Chainsaw or not...... ?

[Steve Campbell]

Hi folks .. apologies for the "story" before the question ....

Attached picture of hedge at the side of my garden. It belongs to the school (school field beyond). When we first moved in 10 years ago, the school cut the hedges 3 times per year and kept it in check. At that point it was only just above the height of the fence. They reduced this to once per year. I have a long pole hedge trimmer to keep it in check over the summer but it really doesn't cut through anything but the small growth each year so the hedge has gradually increased in height over that time. We now want to trim it back to it's original height by taking ~ 12 inches off it.

As we were having other hedges trimmed in the garden, we asked if they could cut it back (let the professionals do it !!). He said it really needs a chainsaw to take it way back due to thickness of branches and as it didn't belong to us he wasn't willing to go at it.

The school have refused to do anything other than "trim" it once per year via their contractors (they run a tractor round the field with a cutting attachment but only really trim it). We did try asking them last year to cut it back but they only took about an extra 2 inches off !

So...I need to do it.

I'm a bit wary of chainsaws having never used one but if that's what it takes...so be it. First question, any other way of tackling the problem ?

If chainsaw it is....I don't want to fork out too much so looking at electric. There is an electric chainsaw in Screwfix for ~£50. IS that OK ? Or do I stretch to nearer £100 with a Bosch electric ?

Thanks for help in either non-chainsaw ideas or what machine to buy if that's the best option. Max budget £100.

[Steve Campbell]

Thanks for responses so far. The school really don't give a toss. This is the bottom corner of the bottom field about 1/4 mile from the school. I can access the other side via a crawl space behind the little gate which was in the fence when we bought the house...also handy for footballs that escape the garden !

I've been cutting it back for about 8 years....just not deep enough as I haven't got the tools.....it grows very fast in the summer and we can end up with a mass of shoots 4ft above what you see here. If I didn't cut it back it would be 10 ft tall by now, even with the annual mini-prune by the school.

One of my neighbours lopped 18 inches off about 40metres of it as he was also getting annoyed with their lack of "maintenance" of the boundary. If you look at the left of the hedge, his boundary runs "away" from my wall at 90o and you can see the difference in height. That's what I want to take it down to if possible. They'd rather we did it than them pay the contractors. I could ask him to borrow his chainsaw (he used a small electric one I think) but it's not a piece of kit I really want to "borrow". Also sounds like it's the wrong tool for the job !

Edited by Steve Campbell on Thursday 18th January 12:35

[Steve Campbell]

justinio said:

Why not just collar matey on his tractor next time you see him out there cutting the other hedges in the field. If he only cut a few inches off last time, did he know how much you wanted taking off? Bung him £20 to do yours and job jobbed.

As per last post, we tried that at the end of the summer (no money changed hands...maybe that was the problem!) but I'm not sure his "attachment" was up to the job as he didn't take it anywhere near as far as we asked and it also left a lot of "shredded" rather than cut stems. Seeing as they only now come once per year...I want to get on top of this now for next summer.

Thanks for all advice....I think to be safe we'll write to the school again confirming what we are going to do...then try lopers/ saws

[Steve Campbell]

thebraketester said:

Build a bigger fence. That fence is useless, and I actually see the hedge being that size as of benefit to you as a deterrent for people jumping onto your property.

We like the small fence. It's purely aesthetic and marking the boundary. It protects the Western side of the garden and so allows lots of late summer sunshine into the garden...hence why we want the hedge lower (or back to what it used to be when the school weren't tight on groundsmen contractors !).

If we didn't have the fence, the deer would get into the garden and eat all the flowers :-)

Would be burglars would use the hedge route in last. It's far easier to climb over the wall at the side of the house rather than get into the school field then walk 300 metres to get through a prickly hedge....even if it will only be 4.5ft high.

Thanks to all responders (including PM's). I'm going to use it as an excuse to buy some better hedge trimming tools (NOT chainsaw) and go at it with muscle & brains rather than chainsaw wielding amateur maniac :-)