Hedges bare/dead, how to promote new growth?

Naf

Before anyone jumps on it; obviously I know there's no way to promote growth on a dead bush.

With that out of the way: I spent a lot of today cutting our garden hedges back. I seems to me (I'm absolutely no kind of expert) that its a mixture of 2/3 different types of bush - at least one seems to be all but dead. Loads of the wood in the middle of the hedge is brittle and seems dried through; but is so tangled I can't get all of it out of the live stuff.
It seems the hedge hasn't been well cared for, so I have had to cut it back a long way - and this has left large bare holes. I'm just wondering what I can do to encourage what is still alive to grow and fill the holes?

Linda32

Hi,

It all rather depends on what it is. Is it possible for you to take some photo's and post them on here.

Or do you know what the hedge or bush is? It might be that the bush has been grown to create an hedge of sorts.

forgotmyname

Not much except wait for it to start to bud/shoot whatever and then get the rest of the dead stuff out before it becomes unreachable.

Manure?

SailorSam

When you say holes ? Do you mean space between each bush. Could you do anything like you see country hedges in layers, cut low down but only halfway through then start to run it horizontally.

splodger_seedswapper

the actually act of cutting back will promote new growth - it's called pruning

some plants respond better than others to pruning however - so it always helps if you know what it is you are cutting back.

re the dead / twiggy stuff - have you done a scratch test to confirm that the areas are actually dead wood? just scratch the bark with your fingernail - if it reveals brown wood beneath - that area is indeed dead - but if it shows greenwood underneath it is actually alive.

with hedges - it is not always a good idea (or possible) to cut out all of the deadwood - especially if you like to attract wildlife into your garden - just trim the outsides and top to keep it tidy - it is ok to leave the dead bits in the centre - to help keep the shape etc. and to reduce risk of big "holes" appearing in the hedge.

Naf

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xmsdfvt39y6akk5/Photo%2023-03-2013%2012%2017%2045.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fyb0h4d87m22mh8/Photo%2023-03-2013%2012%2017%2058.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5stia0jbc01jcag/Photo%2023-03-2013%2012%2018%2016.jpg

Naf

I'm insure as to my own analysis of what is dead as one section I cut off believing it to be dead (all of the twigs I had cut so far were brown & dry to the centre) came away with one branch of leaves growing from it.

splodger_seedswapper

not sure what you are worried about - the hedge looks fine (alive)
looks like a ligustrum - that's basically a privet

don't fret about the bare stems - it will green up in time - just keep it trimmed

Naf

I'm not so much worried; as you say it looks very much alive for the most part. I just wanted to know how I can encourage growth & greenery to fill the gaps, especially lower down where there's large bare stems.

sobie

Looks like Privet to me.

The reason its all bare at the bottom is because its probably not been ever pruned to shaped. When pruning a privet hedge you want the base to be wider than the top, this will allow light to penetrate the base of the plant encouraging leaves.
Prune like this http://www.eburgess.com/images/Hedges2.gif

You can prune it back hard right now once the snow has gone (Late March is ideal!) about 4-6 inches from the ground. then follow the pruning routine above from then after.

Give a good mulch and general purpose fertiliser afterwards.