How much trimming can a hedge take?

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  • #5
Thanks

The right side is towards the house, under the patio and doesn’t grow. So I spose I could do the left side, let it live off the top, and then do the top. I had been just trimming whatever seemed like new growth and then looked at it the other day after a storm and realized it was falling down, and had gotten too big.


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Really, it might depend on the bush. I got a little carried away with the boxwood last year. Read, I got pissed off and took a chainsaw to it. I bet I took off 80% of the foliage. Looked pretty bad for awhile, but it was back to being an overgrown disaster this year. I hate boxwood.
 
Boxwoods are work, but can be kept nice with hand shears. Yews I hate, and damn near any other shrub I that requires hedging.
 
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  • #9
Weird unusual east wind. Lots of trees didn’t like it. The mesquite that fell down in front of my dodge (I watched it go) still had the plastic nursery bucket under there. Roots were all balled up in it.

Yeah some plants will take a beating and some won’t. No idea what this is. It’s pungent when cut.

I hate trimming it too.

But the hedge is very nice to have. Little privacy, packages don’t get stolen off the porch…
 
It really depends on the species. Some can be worked just fine, even with heavy pruning (like at ground level). Some don't stand it at all if the cut is made on old bark. It boils down to the capacity to awaken the sleeping buds, or even to create new ones from scratch. If you see already some new sprouts / buds inside the mess, you should be good.
 
I hacked off a leafy hedge to flush ground level bumps and the customer said don't worry about the roots they'll die. Next year the hedge reappeared!

In contrast, easy to near kill cedar hedges with a heavy cut or trying to drop the top below it's established 'crow's feet" height. Watch out for seniors who neglect a 10 ft wide cedar hedge for years and argue with you that it will be ok to knock 3 ft off the top. No, it won't be.

Biggest sprig I ever took off the top of a cedar hedge would have made a beautiful symmetrical living room 6' christmas tree. Was the wrong time of year. Hedge was ridiculous.

Echoing earlier post, very species dependent.
 
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