut them back to about 6 inches above ground, and cut 4 inches higher very year after. Dunno am I doing it arseways or not but it’s nice and think at ground level.

only think I should have done different Is to lay plastic. I spend a good 2 days for the first 3 years pulling grass from between the plants

Any fear you’d get some spray on the leaf of a plant though?

I would have thought if I put plastic down it wouldn’t be coming up again

No not if you have a hood on the sprayer. You will be operating close to the ground and the hood stops the spray from getting onto the leafs or softer growth on the plants. I have sprayed around young hedges and only used my Wellington to shield the plant. Something like below, you can make one up even and tape it onto your knapsack sprayer ance

It can take plastics 20-500 years to fully decay depending on the plastic. Before that they become micro plastics. Microplastics are a pollutant. Google it below is just one link, by the way I have not read it but I am sure it will give you a flavour of the issues involved.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01143-3

I did a few hedges, cut three plants at about 4 inches and laid the fourth plant across them great job

Yeah, if you're going to do it may as well do it right

I used a little chainsaw, my hedgecutting contractor said he wouldn't like to to be cutting the laid ones every second year rather than every year, Would love to do more but sheepwire both sides so it'd be an awful job, I even had to put chicken wire as well both sides to stop the lambs and the rabbits killing the plants when i sowed them

Leaving them grow wild is not the answer anyway if you want a fence and shelter

Probably battered by Poorly maintained blades, our's is thriving on being cut with sharp flails...... unfortunately

The ivy will take over and finish it off and lead to dead trees and gaps eventually.

Ivy is no problem for a vigorous tree but there is a point where a tree would benefit from some form of renewal to reignite it's vigour where it would be good again for many more years.

That exact point varies depending on the specific tree and it's growing conditions but blackthorn and whitethorn both reach it readily. It might take 30+ years but it will happen one day.

A long rotation of 15-20 years of either coppicing or laying can keep it's youthful vigour while also allowing the potential for long periods of uninterrupted growth where they can flower/set fruit and maintain a balance with ivy.

Some trees are better to lay than others hazel and white thorn were the traditional ones here.