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How can I rejuvenate this pyracantha hedge?
Nollie
Posts: 7,529
Hi folks, any advice on how far to chop back this overgrown, straggly pyracantha hedge that is bare in the middle? It looks as if it’s been radically chopped back to around a foot high in the past, but I suspect just left to shoot up again without any further trimming
Its towering above and over a lower herbaceous border, on the very edge of the upper terrace. I have chopped a fair bit of the overhanging stuff back already, making the bare patches more obvious in the process! If I now reduce its height drastically, back to the bare woody bits, would that encourage it to fill out more, will it just shoot up again to form more top growth leaving the woody bits bare (thus achieving nothing) or maybe kill it off entirely? I am really unsure how to proceed. How far down would you chop it and how to keep it manageable and ideally green in future??
The sunny south side over the lower border:
The back, shady side, at the edge of the upper terrace, the circled bit shows the stumps of how far it’s been reduced in height in the past:
Its towering above and over a lower herbaceous border, on the very edge of the upper terrace. I have chopped a fair bit of the overhanging stuff back already, making the bare patches more obvious in the process! If I now reduce its height drastically, back to the bare woody bits, would that encourage it to fill out more, will it just shoot up again to form more top growth leaving the woody bits bare (thus achieving nothing) or maybe kill it off entirely? I am really unsure how to proceed. How far down would you chop it and how to keep it manageable and ideally green in future??
The sunny south side over the lower border:
The back, shady side, at the edge of the upper terrace, the circled bit shows the stumps of how far it’s been reduced in height in the past:
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
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If you're more interested in getting it tamed than keeping berries I suggest you prune it back by half now, removing all shoots that are too tall or sticking out too wide. Then give it a good feed of bonemeal around the roots and water it thoroughly if it's been dry. This way you should still get some blossom next spring and also any heavy frosts will hit the ends of stems you can prune back to the desired size and shape after flowering.
After that you'll need to keep it trimmed regularly to maintain shape and size but it's worth it as they are excellent for wildlife and as a backdrop to other plants.
Though if you give some old thick bits a good shove you find they snap rather than give or spring back. You will soon learn to recognize what is what. We had similar some years ago and so much was dead wood once I got in there. I saved my arms and eyes by giving it a shove with booted foot first. They do respond well to some tlc.
Take care hope you don't get too spiked.
Strangely the birds don’t seem to eat the berries much, I guess there are richer pickings around here and there is masses of alternative cover around too, so I hopefully they will cope until it grows back.
You are absolutely right @Rubytoo there is indeed lots of dead stuff in there, including the two stumps circled in my photo that just pull away really easily. They are vicious spikes aren’t they? I have a few war wounds already despite wearing protective boots, clothing and gauntlets!