Safe Hedge Trimming Tips

Nothing is more satisfying than looking out at your hedges and noticing how clean and neatly they have been groomed. There is no reason why you can't manually trim your hedges with hand shears; however, using a powered hedge trimmer will make the process much faster and easier, as well as give it a more polished appearance. When it comes to trimming hedges, several aspects come into play, including the type of hedge that you are working on, the equipment that you select to use, and the quality that you want to accomplish. This tutorial will look at the best techniques to get the hedges of your dreams, whether you are trimming a little hedge or several large ones with fine leaves or thick branches. Whether you are trimming a tiny hedge or a series of large ones.

The art of pruning and trimming hedges is a fundamental gardening skill that involves removing dead or overgrown stems, roots, and branches from hedges, trees, and shrubs. Pruning and trimming hedges can also be referred to as hedging. Your plants will grow in a manner that is more robust, dense, and well-balanced if you prune them on an annual basis. Something that is desired by each and every gardener.

If the spent blooms are removed from the plant before it goes to seed, flowering will continue for a longer period of time on flowering trees and hedges. In their essence, pruning and trimming are practices that mimic the natural processes that occur in nature, albeit in a manner that is more managed and under human control.

Hedge trimming is a technique that must be practised over time to become proficient. When coupled with the most appropriate instruments for the task at hand, it transforms from a burden into something to be enjoyed rather than endured.

We will discuss why you should trim your overgrown hedges today, as well as how to do so in a way that will not harm the plants and what kinds of tools will be most effective.

What is a Hedge?

In Australia, hedges may be an excellent addition to any garden, and if they are maintained properly, they have the potential to rapidly convert an ordinary backyard into an attractive outdoor living space. Shrubs, like many other types of plants, need to be pruned and trimmed regularly to maintain their tidy appearance and good health.

In addition to diminishing the lush appearance of your hedge, any diseased or dead branches that already exist can be detrimental to the plant's overall health. Because of this, you should never ignore the need to prune. At the same time, routine trimming is required to either encourage new growth in hedges that are still relatively young or to encourage new growth in hedges that have become overgrown.

Continue reading because there is a lot of helpful information here, regardless of whether or not you have ever cut hedges before or whether or not you are concerned about whether or not you are providing the correct level of care for your plant. We have included some practical advice on the upkeep of hedges, as well as an easy-to-follow step-by-step tutorial on the appropriate way to trim hedges.

A collection of bushes or shrubs that have been planted near:

• Create privacy
• Provide the function of a fence, border, windbreak, or
• Conform to a certain artistic theme (e.g. formal gardens).

Use Personal Protective Equipment

Hedge trimming is a dangerous job; thus, it is imperative that you wear the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE). Hedge trimmers have the potential to launch jagged branches and twigs in all locations, with the eyes acting as a magnet for them. If you have any exposed flesh, the debris can potentially inflict cuts and bruises; therefore, you should cover your arms and legs. Since the saps of many types of bushes and shrubs can be irritating to the skin, it is important to wear protective gloves whenever working with these plants.

When wearing gloves, it is much simpler and more comfortable to take out tenacious branches and brambles without experiencing any pain. If you are trimming a hedge that is taller than chest height, you will most likely need to use a ladder to reach the top of the hedge. Because the last thing you want is to slip and fall while holding a powerful hedge trimmer in your hands, you should be sure to wear some non-slip boots of decent quality. When trimming hedges, your safety is the most important thing to keep in mind because there are a lot of potential hazards out there.

What Tools to Use to Trim a Hedge

You are just as good as the tools you use. Thus, it is important to ensure you have the appropriate equipment for the job.

Investing in the best hedge trimmer that you can afford will not only make the job simpler for you, but it will also be better for the hedges. Blades made of ground steel and advanced gear technology will assist in maximising cutting power.

Always make sure your tools are sharp and well-oiled. When cutting plants, dull blades don't make clean cuts and can cause damage.

The following items are included in our essential equipment list:

• The secateurs are the hand tool you should reach for whenever you need to prune, trim, or remove deadheads. Make sure the secateurs you buy have gears and a bypass blade.
• The Hedging Snips is a lightweight hand tool that is both sharp and pointy. They have long, flat blades that are useful for clipping the edges of leaves and short stems.
• A lopper is a pair of secateurs with a long handle that is used to prune high branches, tall bushes, and dead wood.
• A pole pruner is a tiny saw or secateur that is attached to an extendable pole and can either be manually or electrically powered. It is used for pruning high branches safely.
• Long-bladed hand tool for performing modest shearing and shaping work on bushes and along straight edges. Hedge shears and clippers (e.g., hedges).
• A Pruning Saw is a short, sharp hand saw that can cut branches that are up to 10 centimetres thick. The thin blade can penetrate the thicket of vegetation.
• A Hedge Trimmer is a motorised saw that is ideal for effectively cutting huge and formal hedges. You have the option of using either gasoline or mains electricity in addition to battery power.
• The chainsaw is a handy tool for large operations but lacks the precision of hedge shears and trimmers. Take extreme caution to avoid injuring yourself!

When Is The Best Time To Trim A Hedge?

When is the optimal time of year to prune a hedge? This is something that is dependent on the kind of hedge you have as well as its current state. A good time to prune hedges is in the dormant season, just before they start blooming out in the spring. This is the perfect moment for several reasons, including the following:

• Reduced Humidity - The cooler air and lower humidity eliminate many bacteria and other microorganisms that could infect recently cut branches and leaves.
• Fewer Leaves If there are fewer leaves on your hedge, you will have better sight when you are cutting it. This enables you to direct your attention to places that are very wooded or twisted up. Because there are fewer leaves, the hedge will experience less stress because it will lose less of its water content as a result of the pruning.
• When your hedge has not yet formed buds, you can prune it to direct the plant's energy toward the regions where you want to see new development. This is possible because the pruning will allow the plant to concentrate its growing power. This is the greatest time to plant a hedge to fill in bare spots later on.

In the late winter, deciduous hedges like box, privet, and viburnum benefit from having a more intensive trimming done to them, which is then followed by more routine trimmings performed throughout the growing season. These varieties of hedging are significantly more forgiving than others and can withstand severe cutting. Because of their rapid growth, they are also excellent candidates for use as topiary and shaped hedges.

When you prune, a plant relies on the plant itself as well as the reason the plant has to be pruned, such as for its appearance, its manageability, or its plant health.

Removing dead branches, suckers, water shoots, and water shoots, as well as diseased or damaged growth, are examples of the types of pruning that can be done virtually anytime.

When it comes to yearly pruning, the optimal time of year is typically late winter, after the coldest temperatures have passed. This is especially true for plants that bloom in the summer and fall. This encourages strong growth in the springtime.

As a general guideline, you should prune after the plant has flowered or produced fruit. Plants that bloom in the spring are clipped after they finish flowering.

Be careful what you cut back in the fall, however, because the new foliage that emerges in the winter can be harmed by the cold. Light pruning should be performed on deciduous plants as soon as possible after planting, then again in the winter when the plant is dormant.

Growth can be stimulated by performing maintenance pruning in the summer. Plant evergreens in the spring, and after the initial pruning, continue to prune them every other year. If you want a denser hedge, trim it more frequently.

Why Pruning and Trimming are Important?

Your plants can reap the benefits of greater sunlight, improved ventilation, and an enhanced water supply to the roots when you perform routine trimming and pruning. All of these things can help keep your plants in the best possible condition while also reducing the risk of bacterial, viral, and fungal illnesses taking root.

Here are just a handful of the many benefits that come with keeping your hedges in good shape.

• Increases the number of leaves and flowers produced.
• It makes the plant healthier by removing any deadwood that may be infected or old, and it increases the amount of sunlight that reaches the younger shoots.
• It stimulates the opening of the buds, and it produces an aesthetically beautiful finish.

Light Trimming and Tip Pruning

Young plants, which are more susceptible to injury from harsh pruning, benefit from lighter forms of the practice. Regular, gentle trimming can improve the foliage density of a hedge even before the plants have grown together to create a hedge. This results in a hedge that is better formed.

Shaping shrubs can also be accomplished by giving them a quick clip all over with shears or a hedge trimmer.

The health of the plant can be improved by removing deadheads and deadwood. Cut back to the second or third eye bud, which is directly below the stem that bears the flowers.

During the growth season, you can remove the tips of shoots by pinching them out by hand to perform a technique known as tipping or pinch pruning. This promotes the formation of new shoots, an attractive kind of growth, and an increased number of blooms.

Moderate Trimming

Established plants benefit from light to moderate pruning.

Remove around one-third of the entire plant's growth, or half of the growth from the previous year, by chopping back healthy branches to a distance of between 45 and 60 centimetres from the plant's base.

This results in greater stimulation of new growth than light pruning would.

Hard Trimming/Pruning 

When pruning has been neglected for an extended period of time, it may be helpful to perform severe pruning, also known as rejuvenation pruning.

It is especially applicable in the following situations:

• Plants that are very difficult to keep under control, such as honeysuckle
• kinds of deciduous trees and shrubs that are quite hardy, such as forsythia and viburnum
• Plants frequently used in hedges, such as privet and Japanese holly
• Plants with several stems, such as rose bushes and lilac bushes.

To encourage the plant to grow into a great shape, perform severe pruning on healthy plants down to roughly 20 to 30 centimetres above the ground.

Avoid performing severe trimming on ill plants because doing so can put them into a state of shock.

How to Trim Hedges Correctly

Why trim hedges correctly?

Hedgerows can be maintained in an attractive and compact state with proper trimming, which also encourages new growth.

Plants can be made to look ugly and become weaker if they are pruned in the wrong way.

The first step is to get your surroundings ready.

Make a strategy. Consider the weather; if there is a chance of wind or rain, avoid pruning.

Check that the hand tools and power tools both have sharpened edges and are fueled/charged.

Wear safety eyewear, boots with non-skid soles, gloves with a good grip, and protective gear with long pants and sleeves.

Imagine that you don't feel comfortable cutting by the eye. Establish strong lines to assist you in cutting in a straight line. Utilising a drop sheet to collect clippings can help reduce the amount of time spent cleaning.

The second step is to get rid of any diseased or dead branches.

• First, cut away any branches that are unhealthy or dead.
• Remove problematic limbs by cutting them back to their bases or to a healthy side branch or shoot. This prevents the disease from spreading further, enhances nutrient intake, and promotes growth in the affected area.
• Performing hedge trimming on boxwood

The third step is to shape and trim the hedge.

Remove any projecting branches from the surface, and then perform fine pruning on the remaining branches. Begin gradually since you always have the option to lose more weight later on, but you can never get it back!

When trimming hedges of a medium height, begin by cutting vertically through the sides, working from the back to the front. Horizontally trim the top of the tree, making sure that your saw is tilted slightly.

When pruning tall hedges, start at the top and work your way down. If you must use a ladder, secure it to a nearby tree or have a friend hold it for you.

Always keep the blade of the cutting tool near the main stem while you cut to ensure a clean, tear-free cut. Remove the bark from the very edge of the branch collar (where the branch begins). Do not leave stubs behind because doing so invites vermin and illnesses. Make the base of your hedge wider so that light may penetrate the parts that are further down.

Fourth Step: Post-Pruning

Composting, mulching, and recycling all green trash are acceptable methods for getting rid of clippings.

After you have finished pruning your shrubs, use the right sort of fertiliser for the plant you have.

The hedge trimming and shaping process

1. Ensure you have a hedge trimmer that is of high quality and has been regularly maintained. Maintain a high level of functionality in whichever type of battery power, mains electricity, or gasoline-powered device you choose or already own. A machine that has been properly maintained is a safer machine. A good hedge trimmer should really have double-sided blades that reciprocate, a reasonable cutting length, and, for increased safety and convenience, a swivel handle with numerous positions to make it simpler to cut at varied angles. Other desirable features include a right-cutting length.
2. Always make sure you read the user handbook. This is a common observation made by suppliers, who note that customers frequently wreck devices for no other reason than that they failed to read the basic instructions. If the handbook is difficult to read and you still have questions, you can look for answers online or call the company that made the product.
3. After doing a safety inspection, you should only operate a hedge trimmer. Always ensure that your blades are clean and sharp and that you lube them. The job is made more difficult, and your shrub or hedge is damaged when you use blunt blades.
4. Always remember to dress appropriately. Flip-flops and loose apparel should never be cut into. Put on shoes that are low to the ground and strong, as well as garments that won't get caught in the blades of the hedge trimmer.
5. If you can, you should dress in protective clothing. It may seem like overkill to wear protective gear while cutting a hedge, but if a flying twig were to hit you in the eye, it might cause permanent damage to your vision. Therefore, it is important to protect your eyes. Additionally, whenever it is possible, you should wear sturdy gardening or chainsaw gloves.
6. Before you begin, you should thoroughly search the area around your hedge for any potential hazards, like toys, twigs, pebbles, and the like. If you misstep while you're cutting, you could put yourself at serious risk.
7. Under no circumstances should you cut your hedges when it's raining. It is risky, especially if you use a device that is powered by the mains electricity supply. It is not effective, and it will not generate satisfactory outcomes either.
8. Never consume alcohol or any other substance that can impair your state of mind before or while trimming hedges. To do a task of this nature, you need to be physically fit, aware, and in command of both your senses and your muscles. Similarly, you should only perform this task when you are exhausted.
9. When operating a mains-powered electric hedge trimmer, it is generally helpful to have the cord behind your back and over your shoulder so that it cannot come into contact with the blades in any way.
10. When operating a hedge cutter, you should ensure that your hands are always on both handles.
11. The tops of trees and really tall hedges are not among the tasks that your everyday, run-of-the-mill, generic, all-purpose hedge trimmer is intended to complete. When cutting high twigs and branches, you should NEVER force yourself to reach too far or stand on your tiptoes. In point of fact, you should never, ever elevate the height of your hedge trimmer higher than your head. If you are going to use a ladder or step ladder, you MUST ensure that it is secure before you start climbing on it. In the end, the most effective strategy is to have both feet firmly planted on the ground and to employ a long-range hedge trimmer if the hedge is too tall.
12. When making each cut, you should make a long, sweeping motion that is carefully controlled and runs parallel to and across the top of the hedge. When cutting the side of the hedge, you should use the same kind of action all the way from the bottom to the top of the hedge.
13. When cutting the hedge, you should always proceed ahead along the hedge. It is not a good idea to take a motorised machine and walk backward along a hedge simultaneously.
14. If a piece of foliage becomes caught in your blades, you should ALWAYS make sure the machine is turned off before attempting to remove it, and you should ALWAYS wear gloves.

Extra hedge trimming tips to remember

The development of a solid strategy for hedge trimming and pruning is essential to maintaining healthy plants and producing a garden that is visually appealing. In addition, if you use the appropriate instruments, the process will be much simpler for you, and the hedge will recover its health much more quickly. Check out some of the following advice and strategies for trimming a hedge, which you can use to keep your hedge garden in pristine condition:

• Always maintain a sharp edge and keep your cutting instruments clean;
• Before beginning any trimming or pruning, especially at the beginning of the year, you should first make sure there aren't any birds nesting in the area. Hold off until all of the birds have flown the nest;
• You could find that trimming works best in the middle of the morning when the dew evaporates and there is less moisture. You might also do the trimming in the late afternoon;
• If you live in an area that receives even a minimal amount of snowfall and frost, you should aim for rounded tops since the accumulation of snow can cause damage to the inner branches of the tree;
• First, remove any branches that are particularly thick by cutting them with hand pruners;
• Even though overgrown bushes can tolerate severe pruning, you should take care not to cut any of the primary branches at the base of the plant because these are the ones that provide the upper stems with nutrients.
• Never cut by the eye, no matter how tempting it may be. To ensure that the sides are parallel to one another, you will want a string line.
• When the evergreens are dry, do not attempt to cut them. Be sure to hydrate the plants the night before you trim them in the summertime if you choose to do so.

How to Get Perfectly Straight Lines

To put it another way, lines and bushes go together like peanut butter and jelly. You will be able to achieve uniform edges that you can be pleased with just a small bit of effort and the best method. After you have established your straight edges, keeping them will not be difficult.

1. Obtain an Initial Comprehension of the Shape of Dynamic

If you want your hedge lines to seem ideal, it's a smart option to trim them into the shape of an inverted keystone. Try to achieve a wider base while keeping the top relatively thin. The explanation for this is that the tops of many different kinds of shrubs tend to grow outwards more quickly than the bottoms. Aim for a sloping effect with a difference in the height of at least 6 inches between the top and the bottom of the hedge. This will allow the most amount of sunlight to enter the hedge and will make it easier to maintain as the top grows out.

2: Make Use of Some Mathematical Thinking

When attempting to bring under control a densely overgrown hedge, this comes in especially handy. You will only require some string, a few ground pegs, and a measuring tape to complete this task. Start by taking the width measurement of your hedge at both of its ends. Install a stake at each end from the backside, and then tie a string to each of the stakes you just installed. First, measure out the necessary width (an ideal width of 14 inches), and then drive two extra stakes into the ground in the front of the hedge. Now that the base template has been established run a thread around each of the four stakes.

After that, from each stake, measure inward towards the middle of the hedge, a distance of three inches. You can get the desired top width by staking in four robust bamboo canes every three inches (run string to all for canes to create the top guide). Last but not least, attach some thread to the ground stake closest to the tallest point of the hedge against the bamboo canes to represent the incline slope. When using this method, it is always a good idea to take a step back and visually inspect your lines as you go. The ground may not be completely flat, and there may be other lines in the area that conflict with the ones you are trying to draw.

3. Start at the Bottom and Work Your Way Up

When aiming to get regular lines, cutting a hedge from the ground up is the easiest method to use. If you cut too deeply at the top, it will be much harder to modify the cutting depth when you get to the bottom. At ground level, make your way from one end of the hedge to the other by moving back and forth along the hedge in a gliding motion. Approximately one-third of the way to the top. Next, turn around and walk in the opposite direction, concentrating on the section of the hedge that is in the middle and gradually narrowing the cut so that it is in line with the diagonal guide string. The final step is to trim the top third of the bush, again tapering it so that it blends in with the centre third.

After all of the edges have been cut, you should check it to ensure that it is uniform and then touch up any spots that require it. The top must then be chopped away as the final step. Put the hedge trimmer in a horizontal position on the top of the hedge, and then carefully cut away from you in a front-to-back direction. Be careful not to apply too much force to the hedge trimmer as you move away from yourself so that you don't create any unattractive dips or cutouts in the hedge.

Takeaways

To maintain their health and appearance, hedges need to have regular trimming and pruning done to them.

The end of winter and the beginning of spring are the two finest times to trim your hedges.

The process of cutting crisp edges and clean shapes is what's involved in formal hedging. Take note that this method requires ongoing maintenance on a regular basis.

A more organic form can be achieved with informal hedging, requiring less maintenance.

If you don't have the time or tools to trim your hedges yourself, you might want to think about hiring an experienced gardener to perform the job for you.