How to Lay a Hedge
Hedges are an important part of our countryside, yet they are functional too. The use of hedges goes back hundreds of years (perhaps more) and is an effective way to keep in livestock and mark boundaries. They also have very important benefits for wildlife as they are home to many nesting birds, small mammals and many insects. Apart from being a habitat they also provide a corridor for the movement of animals across field systems and between woodland areas. Landowners need to maintain them but sometimes they get out of control (the hedges rather than the land owners) and once they reach over 4 metres in height they start to encroach upon fields and become “gappy” at the base. It is at this point that they need to be laid - ideally by an experienced hedge layer.
The trees that do well in hedges are hawthorn, blackthorn, field maple, hazel oak, sycamore and ash as well as some other species. Different species will require different techniques but broadly the approach is as described here and illustrated on woodlandstv.co.uk.
We were lucky enough to film Neil Sands demonstrating and John Wilson explaining as they laid a badly overgrown hedge at the Weald Woodfair in East Sussex. John has been a member of the South of England Hedge Laying Society for 25 years, since its founding.The Society has about 150 members and organises regular training sessions, competitions and demonstrations.
In the film, they explain that this is not a summer activity: not only do the leaves become more of a problem but there is a risk to nesting birds.Like oysters, the right months for hedge laying have an “r” in the month (September to April, though usually finishing by March).
The process starts with removing the surplus material – twigs, old leaves, debris, brambles, rusty wire. The stem to be laid needs to be selected and about a foot (30cm) off the ground it should be cut almost right through so that it can be bent over and laid at about 45 degrees. Higher up, nearer the top of the hedge, the stem is then cut at an angle. This stem is called a “pleacher” and it is these pleachers which will grow back vigorously with vertical shoots making the hedge livestock-proof.In the Midlands hedge laying is called “plashing” and the French call it “plaisse”.
Stakes are driven in vertically at 18 inch intervals in the centre line of the hedge. The binders are woven between the stakes with ends wedged behind the stakes. Both the stakes and binders are usually from hazel. The final height of the hedge is about 4ft and the stakes will be trimmed off to the same height to give an extremely tidy finish.
- Tools needed are: a billhook, a small axe, a small chainsaw (perhaps, and if you are qualified to use it), wire cutters, thick gloves going over the wrists and a sharpening stone. A first aid kit is needed too – even when things go well this can be something of a “blood sport”!
- Materials: you will need stakes for the verticals, which should be sturdy enough to hammer in, about 5 ft 6 ins high and about 2ins in diameter (ie about 1.7metres by 50mm). For the horizontals you need much longer and more flexible poles called “binders” which should be about 10ft long and about 1½ ins in thickness (ie about 3 metres by 40mm).
- If you are the owner of a woodland, you might have an overgrown hedge which needs laying. If you get it done by a contractor it should cost a little under £10 per linear metre including materials. A good hedge layer in the right conditions might lay 20-25 metres in a day.
- It is possible to get a recommendation from one of the organisations connected with hedge laying or, better still, you can try it yourself. There are a lot of hedge laying courses available that can be found by typing “hedge laying course” into a search engine.Interestingly they all seem to happen on Saturdays in the winter with a typical course taking three Saturdays in succession.
- Although hedges are now well protected and you need permission to remove one or even create a gap in one, they haven’t always been officially appreciated. Until the 1970s, the government paid grants for their removal, arguing that larger fields were more efficient and essential to justify the new and larger tractors. Nowadays, however, new hedges are encouraged and grants are available for planting, but of course this increases the need for maintenance – hence, the need for more hedge layers.
Driving (or even cycling) around the countryside you will be surprised how many recently laid hedges there are once you are on the lookout for them. You may also start to spot those in need of attention and the billhook.
What’s your experience with hedges and hedge laying?
Comments are closed for this post.
Discussion
Hi, I’m going to lay a hedge (Midland style) in Milton Keynes with a group of conservation volunteers. Unfortunately, there is no budget to buy stakes and binders. I was wondering if anybody has any available for us to use? Many thanks!!
Most of the comments have been a great help especially from “Rebecca” . I may be stupid (indeed probably am!)but can small fir trees be laid? somewhere about 4ft tall. thanks for this helpful site.
Hello, I manage hazel coppice in the Sussex, Hampshire area and have hedge-laying materials in stock ready for collection (stakes and binders). I can be contacted through above e-mail.
From our hedgelayer John Shepherd “I like the stems to be about an average of 2.1 to 2.4 m tall (7-8 feet) which results in a laid hedge of a nice height. If there are plenty of stems to lay, then I would remove those not in the line of the hedge. However if the hedge is gappy, then you may like to lay the stems which are out of line, back into the hedge line to bulk out the laid hedge rather than have gaps or have to insert deadwood to fill them.”
We have a country property that has metres upon metres of hedge for the last three years the farmer has hacked the tops off with his hedge cutter. We want to lay the hedge and have searched for courses in the shropshire or derbyshire area. Hubby is chain saw trained and I did some work with the NT lumber jacks and arbourilists so we can handle bill hooks and cahin saws. The hedge is a mix of holly Hazel Ash black and hawthorn. We are prepared to do this our selves but have a few questions how tall does the hedge need to be before we start as currently it has been cut back by said farmer. 2 the base of our hedge has various stems going in all directions do we cut back to the ones in the line of the hedge?
I live in Canada and am interested to know if there are any hedge laying societies here? Has anyone ever laid Carragana? Thank you for any help.
Hazel Steenman
I’ve never laid Alder, but see no reason why not. Alder roots seek water and consequently I suspect its growth in a hedge could be similar to willow, where the shoots grow strongly and needing trimming yearly or it will quickly get of hand.from John Shepherd, Hedgelaying tutor, Plumpton College
Hi Renate
Provided the hedging plants are well established, it is generally not the age which dictates when to lay a new hedge, but the height you want the resulting laid hedge, since that influences the height you allow your un-laid hedge to grow before laying. For instance, I have laid a new hedge dividing the parking spaces in a car park where the resulting laid hedge was to be 0.6m (2 feet). In this case the saplings were about 1-1.2m tall, planted about 3 years previously and I only need to nick the stems to lay them. By way of contrast, I laid a planted hedge last winter where the resulting hedge needed to be 1- 1.2m high (3.5-4 feet). Thus I waited for the saplings to grow to about 2.5m (about 7-8 feet) tall before laying, (the diameter of the stems being about 20-30mm in diameter); it worked really well. So it is really the height of your laid hedge, which dictates how tall and how long the saplings need to grow before you lay them and not the age of the hedge.
Can you lay alder?
Hedgelaying in Scotland
As a south-of-englander living in Scotland for past 20+ years, I’ve never seen a laid hedge up here, except round my garden, where I did it myself in a combination of south of england style (shown above) where I had access to both sides of the hedge, and Isle of Wight (using willow pegs to hold it down, easier to do but not quite so tidy looking) where i didn’t. Now looking at a cornish style hedge, using all the rocks I’ve dug out as a base layer.
How old does a hedge have to be before it can be laid? I planted a mixed native hedge eight years ago. It has grown very vigorously. I would like to lay it but am not sure how big stems need to be before they will withstand laying. Any advice greatfully received.
Hi, do you know any hedgelayers in the Buckingham (MK18) area? How much should I expect to pay for approx 50m? The hedge is very unruly, approx 15ft high, lots of top and a variation of trunk/stem sizes.
Yes agree with Rebecca/John except I’d cut 30% of stems then when they show healthy regrowth cut another 30% and so on. This would make laying more difficult but would be safer and give continued cover. With older and less-coppice happy trees definitely a better strategy. Holly and hazel in my experience are quite hard to kill!
response from our Hedgelaying tutor. John Shepherd.
25ft. does seem to be too high. I work on the basis of once cut, whether I can control the lowing of the stem to its pleached position; if I can, then I will lay it. In this case (and without looking at it), it will almost certainly be too tall and the tops tangled such that it will be impossible to lay. It will involve tremendous faith and probably break your heart, but the best option might be to coppice the whole hedge, let it grow for 3-5 years and then lay it. You will need to protect the regrowth from rabbits and deer, and the hazel will grow so much faster than the holly, you run the risk of it smothering the Holly. Also have a think about selecting the occasional Holly to grow as a Hedgerow tree (surroundings permitting).
Have a look at the following link – it might help you decide the best course of action: http://www.hedgelink.org.uk/hedgerow-management.htm
Hi there,
I’ve recently moved into a house which has a large garden, surrounded by a mix of hazel and holly (about 50-50). They appear not to have been managed, and are about 25ft high and very bushy now. Since the two species are randomly mixed within the hedge, is it possible to lay them in the aforementioned fashion? Or would it be better to simply cut all trees back to the required height.
Many thanks indeed – great site!
Hi Alex. You’re right, shielding the hedge on the sunny side will slow the growth, but I wouldn’t like to say how significantly. If the hurdles were for security, I would suggest a temporary wire mesh fence, but for privacy I have no other thoughts over what you have suggested. An alternative is to let the hedge grow for a few more years, trimming the sides but leaving the top, in order that the laid hedge could be slightly higher than would be usual and perhaps avoid the need for the hurdles. (For instance, for a 4 foot high laid hedge, the stems before laying would need to be about 6 feet.)
Hi, I have about 50m of hawthorn hedge around my garden which is stemmy and thin at the bottom, though the top (about 4ft high) is reasonable. I planned to lay it( not done one before, except a few bits at my parents house), cutting about a foot or less off the ground for the pleachers. I hope that this will give us more privacy in the garden once it grows. I will probably also put some hazel hurdles up alongside ( to shield from the road) which I can get locally, though as these will likely be on the sunny side of the hedge I was worried they might block the light and slow growth. Anyone got any thoughts?
Many thanks
Alex Mitchell
Hedgelaying in Scotland
I can’t say whether there is any tradition of hedgelaying in Scotland, although I can’t see any reason why not in the lowlands. Try contacting some of the hedgelayers in Scotland and having a chat with them – some of them appear to offer training. http://www.hedgelaying.org.uk/contract.htm
Response from Hedgelaying Tutor Plumpton College Centre for Sustainable Food Farming and Forestry
Hi Robin,
It’s great that you’re into hedge laying. I wouldn’t worry about laying in both directions. As you imply, it’s not as aesthetically pleasing as a hedge with all the pleachers lying in the same direction; traditionally, the hedger’s role was to stop stock escaping and they would do wherever was necessary to achieve this. I have seen illustrations from 80+ years ago which show pleachers laid in both directions.
As regards birch – no problem; they are not particularly long lived trees and the larger stems prone to rot, so I suggest you plant-up at the same time.
Response from Hedgelaying Tutor Plumpton College Centre for Sustainable Food Farming and Forestry.
Hi
Can you lay birch?
I laid 300m of hedge last year to create a living hedge between our woods and a field. Very unorthodox. There was alot to do,(we have only had this 20 acre life style block for two years) and large gaps where I had no option but to lay both ways. Your prof’ hedge layer would have died! But it had to be done or else the darling horses might have gone for a walk.
I need to lay another hedge on the border of another field and there is silver birch in a section where there is nothing else to lay.
The unorthodx hedge did brilliantly this year so there’s encouragement for novices anywhere. The birds will love you.
Please tell me you can,
Great site
Thanks
Robin Jackson
Hi
anywhere in Scotland one can learn this craft?
Fascinated by it on my trips to England but not aware of seeing much of it up here and always wanted to learn, maybe even with a possibility of doing it professionally at some point
thanks
N Burns
Holly and Spindle are what I call Brittle – the flexibility of the wood makes it more difficult for the larger stems to be successfully laid; but it is perfectly possible to lay them. I have always cut out Elder from a hedge – since it tends to smother the plants around it and because it is generally a short lived tree, but am pretty certain that it won’t lay.
It is meant to be unlucky to cut an Elder tree down – probably because so much of it is valuable in traditional medicine; the flowers and berries making drinks to soothe coughs and ward-off colds, the crushed leaves keeping flies at bay and the inner bark and roots also being used. If you don’t want to cut Elder, then you could try leaving it as a hedgerow tree, removing the lower branches to allow light to the stems below it’s canopy. From John Shepherd, Hedgelaying tutor Plumpton College.
Can holly, spindle tree and elder be laid?
“The short answer is ‘Yes’ and I’ve done it, laying my parents suburban garden hedge a number of years ago. There was a tremendous amount of dead wood, many decades accumulation of dead leaves at the bottom which all had to be removed and some of the (older) stems were a ‘little brittle’ when pleaching them. The laying appeared to knock the hedge’s growth rate back, and it was about 3 years before it really started to thicken up; I can’t remember what the weather was like and whether that was a contributory factor.” John Shepherd Hedgelaying Tutor Plumpton College
Graeme, no you can’t I’m afraid, conifers don’t grow back
Chris
17 January, 2014