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Author Topic: hedge laying  (Read 736 times)

fleehillfarm

  • Joined Feb 2024
hedge laying
« on: February 15, 2024, 02:05:49 pm »
I have been hedge laying for the first time. The hedge is on a hill so I started at the top and worked downhill laying all the pleachers in an upward direction. Some parts of the hedge do not have sufficient pleachers to cover the gaps laying uphill. Is it the done thing to lay some pleachers in the opposite direction to fill in the gaps if there are too many to lay uphill rather than cut the surplus pleachers out and waste them. Many thanks for any advice.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: hedge laying
« Reply #1 on: February 17, 2024, 09:37:40 am »
I don't know I'm afraid, just replying to get the post back on people's "unread replies" list, hoping someone can help you! 
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

doganjo

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Clackmannanshire
  • Qui? Moi?
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Re: hedge laying
« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2024, 10:21:43 am »
I have been hedge laying for the first time. The hedge is on a hill so I started at the top and worked downhill laying all the pleachers in an upward direction. Some parts of the hedge do not have sufficient pleachers to cover the gaps laying uphill. Is it the done thing to lay some pleachers in the opposite direction to fill in the gaps if there are too many to lay uphill rather than cut the surplus pleachers out and waste them. Many thanks for any advice.
I watched either Countryfile or Marcus Wairing last week on this topic - I think they planted new ones in the gaps.  Would pleacher layed the other way not look odd?  I know nothing about hedge laying but perhaps if you can see these programmes they might help - or maybe a youtube video?
Always have been, always will be, a WYSIWYG - black is black, white is white - no grey in my life! But I'm mellowing in my old age

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: hedge laying
« Reply #3 on: February 18, 2024, 06:56:21 pm »
It was Marcus Waring, but nothing about laying on a hill.  We layed some hedge a while back but on the level.  Yes, pleachers laid in opposite directions will look a bit funny until they grow, but so what?  It's not a competition, it's your hedge and you can do what you want.
One thing we did discover is that if you plant whips in gaps they don't grow because they are overshadowed by the rest of the hedge, so best to fill in with pleachers.  You could leave some to grow on if they're not tall enough to stretch across.
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

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mab

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • carmarthenshire
Re: hedge laying
« Reply #4 on: February 18, 2024, 09:32:49 pm »
I've had this exact issue and laid downhill, without issue. It probably depends a little on what species you're laying, but generally they grow anyway; certainly sycamore, blackthorn and hawthorn. Even if the odd one dies off it will still form part of the physical barrier whilst the others grow in.


Not much point in comparing with 'showcase' pictures from professionals as they always seem to start with either a regularly maintained hedge or an even row of recently grown saplings, rather than a real-world overgrown hedge with big clumps and gaps that are no longer even growing in line with one another.

fleehillfarm

  • Joined Feb 2024
Re: hedge laying
« Reply #5 on: February 20, 2024, 05:24:12 am »
Many thanks for the replies. I couldn't agree more with the last one. Our hedge is all over the place and a lot of the pleachers are just overgrown self seeded hawthorn and blackthorn way out of line of the original hedge.

 

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