[Yorky]

This Beech hedge is approximately two and a half years old and approx.2ft 6 inches high.

Someone mentioned that it needs cutting back in order to thicken or 'stool' it i.e. get side shoots to grow in order to thicken it.

Some native species - hawthorn, blackthorn and holly have been planted in between but these do not seem to be prospering. Someone told me that Beech is quite dominant and will 'poison' other species in its vicinity.

Could someone possibly give me detailed instructions on how to cut the hedge back and thicken it out etc? Also, could it do with a mulch of well rotted farmyard manure?

Thanks in advance - image links below:

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff250/Kilnadrain/Beech%20hedge/P1040915.jpg
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff250/Kilnadrain/Beech%20hedge/P1040916.jpg
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff250/Kilnadrain/Beech%20hedge/P1040917.jpg
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff250/Kilnadrain/Beech%20hedge/P1040918.jpg
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff250/Kilnadrain/Beech%20hedge/P1040919.jpg

[Liparis]

Personally, I'd be very reluctant to give long-distance advice on that. If it went wrong for any of a number of reasons, the adviser could be blamed, perhaps not by you, but by others. The person who told you of it's problems, I'm wondering why he didn't give the required advice while he was at it.
A couple of things do come to mind. The beech appear to be too far part for a start, unless it's an illussion with the potograph, personally I would have planted them closer together and used more beech. I know they are expensive, but what ever you do with it, I can see several places where you might always have holes in your hedge.
I may be wrong here, but I've never heard of beech poisoning other trees/shrubs. But I think anything else planted amongst the beech will starve to death. A mixed hedge is probably better done with hawthorn, blackthorn etc.
Sorry, I don't mean to be negative, but advising on how to treat it at this stage needs an eyes and hands on job. Sort of touch and feel as you go. The stock that's used, I'm wondering if it's been grown properly in the nursery, again, it could be illussion of photographs, but hedging stock really needs to be regularly under-cut and transplanted, this would encourage the bushy-ness. Yours looks like it may have been transplanted and left, encouraging natural tree shape.
Don't despair, perhaps some one else is willing to have a go at advising. The only thing I would say is the growing points, all of them, need to be cut out regularly.
Bill.

[medieval knievel]

do i remember reading that you should only prune it when it has reached almost the height you want?

[Liparis]

You should prune when it gets a foot above the hieght you want and prune several inches lower than the hieght you want, at least the first year or two, but this hedge really needs bushing out, I think it's bad stock, for hedging.
Bill.

[Sive]

This is a very young hedge....I would concentrate on keeping the ground it's planted in free of weeds and grass. Keep it watered if we get a dry summer ( I wish! ) and give it a couple of years. I think it will be fine. I'd also follow the other advice about not pruning it yet. Don't forget a beech hedge looks barest right now, hopefully it will look far livelier once it puts out fresh leaves.

[Michael196]

HI Yorky

I am with liparis on this one. the distance between planting sems quite large.

Also it is a single row. What would look great here would be to plant a second row of maybe puple beech at the intervals of the green beech.

Although too late for this year unless you are ready to act in the next 2-3 weeks, you could put in the second row of puprple and dig up and replant the beech in a green-purple mixed pattern. It would look class.

another observation is the need for staking, you may need to consider some staking depending on what height you want to achieve.

I also read somewhere that july is the time to prune beech .

[Liparis]

[Yorky]

I planted some additional plants where the spacing exceeded 12-14 inches and also replaced a couple of dead/broken ones. The soil was not very deep and I soon hit stone so I had to break some of that up, remove it and replace with soil. I'm sure the combination of being against a footpath and lack of depth isn't helping growth.

I've pruned the hedge but noticed that some of the plants have been planted with the side shoots vertically positioned rather than horizontally so they will grow towards each other to form a hedge.

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff250/Kilnadrain/Beech%20hedge/P1050147.jpg
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff250/Kilnadrain/Beech%20hedge/P1050148.jpg

Is there any need to dig them up and turn them ninety degrees or will they eventually develop side shoots horizontally and join to form a hedge?

If need be, is it too late to dig ?

Thanks in advance.

[Michael196]

hi Yorky,

Just looking again at your pictures, some of the tree stalks are practically bare, that is not how beech should look. I will take a photo of beech planted on this site, and you can compare, Perhaps Liparis is right, you have ( bought or been supplied with) poor stock.

About turning them, you have just pruned, so the tree is stressed from that experience, to dig up now and rotate, is high risk to the plant, it may not survive.

You could certainly take the branchs that are shooting outwards rather than towards its neighbour, and secure them behind its neighbour, (like layering).

Pruning was a definite 'no no' , especially right now. the plants need to be in bloom and growing vigorously, Cuting back now can cause 'die back' more than what the plant has been pruned back to.


What to do now !!

Dont do anything, let it grow now,keep it weeded and fed and watered, over the spring and summer. For the autumn, source some good beech, and plant in between these beech.

Lookig at your wire fence behind, I have the sema one here. For each three 'box' on the wire fence you have one beech. You need to be at a density more like 2 beech per thre box's and even a beec per box if the beech is slim.

[Michael196]

good beech stock

[Liparis]

Now that's good looking beech hedging. I think Yorky has been sold beech trees rather than beech hedging. It's a clever ploy to sell you something you don't want or need. Why sell beech hedging at €1 each or whatever the price when they can talk you into young trees at €5 each. I've seen this done before and had them sent straight back.
Sometimes though, people talk themselves into buying or being sold the wrong item, as a friend of mine did. No patience, they want instant hedging and you just can't do that with beech, it's not really hedging material and a nurseryman doesn't have the time or the inclination to to spend the required amount of work providing 3 or 4 foot high beech hedging, so they will sell you beech being grown for trees. You do get nurserymen out there doing it, so take time choosing stock.
Bill.

[Yorky]

Thanks for the detailed reply. The distance between each plant is 12-14 inches which is what I've read is the 'norm' and any that I've seen are that distance apart. Some of them are mature with trunks of 3 inches diameter so when they were planted they would have been up to 18 inches apart.

Also, I'm somewhat confused about pruning. I was told by a horticulturalist to prune during dormancy to encourage lateral growth. I see in these posts it is not recommended to prune at all prior to the required height being achieved. If I did that then the lateral growth would be virtually non-existent.

Seems I'm caught between a rock and a hard place: to achieve height I need to leave it alone and to achieve width I need to prune!

Thanks again for the replies and keep them coming!

[Michael196]

Hi Yorky

I just consulted the Tree and Shrub Expert by Dr D.G Hessayon, you know those books you see in garden centers etc,

For beech hedging prune in July, just as Liparis suggested, and for the reasons Liparis suggested.

Yes, 18 inches or even a foot is suggested for beech hedging.My original hedging was maybe 1 foot apart. however, I want to get up to maybe 8-10 feet for wind protection , as I am on top of a hill here, I would be waiting a few years for beech to hit 8-10 foot, (maybe 6 years) before i can ''prune'' the top, or 'top' the tree, to promote side shoots and get more density.


so I planted second row , which reduced my width between trees to maybe 6 inches , ( 1 foot apart an each row, each row planting is staggered between the beech) , then I further planted any obvious holes,

now I have a moderatly dense hedge no more than 5 foot tall at the moment , that I wont prune untill it hits 8-10 feet.

For your case, you could support doubling the plating density that you have there.

I did prune other trees here during dormancy to give me height growth, cutting off side shoots etc, that is the norm.

gonna go outside and try to get a pic of what you can expect of double row planting.

[Michael196]

Clarifications

When I said 'other trees' I meant acers etc anything except beech !!

Alos not the denisty of the single row planting against the square wire fencing at the back . I have three per three square boxes, ( then I double that with another row in front !!).

[Michael196]

my typing is terrible today, 'also note'