When it comes to protecting your hands and feet, you need to wear gloves and safety shoes. Another great thing about these dormant seasons is that they are associated with minimal pest infestations and disease transmissions. Other parts that you need to remove include root and base trunk suckers, water sprouts, and broken, diseased, or dead wood. Again, even with the 22 â inch guide bar, you may need to stand on a ladder or hydraulic platform to effectively trim the tallest parts of the hedge. Plants lose less sap during these periods and therefore they do not suffer a lot from the cuts which promotes quick regrowth. Dilute salt with water and spray a solution near to your hedges' roots. It needs a severe pruning to remove the shriveled and dead upper growth. On the other hand, if you want to kill your hedges in order to remove them, salt may be a good option. This gorgeous, dense evergreen can be trained as a hedge or left unclipped to show off its naturally beautiful shape⦠But if you want a fast, dense screen or privacy hedge, then the Skip Laurel is the right choice. When removing dead wood, you need to do it carefully to avoid peeling off the bark of the healthy parts. There is also information on the botany of Laurel. To some people, it may appear to be a good bit of work, but it is clearly a process that people can do on their own. Treatment of Laurel Hedge plants straight after planting. Height â 6½ to 20 feet (2 to 6 meters) Exposure â full sun. Hedges can quickly become overgrown, filling up a border and becoming difficult to maintain. I'd like for it to be thicker, and if the bottom could be clothed too that would be a bonus. Croxton P.J., Franssen W., Myhill D.G., Sparks T.H. Laurel can make a hedge or living screen that will: Laurel is best pruned once a year to keep it to the height you want. You should consider cutting only the overgrow branches or stems and shaping in a way that doesn't hurt the plants so much. Some recommended disinfectants include isopropyl alcohol, trisodium phosphates, and chlorine bleach. The strings and stakes are for the marking purpose. We have a thick, tall laurel hedge on our front border, and have decided to get rid of it. It will also allow you to maintain a bushier, fuller, and thicker green fence. When trimming a branch, you need to locate the major bud and make a cut 0.25 inches above it. Laurels will also provide the most instant hedging as the taller sizes (4ft, 5ft and 6ft) are bushy and can often create an instant screen if planted close enough. You need to consider the size of the branches and the ⦠There are different varieties of Laurel plants including the Common (aka Cherry) Laurel (Prunus laurocerasus), Portugal Laurel (Prunus lusitanica) and Bay Laurel (Laurus nobilis) – see our section on Types of Laurel Hedging for more information. You can also just wash the equipment with the disinfectant. Hereâs how to grow a Laurel hedge from cuttings. Question: I have recently had a 6ft plus pt grown privet hedge planted. So. According to arborists and tree experts, trimming improves both the aesthetics and the health of a hedge (also known as a living or green fence). The part being trimmed should fall off after this cut. To prevent injuries and accidents, you must get safety gear and use it throughout the process. All types of laurel should be planted between 2 and 3 feet (60-90cm) apart. See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. On the other hand, older shrubs and adult trees can respond pretty well to excessive cutting. When trimming the major branches, you should make your cuts a few inches from the stem collar and the cuts should not extend to the stems. A very attractive hedging option, Portuguese Laurel produces pencil-like spikes of creamy-white flowers in early summer and has rich, burgundy-coloured leaf stalks in winter; it is ideal for a good solid evergreen hedge, but can also be used as a specimen shrub or allowed to grow to form an evergreen tree. You can really achieve even sides and a well-leveled top with the help of these tools. To disinfect your equipment, you need to put the disinfectant in a large container and dip the equipment in the chemical for at least five minutes. If the branches have diameters in the range (0.75-1.5 inches), you need to get loppers. Wait a few weeks until the shrub produces new shoots from the pruning cuts. If you want a thick hedge quickly, plant them two feet apart, otherwise plant them at three feet intervals. This may be why they are often called âCherry laurelsâ âcherries and plums are also Prunus species. According to my own experience, the bypass pruners are the best because they don’t crush plant tissues like the anvil types. He loves to write about garden flowers, ponds, lawns, and hedges. It is recommended to use a sharp pruner, lopper, or pruning saw to carry out this task. If your hedge is infected by diseases, you need therefore to find a suitable disinfectant. The protective gear will shield you from thorns, harmful sap, and equipment cuts. To thicken your hedge you really need to reduce it's hight to encourage more shooting from lower down! To protect your thorax and abdomen, you need to wear an apron or a long sleeve shirt. Other unwanted plant parts are water sprouts and suckers. The suckers and water sprouts grow waywardly and compete for resources with the main plants. That stimulates vertical growth in the now empty spaces. ". Since it promotes the growth of more branches, it makes hedges bushier and stronger. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. The neighbor to our right have allowed the laurel hedge (planted right on the property line) to grow to over 20â². To cultivate a thick laurel hedge, an appropriate species should ⦠Laurel â A Complete Guide to Planting and Caring for a Laurel Hedge. It is a double row of Privet, probably pretty old (trunks are about 3inch diameter), which is bare at the bottom and only about 2feet thick. The Hardiest Hedge You Can Grow! I myself â and the laurel hedge â have always been happy with the use of electric hedge trimmers. Dear all Can anyone advise on how to make a thin hedge thicker? You can use them to mark the parts that you need to cut. Hereâs how we started a hedge along the road perimeter of our lot. Small hedge plants are often called whips and are about 60cm (2ft) high. If the branches are thin (0.75 inches of diameter or below), you can go for the hand pruners. Decide exactly how much to trim for maximal health and beauty. When it is done together with shaping, it improves the attractiveness of the shrubs or trees. A hedge planted into deeply dug, well-manured soil will grow at least twice as fast as one planted without any proper preparation. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. (1999). Clean equipment after removing diseased branches. To see how and when to trim your hedge, see our section on How to Prune a Laurel Hedge. How far apart do you plant laurel hedging? How much can I safely trim by hand to help grow the plants from below. When it comes to deciding on the best time to trim your hedge, you should consider the late winter or early spring. It stimulates the growth of new branches and reduces pest infestations. During the dormant season, laurel can handle a hard pruning if necessary. They are also available in bypass and anvil types. Laurel is the quickest growing evergreen hedging plant that isn't a conifer, so if you don't want a conifer hedge, Laurel is the quickest and cheapest way of creating an evergreen hedge. Laurel Hedges are a unique group of plants, and they are particularly well-suited to hedging. To many people, this task may seem unnecessary, but according to my own experience, it is quite important. Because they tolerate a range of conditions, including heavy shade, dry ⦠Laurel is a superb hedging plant. Larger plants need more care and are more expensive. Get safety gear ready to start the process. It bears nice blooms in summer and colored berries in fall and winter. Flush cuts or cuts that leave stubs are not considered right and therefore you should not practice them. Regardless of how much you have decided to trim, you need to ensure that you remove sagging stems, acute-angled secondary stems, and closely-growing or running secondary stems. Instead we want native hedgerow which will attract wildlife and not just be a ⦠The second step is to make another cut opposite the initial one, but slightly up or down the branch. There are Laurel hedging plants that stay small or grow up to 20ft (7m); Laurels with dark green, bright green or variegated leaves; Laurel with large leaves and Laurel with small leaves. Laurel can be trimmed or pruned to the height you require and, if it grows too big, it can be cut back as hard as you like – right back to the stump if necessary – and it will re-grow quickly into a new hedge. And don't forget to water in any new plants well. It inhibits the cut branches from growing back and keeps disease-carrying insects away during the healing period. Read on to know the right time to prune the plants and the best equipment to use. As mentioned above, uncontrolled trimming can damage your hedge, preventing it from growing thick and strong. Name â Prunus lusitanica Family â Rosaceae Type â shrub, bay. As you can see, trimming a hedge to grow fuller and thicker is a straightforward process. A laurel hedge should be maintenance pruned in Mid- August, if you are using powered shears to trim the hedge it may be worth wile to go back over it again with hand shear to remove any half ripped leaves which can make the hedge look ragged. You should position each plant two to three feet apart, depending on how quickly you want a dense hedge to form. First, uncontrolled trimming can cause a serious damage to a hedge, so it is advisable to trim your plants carefully and as minimal as possible. Each of these steps will be explained and described fully below. The picture to the right shows the common problem. Answer: If you planted them recently, give them at least three months for the roots to develop before you trim. These tools have longer blades which are suitable for trimming taller hedges. Young plants and most evergreen species require little cutting and simple shaping. Lonsdale D. "Principles of Tree Hazard Assessment and Management.". Arborists have documented the best seasons to perform hedge trimming, but some situations can trigger the process to take place outside these seasons. The task is usually not complicated. Removing the hedge is tricky because the plants grow deep taproots and have wide, thick root systems. How fast a Laurel hedge grows depends on which variety of Laurel you choose. I keep my green fence looking smart, attractive, and lively with the help of this pruner. Deciduous hedges can be cut at any time, although it is a bad idea to give more than a light trim during the bird-nesting season, between the beginning of March and July. There are three steps that you can follow to trim a branch correctly. They can even help to reduce noise or act as a windbreak. You can also apply the dressing through spraying to cover all the wounds. Not much time for some thing to grow by the summer. The most recommended hand pruners are bypass and anvil. The easy solution is to bend some branches, to weave the plants together. If you are trying to kill weeds in the same soil that your hedges are growing, be careful when you use salt, as it can also damage or kill your hedges. I've have also seen runner beans used as a temporary measure! If you are confused on which pruner to buy for your hedges, I recommend that you try this one provided by Fiskers - a leading manufacturer of gardening and landscaping tools. Shaping a laurel hedge by cutting it during the heat of summer or during periods of drought can stress the plants that make up the hedge. You can select only the major wounds and apply a suitable dressing. This will give you easy time in the whole trimming process. In this video best4hedging discuss the many benefits the ever popular Cherry Laurel hedging offers. After you have finished trimming your hedge, you can expect to have a lot of cut branches and leaves lying around the fence. If your hedge has some branches that are broken, dead, diseased, or infected with pests, you need to remove them first. Often a good compromise is 2â6â³ apart. But still, according to my own observations, many people do not know how to trim a hedge correctly. So you need also to consider the species of your fencing plants to know the best time to trim them. If you don’t want a conifer hedge, then Laurel is the next quickest growing evergreen shrub that will form a good garden hedge. With legislation in place concerning the height of evergreen hedges, renovation may be advisable where hedges have got out of hand. 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