Cutting hedges – instructions & timing

The right time to cut the hedge.

In principle, a hedge can be cut all year round, except at temperatures below minus 5 degrees Celsius. However, it makes sense to cut the woody plants when it is least harmful for the respective variety. Flowering trees are therefore usually shortened or shaped at a different time than normal hedges.
In general, it can be said that the best time to cut is early spring, before the trees start to sprout. Then they only look a little less beautiful for a short time, because the new shoots quickly cover the interfaces. In addition, you do not disturb the breeding business of the birds. On the cut day it shouldn’t necessarily be sunny, and the temperatures shouldn’t be in the minus range. If you cut a hedge before winter, it will look so “plucked” the entire time until it shoots, usually not a pretty sight.

Otherwise there is a second editing date. That is at the end of June / beginning of July. On St. John’s Day, June 24th, hedges often sprout a second time. After that there is silence for this year. Therefore, the harvest time is very favorable at this time. From the end of August, it is better not to cut any more. If the wood comes out again afterwards, the shoots often do not mature completely by frost and can easily freeze to death.

If it has to be cut again before winter, it is better to wait until autumn. The best time is from mid-October to early November. Then the hedge is already in the resting phase, no longer drifting and it is easy to cut. However, the ground must not be frozen, and the sun should not shine either!
The right time to cut a hedge is in the late afternoon. Then the sap of the plants has withdrawn from the branches into the trunk. This has the advantage that sunlight can no longer dry out the interfaces as much.

Exception – the spring-blooming hedge plants

Early flowering shrubs and hedge plants are only cut after flowering. If they are cut in February or March, remove the flowers that would open a short time later. That is not the point. The trees are only allowed to bloom and when they have faded, they are cut.

Spring-flowering hedge plants include:

• Common barberry
• Deutzien
• Large plume shrub
• Forsythie
• Early flowering gorse from the legume family
• Common lilac
• Red elder
• Scented or garden jasmine.
• Japanese Kerrie
• Pipe bush
• Sea buckthorn
• Spierstrauch (some varieties)
• Hawthorn
• Wild rose hedges (wild roses that bloom once bloom on biennial wood) Cut wild roses that bloom more often in spring!

The actual hedge cut.

Most hedge plants are cut so that they are not too high or too wide and so that they become or remain dense. This is extremely important, especially with evergreen plants such as yew, privet and arborvitae.

Basics of hedge trimming

• The hedge should be wider at the base than at the top of the crown. This is called a trapezoidal cut.
• It is important that enough light can penetrate.
• If you only cut straight up, too little light comes into the lower areas of the hedge. Leaves and branches grow more sparsely. The plants bald from the inside out and may even die.
• The ideal is to round off the right-angled corners of a hedge. That also creates lighter inside.
• To cut a hedge straight, it is best to pull cords or use a sliding wooden frame.
• Always keep the scissors parallel to the hedge. The point should not penetrate the hedge, otherwise a hole will be created!
• In snowy areas, it makes sense not to cut the hedge crown flat at the top, but rather to point it to a point or to round it. This prevents snow breakage.
• Don’t cut in the sun! Young leaves and shoots exposed by the cut can burn quickly.
• It is best to work with gloves, this protects against injuries.

Cut the deciduous hedge.

Deciduous hedges have the advantage that they can usually be cut back a lot without further ado. They reliably drive out of the old wood again. They can even be put on the stick and then grow loose again.

It is always cut from top to bottom. Cut slowly, step by step. Check again and again whether the overall picture is correct. To cut straight, it makes sense to stretch a line horizontally. It serves as a border.

Outstanding shoots are removed. It is important to taper the hedge upwards. Don’t forget the conical cut, narrower at the top than at the bottom!

Cut coniferous hedge.

You have to be careful with coniferous hedges. They don’t forgive pruning mistakes as easily as the deciduous hedges. Here it is important to cut correctly from the beginning. Above all, the general shape of the hedge, the trapezoidal shape, narrower at the top than at the bottom, must be adhered to. Once the plants have balding, the damage can only be corrected with difficulty or not at all. In the case of false cypresses and thuja, it takes a few years for holes to grow back, but that never works with real conifers.

As a rule, coniferous hedges are allowed to rest for a year after planting until they are cut. You have to grow on calmly first. They are cut from the second year of standing, but then regularly. Even if the desired size has not yet been reached, it must be cut.

Arborvitae are poisonous. Skin contact can cause allergic reactions such as redness or itching. It is therefore important to wear long-sleeved clothing and gloves!

Trimming evergreen hedges

Especially large-leaved evergreen hedges (cherry laurel, loquat, and boxwood) should not be cut with electric hedge trimmers. Many leaves are inevitably injured. It looks ugly and pathogens can penetrate through the open wounds. It is better to
cut such hedges by hand with secateurs. This is a lot more work and takes more time, but it looks better and is good for plant health. The shoots are cut back to a leaf axis. In this way, a new shoot can quickly develop which covers the interface. Electric hedge trimmers are only the better choice for long hedges.

Evergreen conifers (hedge cypresses, arborvitae and false cypresses) are pruned by cutting the main shoots when they are 20 to 30 cm longer than the desired hedge height. They are cut off smoothly 15 cm above the desired crown height. In this way, enough shoots can form to cover the larger cut surfaces.

The right cutting tools.

There are various tools for cutting hedge. There are a few things to consider when choosing. It is important to have sharp blades, good saws and strong loppers, so that the cut is easy. Telescopic tools are ideal, because then you can usually do without a ladder. This minimizes the risk of falling. Cordless devices are light and independent of a power connection. This makes working fun, provided the battery lasts long enough.

We differentiate between manual hedge trimmers, electric hedge trimmers, battery-powered and gasoline-powered devices. There are also various saws.

Manual hedge trimmers

Benefits:

• lighter than gasoline-powered models
• No cable likes with the electric scissors.
• Absolutely quiet
• Handy
• Good for low and a few meters long hedges
• Professional scissors are ideal.
• Models with serrated blades are stronger than those with serrated blades. Even thick branches are no problem.
• A manual geared hedge trimmer has a significantly higher cutting performance than normal hedge trimmers. It has a sophisticated lever or gear mechanism and therefore a better leverage.
• Extendable handles enable a cut to be made even in hard-to-reach areas of the hedge. However, the handles should be made of aluminum tubes in order not to be too heavy. Glass fiber reinforced polyamide is ideal, but unfortunately it is also expensive. These scissors are particularly light.

Disadvantage:

• The work takes significantly longer.
• Depending on the required posture, it can be very exhausting.

Electric hedge trimmer

Benefits:

• Lighter than petrol hedge trimmers. A weight of around 3.3 kg with a cutting length of 54 cm is ideal.
• Lower noise level than gasoline models
• Should have high performance. 400 to 500 W are optimal, then the scissors can do everything that is necessary.
• Good knives are important. Special-sharpened laser-cut knives are best, but they are also expensive.
• Knives must be hardened, low-vibration and counter-rotating, then everything is fine.
• Knife length at least 23 cm. For Buchs, they can be shorter.
• Anti-lock brake system
• Safety stop as protection for the knives, the motor and the gearbox

Disadvantage:

• Cable and power connection required. Unfavorable for cutting far away.
• Risk of cutting the cable if you are not careful.

Battery hedge shears

Benefits:

• Easy
• Handy
• Quieter than gasoline-powered scissors.
• Can be used anywhere because no power connection is required.
• The battery usually lasts up to an hour, otherwise a replacement battery is recommended.
• Li-ion batteries are good because they are very powerful and relatively low in weight.
• You don’t have to pay attention to a cable.

Disadvantage:

• Unsuitable for very long hedges because the batteries are overwhelmed. You have to interrupt work and wait until the battery is full again. This can take a while.

Petrol hedge trimmers

Benefits:

• Most powerful scissors
• No power connection required, so they can be used anywhere.
• Fast work possible.

Disadvantage:

• Heaviest devices
• Loudest scissors
• Exhaust gases that you inevitably inhale because you usually work close to your face.
• Not environmentally friendly.
• The correct gasoline-oil mixture must be filled with two-stroke engines. You have to mix it yourself. Four-stroke engines are better.

Conclusion
Cutting a hedge is usually not difficult, but often strenuous, depending on the length of the hedge. It is important to have the right cutting time, the appropriate sharp tools and a guideline as to where to cut so that everything stays straight. If you want to save yourself a lot of work, choose a hedge plant that only needs to be cut once a year. Only free-growing hedges get by without any pruning and they need space. There is hardly any space left in today’s gardens.