"Nick Gray" wrote in message
...

"Neil Smith" wrote in message
...
Because this is at the top of a tall hedge, using the secateurs could be
difficult. Given that I want to promote upward growth, should I trim
what
I
can by hand just below the top of each new growth?
"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 7/10/06 18:30, in article ,
"Neil
Smith" wrote:
SNIPPED

Hi Neil,

How tall is your hedge? If you can't reach with secateurs, do you have
access to long handled loppers and or a step ladder? Cutting the sides of
the hedge first, can help you get that little bit closer to the hedge, to
cut the top.

Although you want to promote upward growth, you also want a dense hedge,
if
you leave the top, then you'll get branches (leaders) that grow upwards,
they will throw out small branches as they grow, but the top of your hedge
will end up looking quite sparse. The idea of trimming the top growth,
will
encourage the tree to send out more branches from the top and lower buds,
creating a much denser hedge. It will take longer to reach your desired
height, but you'll get a much better result in the long run.

Don't get hung up on pruning to new or old growth, beech is really tough,
and doesn't really care, just prune to a sideways or upward facing bud.

HTH

Cheers

Nick
http://www.ukgardening.co.uk

I know it's a bit odd to reply to my own posting, but I've thought of an
analogy. If you think of a single small beech tree (a hedge is just a line
of trees planted close together after all), it will try to grow tall as
quickly as possible. If you cut the leading branch (that is heading straight
up), the tree will send out side branches, from the top as well as the sides
of the trunk, if you then trim these, the tree will send out even more side
branches, after a short time, you'll end up with quite a dense little bush.
This is all that you are trying to acheive with the top of your hedge.

Cheers

Nick
http://www.ukgardening.co.uk