Using trees as a living fence

Biggiesmalls · 10 October 2018 at 8:53PM

Hello, I have been offered some trees from a friend. The trees are a year old ,UK Native species. Can I plant them in a row and in a few years pollard them and use them as living fence posts? I understand that they will need to be copiced every year to maintain their shape and they will take some years to establish. Are there any other disadvantages in doing this? I can not seem to find much info online about this, I do not know of anyone who has done this. Any advice would be very helpful.Thank you.

Davesnave · 11 October 2018 at 9:46AM

Biggiesmalls wrote: »

I do not know of anyone who has done this. Any advice would be very helpful.Thank you.

I expect you have driven past thousands of miles of 'living fences.' Here, in the countryside, they're stock hedges. The only difference from what you propose is that there are several lines of trees and they might be elevated on a bank.

Most people I know cut their roadside and field hedges every year using a tractor flail. It's better for wildlife if they do the topping less often; say every 2-3 years, but the trees survive whatever regime is adopted.

madjackslam · 11 October 2018 at 11:40AM

As Dave says, if they are one-year old, they can't be that big, and surely that's just planting a hedge? If you let them grow tall without initially cutting back, the risk is that there are gaps at the bottom. If you're not flail cutting, but using a hedge trimmer, you can use the trimmings to weave between the trunks and fill these gaps, and provide homes for all sorts of bugs and beasties. That's unless your selection includes rosa rugosa!

Biggiesmalls · 22 October 2018 at 8:49PM

Thank you for your time and responding. I suppose it is like a hedge. I have done further research and found layered hedge that I can do with the trees I will get. Thank you again.

Using trees as a living fence

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