Hi Gerry, part of our beech hedge, which is 4 foot high, is leggy, with few branches on the lower half. Can I cut this back to encourage branching, and when? Thanks, Harry Bond.
1 Answers
This is a common problem when beech is planted as large plants.
Pruning, short of cutting the plants to almost ground level, which is risky and not an alternative anyway, is not a solution.
The hedge will furnish the lower part, very slowly, as the lowest branches reach as a result of clipping.
The solution is to plant small well-furnished plants along the base of the hedge.Â