Cutting a copper beach hedge

Brian Rochford asked 14 years ago

In a previous message I asked if cutting back the top/new growth of a copper beach hedge will help it to thicken at the base. I belive your answer was no. All the other advise I received from garden centres suggested I cut back the new growth in late July to encourage more growth further down? Does this make sense… I need/want the hedge to thicken and not grow any higher than 5 feet. Currently the plants are young 4 ft plants……

1 Answers

Gerry Daly Staff answered 6 years ago
Beech does NOT sprout lower down. And cutting the top of it in July or any other time will NOT cause that to happen.

However, if you clip away normally …. eventually, and after many years, some of the lower branches sometimes grow down and fill the base. But if the light levels low down are not great, due to self-shading, this might never happen.

If you had started with small plants, there would have been a much better chance of having a hedge furnished to the base. If you use big plants that have bare ‘legs’, there is a lesser chance of getting it to furnish.

However, you always can ensure low furnishing by simply buying small plants and planting them between the tall leggy plants in November …. and keeping the hedge weed-free.

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