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Hawthorn Hedge
pennymax
Posts: 56
Hi, I would appreciate all advice on my Hawthorn Hedge. I would like to prune the top of the hedge back to encourage new bushier growth lower down the hedge. I am unsure if its ok to prune it back now or do i have to leave it until next spring. All advice and help is greatly appreciated.
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Do you want it to have berries on for the birds to eat over winter? You could prune it now and lose any berries as long as there aren't any nests in it anymore. Or you could prune it towards the end of winter when all the berries have been eaten, but before the birds start nesting again.
We prune it now ,otherwise it gets really shaggy. A tight clipped hedge is good shelter for little birds. The Sparrowhawk can't get in.
you can chop from august time and it'll put a bit of regrowth on by autumn, but you will loose any berries on the cut off sections.
you could lay the hedge, this would really thicken it up( like stock proof thick), but it looks brutal to do it and will only look good again after a couple of years.
We only planted the Hawthorn Hedge end of last year and its about 4ft high now so its only a baby hedge at the moment , We planted over 90 bare root Hawthorn whips ( i think thats what you call them) but they are coming on nicely but in some areas a bit sparse. I will cut back now to encourage new growth and in time the little birds will have a nice safe and secure place to nest and shelter. Do i need to feed the Hawthorn hedge after i have cut back all the straggly bits. Thank you all for your help and advice....x
Don't feed it now as that will encourage soft, sappy growth that will be frozen by the frosts and encourage disease in tthe damaged parts. You could give it some bonemeal in autumn as that encourages root formation over the winter and that will give you better growth next spring.