Privit hedge

Hi 1st post so be gentle please . We have just bought a house with a 1/3 acre plot surrounded by various hedges . A lot is Privit which has not been maintained for some years . Most of the hedge now resemmbles trees of 12ft high mainly of single stem/trunk . I have read that I can cut this down to 6-8" and then the hedge will grow up but also thicken outwards from the base . Is this correct ?
We do need this hedge for privacy and security issues so do not want to do all the hedge at once . Could we cut every other plant and when that has thickened out do the others ? This hedge is in 2 rows so should end up a nice thick hedge.


Rick

 

You could cut it down a lot more than that. You could easily chop it down to 4 feet and let it grow up more bushy to the height you want and that will allow you to shape it better ie. with sides sloping up towards the middle. Do the whole lot in one go. Privet will take some punishment. Personally I would use a JCB and replace it with beech. We used to have privet hedges round the garden when I was a kid. Grew too fast and the roots took out all the goodness of the soil.

 

we had exactly the same prob, well overgrown hedge 9-10' so we cut it down to about 5' and although it took 18mths to thicken, we now have a lovely hedge. I don't see why you couldn't do the ame thing with every other plant, but to cut down to 5-6" it will take a hell of a long time to bush up.

 

Yeah , I want to take it down to 6-8 inches , I think you thought I ment feet .

I will go for cutting it down to the recommended height and see wot happens .
Rick

 

Hiya Rick
We too have privit hedge all the way round our front and rear garden and it does grow so very well no matter how hard we cut it back!
It is an awful lot of work but these old hedges are worth holding on to.
Helen.xxx.

 

Yes I did not realise you were being so drastic. I think I would go for about 3 feet. Then you have quite a bit of stem for new shoots to come from and the more shoots then the more bushy it will be.

 

OK then , the answers seem to be cut every other plant down to 3 or 4 foot . I hope this will encourage the lower part to start thickening up also . At the moment all the foliage is at the top part.Looks very weird to have all these long 'trunks' of privit with all the leaves at the top . I will be left with lots of single 'trunks'. Going to be interesting to see how it looks !

 

Rick, assuming you want a hedge about 6ft high and about 3ft thick, then cut your hedge to a height of 6ft and a thickness of 3ft. It will look like a load of sticks but I promise you, you will end up with a beautiful privet hedge. David.