Open Association of Landscape Industries
Best time of year to cut Hedges?
Hi guys
I have domestic customers that are asking for their hedges to be cut, mostly privet's, cypress, laurel ect.
Is it ok to cut hedges this time of year or do I need to wait until August ?
Replies to This Discussion
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Marc ~ Pro-Cut on -
I been cutting hedges now for a few weeks and trade is very brisk.
As a general rule I wait until all signs of severe frost have passed and I'm good to go. However you do need to check for nesting birds at this time of year. Many councils won't cut hedges this early due to nesting birds.
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Permalink Reply by Geoffrey King North Yorkshire on -
Or risked being fined £5000!
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Permalink Reply by Simon Smith on -
Give the birds a chance and leave it til late july at least
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Paul McNulty on -
At the risk of bringing an old discussion up again, why should every hedge in the UK suddenly be OK to cut in late July, or later? I had blackbirds with young in my own hedge at home until well in to September last year; you have to treat every hedge individually, and judge it for yourself. There's no "safe" time that fits neatly on to a calendar, and any decent client will respect you explaining that there are baby birds in the hedge and you'll cut it as soon as they've left the nest.
Simon Smith said:Give the birds a chance and leave it til late july at least
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Pip Howard on -
This is one of the very few areas where practitioners are trusted by law. Therefore is it not possible to actually put a supplementary charge on top of the work which pays you to survey the whole hedge, before work - looking and recording for any nesting birds? Thus avoiding a heavy fine as well as making extra money. If the LJN was to provide a downloadable pdf to print out explaining this with a method of surveying - would it be helpful (and help stop the calls for 'independent' consultants taking such money away from the practitioner base)?
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Marc ~ Pro-Cut on -
I use two different methods to check for birds and nests.
1) A straight forward visual check if possible
2) Using a boroscope such as this Aldi Boroscope
Both work well for me, avoids tragedy and allows me to keep earning without any fines.
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Gary RK on -
Pip, great suggestion. It would be good to have 'best practice ' PDFs to downloaded covering contentious subject/tasks.
We have one, dare I say it for pesticides, that we include in our commercial packs and give to residential clients.
If there were an element of an 'independant source', clients would be more accepting and not think they are being 'played'
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Permalink Reply by Busy Bee Garden Services Limited on -
I try to wait as long as possible as it helps nesting birds and also if you cut too early you might have to re-cut again before the winter.
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Marc ~ Pro-Cut on -
I hope I do have to cut it again before winter as it's my business! :0)
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Robbie @ PremierLawnsni on -
Ok, so if I check for birds nests & wait until around the end of July I'm good to go?
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Permalink Reply by David Benson on -
its usually OK if you are just trimming this year growth. privet hedges get cut about 5 times a year hawthorn twice conifers sometimes twice depending on the customer
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Paul McNulty on -
Depends so much on what the hedge is, and what the customer wants. I've cut all my Lonicera Nitida twice already, thanks to all the designers who recommend it! Privet has been done once, conifers are looking very overdue, and laurel is almost ready. Beech is slow this year where I am, but as my garden backs in to a beech wood I'm not surprised, as it was very late coming in to leaf.
Robbie Lynn said:Ok, so if I check for birds nests & wait until around the end of July I'm good to go?
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