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Renovate or remove privet hedge?

Hi all, time to ask advice rather than give it! image

I have a privet hedge in the front garden which has become a bit of a pain.  The neighbour on the other side spends 50 weeks of the year overseas so that side never gets cut and, together with the fact that I find it hard to manage cutting it on step ladders these days, it has got a bit out of hand.  It's about 2.5m high, 1m thick and about 10m long.

I've asked for quotes from several local companies for complete removal (roots and all so I could replace with a mixed hedge for wildlife) but not one has got back to me after 2 weeks, so it looks like I'm going to have to tackle it myself.  The least difficult thing to do would be to cut it back hard with my chainsaw and hope for regrowth so I could keep it at a managable 1m high.

I don't have a car so ripping it out with a towbar/ropes is not an option and it will certainly have to be done over a number of weeks as I know from experience that it will take several hours to shred just a metre wide chunk with the awkward branching way privet grows.  What I don't know is:  Can/should I take it back almost to the ground or would it be better to leave longer stumps, say 0.5m?  How likely is it to regrow from such a severe hacking?

 

A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
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  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117

    Bob - when I had a flat there was a privet hedge at the front, only a few feet from the front window. It was very unkempt - around 5 feet high and about  3 wide. I hacked it to it's knees one year( around 18 inches)  and it grew back perfectly - in fact, it was all the better for it. 

    I knew nothing at the time except that it could be hard pruned! image

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445

    It would take more than loppers to deal with oursimage



    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,888

    don't forget:

    PRIVET IS POISONOUS.

    YOU'RE ALL GONNA DIE.

    RUN FOR THE HILLS.

    image

    Devon.
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445

    I think mine might be 60 years old. It has trunks at the base and has been cut back to about 5ft from getting tangled in the phone wires. 

     



    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,888

    and you're still alive????? OMG

     

    Devon.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,888

    For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
    When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
    Must give us pause. There's the respect

    Devon.
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445

    Hostafan, If either of us died from privet cutting it would be down to the arrangement of scaffold tower on trailer behind car, with OH cutting and me driving. 



    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Hostafan1 wrote (see)

    don't forget:

    PRIVET IS POISONOUS.

    YOU'RE ALL GONNA DIE.

    RUN FOR THE HILLS.

    image

     

    You're an old devil Hosta image

     

    I should have added to my post that I did nothing to the hedge after the haircut it had either. Didn't even water it, let alone give it a feed  image

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Oh Nut, that's a vision! (I mistyped "a vision" and spell check changed it to "idiot"....!!)

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117

    I think what we're saying is, Bob - get the chainsaw out  image image

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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