The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Gardens => Topic started by: Glentarki on March 08, 2011, 12:42:16 am
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We have a very aged Laurel Hedge that surrounds our property…..Its been very neglected over the years, become too dense in areas and too high (20 plus feet) in areas…………… Like the rest of the garden its been well loved at some point many moons ago, and we wish to restore both….. the hedge especially as it does give us good protection from prevailing winds and a element of privacy….. yet far enough away for it not to be a concern for our livestock as we understand Laurel can be harmful.
Laurel is tuff as old boots I’m told and in past experience I agree…………However some of the limbs are huge…..To restore shape, size and density we need to cut some of the limbs where hopefully they will rejuvenate to create a manageable, functional hedge without us destroying it.
Any advice much appreciated at how we go about this without destroying the aged Laurel!!
Cheers Dave
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you can cut as much off as you need of any size including back to a stump if required it will regrow quite happily
last year for a client we reduced a hedge by half its height and took 6ft off the side that face their garden basically back to bare trunks on that side, we did it in may and by october we couldn't see the timber it was all green again.
obviously the more you remove the longer it takes to recover.
DONT FORGET LAUREL IS POISONOUS TO ANIMALS
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hi, i too have a major laurel problem, last year i cut one of our hedges down from about 30ft to 4ft bare trunks, some of the trunks are nearly a foot thick at the base! already its back up to about 8ft so am having to do it again, the stuff is a nightmare. one advantage of it is, that properly seasoned, it burns really hot!
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Thanks for your reply’s as usual much appreciated and sooooo glad we can be a bit drastic with it to get it back into shape…….Actually climbed into the guts of this hedge today its 5 meters across in places and some limbs a good foot or so in diameter :o……….We are experiencing gale force winds here at the moment (Scotland) well in our area anyway…. could hardly stand today let alone work in it but the hedge all 500 meters of it kept the garden reasonably protected…..Got our work cut out with hard pruning but plenty of wood for the stove :)
Thanks Again
Dave