My hedgerow is dying

Hi

I have fairly recently taken over a nice little plot of land. As I'm no expert, you'll see loads of questions coming from me over the next few months. Here's just one of them:

My hedgerow is not very well. It is a typical hedge of mostly hawthorn, and some blackthorn and a couple of bits I don't recognise. The ground is very wet in places which doesn't help I'm sure.

Many of the trees have died completely (I was literally able to just lift some of them out last month). Some are soldiering on, but have whole branches of dead wood.

There is a lot of mould near the bottom. Mostly greenish grey, but in some cases white, and one or two orange coloured cases. I understand from the previous owner that the hedge is over 30 years old , which is apparently the typical life span of hawthorn.

What can I do to create a good healthy, wildlife friendly hedge? Obviously I can't do anything now as we are getting in towards nesting season, but I need to get my plans in place ready for late summer.

I figured as the ground is very wet in places, I might get some willow. I also have lots of young blackthorn growing in another part of the plot that I could maybe transplant. The trouble is, I don't really know what I'm doing so any advice would be appreciated.

 

Sounds like litchen growing on the old wood.

Next winter, cut out and clear the dead wood and plant a load of new hawthorn and blackthorn in the gaps.

Imo willow is not really suitable for what you want, better to grow it as a standard tree than intermixed in a hedge.

 

Thanks for the advice folks. Based on your advice, and the (limited) resources I have available, I think my plan should go something like this:

1. Sort out the problem of it being waterlogged in parts. I think there is a blocked field drain that just needs digging out. There is a ditch that runs from the wet bit but it isn't up to much. I'll go and see it with my spade and my pick axe I think.

2. In late summer, maybe I'll somehow mark the trees that are clearly dead, so I can tell the difference between dead and dormant ones in the winter. Can I use ordinary paint for this job or is there a better way?

3. In late autumn/early winter, I'll clear out the dead wood, dig up the young blackthorn saplings I have elsewhere in my field and transplant them in the gaps in the hedge. Maybe also order in some mixed hedgerow saplings from the woodland trust, just to get some good diversity in there.

Wiseoldowl - Thanks for the pointer about the law. I don't think it's much of an issue in my case though as I'm not going to remove the hedge, I just want to bring it back to it's former glory. If I find that there is so much dead wood that it would leave sizeable gaps, I'll just do it in stages over the next two or three years or so.

 

hi clueless tell me is your hedge growing away from the bottom

 

high kype, mostly the upper parts of the hedge are OK apart from where the whole tree has died, but this isn't consistently the case (if it was I'd bet on not enough light getting through).

The bark on the trees is very gnarly and flakey, and the lower parts are covered in some sort of mould.

My theory is that the trees that make up the hedge are old and weak, and no longer strong enough to fight against fungal infections and the weather etc. I've been told that the hedge was planted over 30 years ago, and I've read that the typical life expectancy for hawthorn is only about 30 years.

The trouble is, the land just beyond my boundary is covered in bracken, and waterlogged in places, so I guess any hawthorn berries that fall down stand very little chance of germinating and growing, so there is no natural regeneration going on in their.

 

Clueless, why not ask the advice of your local enviromental officer? You never know, you may be entitled to some financial help to replace the hedge.

 

cluelss let me try and help you cut the headge right back you will find it will start to grow from the bottom i have done this and it workers but you have to cut it hard back nearly to the bottom but in 1 year it will be back
with no light getting into the lower part of the hedge it wont grow so you have to cut it right back the bracken is not doing it any harem

 

High kype, thanks for the advice. I'd chance this if it were a garden hedgerow (much less regulation to contend with), but as it is open countryside I suspect if I were to chop the hedge right down, the local authorities might seek me out and hang me upside down by my toe nails or something

I'm certainly going to give it a good hair cut and thin it out a bit, removing the dead wood to allow sunlight in to the healthy stuff. Hopefully that'll do the trick, if not I'll just replant the bits that look unrecoverable.

In a way I'm kind of looking forward to doing it, if only as a chance to introduce a bit of variety, as it is almost exclusively hawthorn at the moment. I've see a hedgerow mix at The Native Tree Shop (http://www.native-tree-shop.com/Detail.aspx?id=3) that sounds good. With that, the hawthorn that's already there, and the young blackthorn that I have sprouting up elsewhere on my land, it could make for a fairly diverse hedgerow that will be a great boost for my wildlife haven project.

 

that sounds good hope it works out for you good luck

 

Hi All,

Hope you get your hedge probs sorted out, Clueless, but I was intrigued to read your comment that 30 years was the lifespan of a hawthorn hedge. The one in my garden is between 40-50 years old (I know because the garden belonged to my great uncle) and shows no signs of slowing down. In fact it is just starting to come back into leaf and usually needs a couple of cuts a summer to cope with the excess growth. Does anyone think this is unusual? Am I just very lucky? :confused: :D

 

Dave, I remember finding some article on the internet that said hawthorn lives for about 30 years, but I can't remember where I found it.

Searching again today gave me drastically different figures. One article said at least 100 years, and another said 250 years plus more if it is maintained regularly, so maybe either I found a dodgey article or maybe I imagined the whole thing. In any case I'm now inclined to believe that hawthorn lasts much longer than 30 years.

All this is good news I reckon. It means that if I sort out the waterlogging problem and clear the dead wood, like planned, it should be good for a while yet and might not cost me a small fortune like I was beginning to think.

 

Glad to hear it Clueless - I got a load of extra hawthorn last year to fill in some gaps and double hedge an area from Buckingham Nurseries (www.hedging.co.uk) - have used them a few times now for some other hedges and they are top notch! :D

 

Hi clueless1,

I'd love to have a project like you have - I wish you all the best with it.

I'd DEFINITELY start with the waterlogging problem. Saturated conditions are terrible for trees as there is little air in the soil for the trees to use. Also, a buildup of stagnant water increases toxic bacteria which the tree then absorbs into it's system. Even once the drainage system is sorted it can still take a number of years for the trees to revive, if they do at all. For some the damage may be too much.

Deadwooding is the next thing to do. It will allow extra air and light into the hedge, so giving space and opportunity for dormant buds to sprout and fill the gaps. Removing the dead and decaying wood will allow you to check for any other problems and situations in the hedge.

Although hawthorns can apparently live upto 250 years, as with most cases this is species and site specific. Obviously if the tree is standing on poor soil then it is not going to live as long as one that has the ultimate growing conditions. You cannot compare one hawthorn with another. Remember also that ancient hedgerows are continually renewing themselves, with new trees emerging all the time as the old ones die off. It's the hedge itself that is hundreds of years old, if not the individual tree.