In article ,
bnd777 wrote:
Faced with relatives Pyracantha that have not been kept trimmed into a hedge
more like tall trees with bare stems to about 4 ft
Any advice on how i can get the bare stems to resprout side shoots to once
again create a decent hedge

Cut it back even harder. Seriously. Pyracantha will shoot fairly
well from old wood, as well as from the roots. But it will take a
year or so. If the plants are fairly healthy, they will produce
shoots several feet long in a season - the one I have just removed
(not grown as a hedge) achieved 5-6' in most years!

If you have single 4' stems, I would tend to cut it all down to 1',
and start from that level. I would then cut it back to 2' in early
summer, to encourage it to bush out. And then to 3' next spring,
and so on.

This is a bit theoretical, as I have never done that with pyracantha,
but I am fairly sure that it is the right approach. It is a very
close relative of hawthorn and should be treated similarly.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.