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,
perhaps a fairer way to phrase it, how high could they lay a hedge?
All the hedge laying I have done has created hedges at about 4 or
5'. 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.

Richard

I trust you will still be of that view when you become elderly.

In article ,
says...

So is there a faster way to regenerate a mature beech hedge than about 16
years of laborious cutting back?

Long established beech will respond to brutal treatment. Get a chainsaw
and reduce it to a foot tall; giving you good access to install the
fencing and give the root area a good mulch with old manure. The regrowth
will be dense to the bottom and regular trimming to the correct shape will
keep it that way. If you install your fence close to the stumps,
eventually it will be completely concealed within the new hedge growth.

As the hedge regrows, to keep it dense at the bottom, the bottom needs
light. So the sides should be wider at the base and narrower at the top.

Janet

In article , says...

Fuschia wrote:

You can use barbed wire but it must be entirely out of reach of any
'innocent' contact - think children, elderly or blind.

We can't run the world on that basis!

We can and do, it's a well established legal constraint about the use of
barbed wire on domestic-home boundaries where the public has access on the
other side.

Janet

Janet wrote:
In article ,
says...

So is there a faster way to regenerate a mature beech hedge than about 16
years of laborious cutting back?

Long established beech will respond to brutal treatment. Get a chainsaw
and reduce it to a foot tall; giving you good access to install the
fencing and give the root area a good mulch with old manure. The regrowth
will be dense to the bottom and regular trimming to the correct shape will
keep it that way. If you install your fence close to the stumps,
eventually it will be completely concealed within the new hedge growth.


+1

As the hedge regrows, to keep it dense at the bottom, the bottom needs
light. So the sides should be wider at the base and narrower at the top.


+2

Janet

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.

"Janet" wrote in message
...
In article , says...

Fuschia wrote:

You can use barbed wire but it must be entirely out of reach of any
'innocent' contact - think children, elderly or blind.

We can't run the world on that basis!

We can and do, it's a well established legal constraint about the use of
barbed wire on domestic-home boundaries where the public has access on the
other side.

Janet

Our local council alledgedy trim any undergrowth, brambles etc that overhang
a pavement . I say alledgedly because I haven't seen any of this activity in
any putlying districts.

Bill

"Janet" wrote in message
...
In article ,
says...

So is there a faster way to regenerate a mature beech hedge than about 16
years of laborious cutting back?

Long established beech will respond to brutal treatment. Get a chainsaw
and reduce it to a foot tall; giving you good access to install the
fencing and give the root area a good mulch with old manure. The regrowth
will be dense to the bottom and regular trimming to the correct shape will
keep it that way. If you install your fence close to the stumps,
eventually it will be completely concealed within the new hedge growth.

As the hedge regrows, to keep it dense at the bottom, the bottom needs
light. So the sides should be wider at the base and narrower at the top.

Janet

I can vouch for the way beech hedging responds to brutal pruning. Our
green-keeper had a double row of beech hedging round our bowling green. He
wanted more air to get to the green so he removed one line of hedging and
totally trimmed the remainder, removing virtually all of the branching
material. The hedge looked a disaster!!. The following season it filled
out into a beautiful hedge again. Job done!.

Bill

On Feb 16, 9:01*am, RJS wrote:
On Feb 15, 7:12*pm, Janet wrote:







* *I'd use stockfence posts hammered straight into the ground, rylock
stock fencing to exclude dogs/people rather than wire netting.It is much
more robust; and cheaper iirc (from an agricultural fencing contractor)..
You will need a larger strainer post at each end/corner. If you want to
keep out rabbits, attach wire netting to the rylock.

* *When we came here the only boundary between us and the sheep meadow,
was a very gappy hawthorn hedge.. keeping dog in/sheep and hares out was
essential so we used wooden fencing posts (no metposts) rylock and rabbity
netting.

Any views about the use of the barbed wire

* Don't waste your money. It won't deter any determined human and dogs
won't try to jump over a fenced hedge. But it can do nasty damage to
innocent/accidental human or dog contact.

* *Janet

Thanks Janet

The dogs go through the gaps at the bottom of the hedge, so the
netting is a low-level obstruction for them.

Unfortunately I can't get the swing to hammer posts into the ground,
hence the Metposts.

Richard- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I think what you really need to do is have your hedge "layed". End of
problem.
You can DIY but it's hard and skilled work to look decent.
*
*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedge_laying

On Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:26:17 -0000, Bill Grey wrote:

Our local council alledgedy trim any undergrowth, brambles etc that
overhang a pavement . I say alledgedly because I haven't seen any of
this activity in any putlying districts.

Triming vegitation seems to be one of the first things that gets cut,
apart from grass verge cutting which is quick a simple. The number of
roadsigns that are partially or completly obscured by bits of bush or
tree is bad everywhere, countryside or towns.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Bill Wright wrote:
Janet wrote:

Don't waste your money. It won't deter any determined human and
dogs won't try to jump over a fenced hedge. But it can do nasty
damage to innocent/accidental human or dog contact.

I had a dog jump over barbed wire at 2am and sever his penis. It was a
right old game because I had to assist the vet do the repair. I'd
rather watch a woman give birth to twins than watch a needle sew a
penis back on.

Did you change the dog's name to Bobbitt?


--
Adam

ARWadsworth wrote:
Bill Wright wrote:
Janet wrote:

Don't waste your money. It won't deter any determined human and
dogs won't try to jump over a fenced hedge. But it can do nasty
damage to innocent/accidental human or dog contact.
I had a dog jump over barbed wire at 2am and sever his penis. It was a
right old game because I had to assist the vet do the repair. I'd
rather watch a woman give birth to twins than watch a needle sew a
penis back on.

Did you change the dog's name to Bobbitt?

No. I think his accident was before that story. For the rest of his life
his penis was bent.

Bill

On Wed, 15 Feb 2012 07:36:52 -0800 (PST), RJS wrote:

Under-planting was my original (and preferred) thought. But, as you
rightly observe, the foot of a 12' Beech hedge isn't the most fertile
of locations.

Don't think it's so much lack of fertility but more lack of light and
(I think) toxins from the leaves. If you visit a beech wood there is
nothing growing under it.

I could tempt some of the vicious Blackberries which grow in the
woodland into the hedge but that's not terribly desirable.

Why not? Blackberries yum yum, and no one is going to force their way
through brambles unless they are *really* determined.

--
Cheers
Dave.

In message , Bill Grey
writes

I can vouch for the way beech hedging responds to brutal pruning. Our
green-keeper had a double row of beech hedging round our bowling green. He
wanted more air to get to the green so he removed one line of hedging and
totally trimmed the remainder, removing virtually all of the branching
material. The hedge looked a disaster!!. The following season it filled
out into a beautiful hedge again. Job done!.

Bill


My fathers beech hedge, about 50m of it is "trimmed" each year with a
tractor and hedge cutting attachment, sometimes quite viciously, it
never seems to suffer and always fills back out during the next year.
--
Bill

On the subject of barbed wire and the law.

I don't use barbed wire, it looks unsightly.
But if you've a six foot post and panel fence, carpet gripper rod nailed to the top of the panels, is unobtrusive and deadly.
It keeps cats out too.