Very quick hedge attack help please
Discussion
I know the square root of f
k all about gardening, but I do know that this hedge used to be about half the height and half the depth. The leaves cover only the extremes, I understand to aid photosynthesis.
If I attack it with this, I'm talking 6 inches off the top and the sides
...it will remove virtually all the leaves.
My question: Will I kill it or will it just recover, as hedges are designed to be trimmed/massacred, or will I render it unphotosynthesisable and hence dead? If as I suspect, it will be fine, how long can I expect it to take to recover it's green? It's the start of autumn here if that makes a difference.
I plan to attack in a couple of hours so if anyone can advise sharpish I'd be grateful.
k all about gardening, but I do know that this hedge used to be about half the height and half the depth. The leaves cover only the extremes, I understand to aid photosynthesis.If I attack it with this, I'm talking 6 inches off the top and the sides
...it will remove virtually all the leaves.
My question: Will I kill it or will it just recover, as hedges are designed to be trimmed/massacred, or will I render it unphotosynthesisable and hence dead? If as I suspect, it will be fine, how long can I expect it to take to recover it's green? It's the start of autumn here if that makes a difference.
I plan to attack in a couple of hours so if anyone can advise sharpish I'd be grateful.
You probably won't kill it, it will just look ugly, brown and dead where you trim it for 2-3 years until the foliage regrows. My parents went medieval on one in their backyard and reduced its height by 1/3 and narrowed it as well 2 years ago; it's starting to look normal again now, if slightly sparse on top(like a bloke with thinning hair who's started on Rogain).
Looks like a good old box hedge (Buxus) to me. They will take a certain amount of severe pruning back, but at this time of year with frosts etc still around it is probaby not an ideal time to prune that harshly. I would work out where the current soft growth starts, and cut back to just above there, then consider cutting back again during the latter part of the summer growth season.
ETA: Checked your profile and it says you are in Aus, so pruning fairly hard back shouldn't be too bad. If you are worried about them dying, It is REALLY easy to take cuttings from Buxus plants, basically just stick the green branches in the ground or in a bucket of soil / compost / whatever. Optionally strip the lower leaves off to stop em rotting underground. Water from time to time, they are very tolerant of a wide range of conditions, and a well pruned box hedge (ooer missis) really looks very smart.
ETA: Checked your profile and it says you are in Aus, so pruning fairly hard back shouldn't be too bad. If you are worried about them dying, It is REALLY easy to take cuttings from Buxus plants, basically just stick the green branches in the ground or in a bucket of soil / compost / whatever. Optionally strip the lower leaves off to stop em rotting underground. Water from time to time, they are very tolerant of a wide range of conditions, and a well pruned box hedge (ooer missis) really looks very smart.
Edited by Zad on Tuesday 8th March 00:46
Box is almost impossible to kill. We have a stretch of it (maybe 30') along the end of the garden, one stupid hedge halfway down and two totalling 30' in the front garden, and I hate it all.
If you don't keep on top of it, you'll turn round one day and it'll be 8' wide and 12' high and require a bloody scaffold to get close enough to cut it back. Or you can get the farm manager to have a bash at it with the big hedge-thrashing machine that they have on the tractors. My OH thought it would be fun to do this and took at least 3' off the depth of the front hedge, reducing it to a shadow of its former self. It's been very unsightly, brown and stick-like for a few months but is starting to come back now.
I'm sure by the end of the summer it'll be back to its former size and require regular butchering again. Bloody stuff.
If you don't keep on top of it, you'll turn round one day and it'll be 8' wide and 12' high and require a bloody scaffold to get close enough to cut it back. Or you can get the farm manager to have a bash at it with the big hedge-thrashing machine that they have on the tractors. My OH thought it would be fun to do this and took at least 3' off the depth of the front hedge, reducing it to a shadow of its former self. It's been very unsightly, brown and stick-like for a few months but is starting to come back now.
I'm sure by the end of the summer it'll be back to its former size and require regular butchering again. Bloody stuff.
Can you pull it out?
Box is the wrong plant for a shady setting. It will spread (as you've found) and grow 'leggy' rather than form the compact habit best suited to formal hedging, ie...
If you're in rented and don't have the option to remove it, I'd trim it severely and squarely. (ETA: in spring.)
As said, it is nigh on impossible to kill once established.
Box is the wrong plant for a shady setting. It will spread (as you've found) and grow 'leggy' rather than form the compact habit best suited to formal hedging, ie...
If you're in rented and don't have the option to remove it, I'd trim it severely and squarely. (ETA: in spring.)
As said, it is nigh on impossible to kill once established.
Edited by Mobile Chicane on Tuesday 8th March 19:03
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