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Will hawthorn branch from old living trunks?

ElizabethHudsonElizabethHudson Posts: 16
in Plants
We have a wildlife hedge full of ivy and hawthorn running down our garden and track leading to neighbours house. The hedge is owned by us. Our neighbour has sadly removed a large chunk of ivy from a 20 foot stretch :(. Means the base of the hawthorn is bald on one side. It has about 3ft of hawthorn growth on top. Will the hawthorn eventually branch from base. I really dont want to cut this part of hedge down.

Posts

  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    It should do Rebecca.  The only possible caveat around cutting deciduous trees is that they need to be cut when the sap is down but, if you're sure it was only ivy that was removed, you can be sure it will sprout back again - maybe not this year though.
  • Bunny ...Bunny ... Posts: 3,471
    Yes . OH cut ours down to 10inches high in one summer and off it went again.
  • ElizabethHudsonElizabethHudson Posts: 16
    Thanks both. I wont be cutting the hedge but am hopefully it may sprout. I have asked them to leave the hedge alone now as it has been left bald st the bottom.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Hawthorn hedges tend to be bald at the bottom as hawthorn grows into a tree with a trunk if left untrimmed.  

    The best solution is eitherto cut the hedge hard back, taking the top off ...this will  get the hawthorn to fill out lower down .., or to get the hedge ‘laid’ by someone who knows how to do it. That’ll give you a good solid stock proof base and the hedge will grow up from there. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • GemmaJFGemmaJF Posts: 2,286
    You can practically do anything with Hawthorn. I would go along with Dove and rejuvenate the hedge. I think the missing bit may stay bare otherwise. You can go really quite hard and it will not be all that long before it comes back stronger than ever.

    Really you should thank the neighbour, I know ivy is nice, I know it is a wildlife hedge, but the old hedgers I knew as a child would have torn that ivy out long ago! Ivy is quite capable of killing a full grown tree, let alone individual plants in a hedge.
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