On Feb 16, 9:06*am, RJS wrote:
On Feb 16, 7:33*am, thirty-six wrote:









On Feb 15, 10:16*pm, "David WE Roberts" wrote:

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message

ill.co.uk...

On Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:53:39 -0800 (PST), RJS wrote:

My garden backs onto woodland owned by my Local Authority. *The sole
barrier between the garden and the woodland is an old Beech hedge
which has become very thin at the bottom and no longer provides a
reliable obstruction to dogs and, possibly, a determined intruder.

My plan is to build a fence as close to the rootline as practicable
using Metposts, wooden posts and wire netting to the keep the dogs
out. *What about the human element?
snip
Once I have secured the barrier I can cut the hedge back ruthlessly
which will encourage it to bush out.

Any views about the use of the barbed wire or alternatives?

Under plant with something nice a prickly? Finding something that
will grow under a Beech hedge might be interesting. uk.rec.gardening
added.

Beat me to it :-)

One thing - general pruning advice may be best practice but then again
sometimes you 'just have to hack' and often the plant survives.
So is there a faster way to regenerate a mature beech hedge than about 16
years of laborious cutting back?
I am getting a bit confused between the OP's two strategies - lots of small
cut backs or " Once I have secured the barrier I can cut the hedge back
ruthlessly which will encourage it to bush out."
Most of the suggestions about hacking back the external side and then
putting up the fence there seem to have been rejected because of a "1' per
year" rule.

* In the dormant state, before spring budding, deciduous trees can be
heavily cut back, usually back to a 1/3 will generate the most side
growth as long as the trees are exposed. *As long as this procedure is
not repeated within around 5 years, the root system will not diminish
and the trees will flourish with much denser cover.

How far do you have to cut back (down?) to encourage the bottom to
regenerate, how long is this likely to take to grow back to an acceptable
height (2m+?) and is it perhaps more effective just to grub the old hedge
out and replant, possibly with a more aggressive hedge?

The correct method would be to get a professional hedge-layer in in
the autumn.

Would a hedge-layer be able to create a laid(?) hedge 12' high? *Or,

I don't know, I 've seen over 9' but don't know the maturity .

perhaps a fairer way to phrase it, how high could they lay a hedge?

That would depend on the person and probably depth of your wallet.

All the hedge laying I have done has created hedges at about 4 or
5'.

Yes, the initial height is usually at a shoulder height maximum and
further growth will need tending to usefully increase the height.

I don't want to be able to look out into the woodland and the
side hedges are both over 10', so to have a 5' end hedge would look
rather odd.

Yes, but it will stop low-level penetration.