By brown twigs do you mean old wood? I cut ours back quite hard in places with thick older wood and it always comes back.
Unless you have an actual dead branch or twig . We get the odd small one here and there.
I just recently cut through one about 6 inch circumference, and it is sprouting again. I try and cut just above a "bump" in the twig or branch as they are usually the growing points.
Sorry if too much information. Hope we are talking about Prunus laurocerasus, and I have not made a mistake .
You could cut it down to just a few bare stumps and it would soon produce new shoots on those stumps and grow away quickly again. So you can prune as hard as you like.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Thanks for the comments. It’s an established hedge, and plenty of evidence of resprouting when I cut into old wood ( forgot the technical term!) I suppose what I am actually asking is what happens if I cut back into the new growth. Will that encourage more sprouting from those cuts? I’d really like to get more growth lower down on each plant, without having to cut down the main ‘trunks’. Each bush is easily tall enough, but I wouldn’t mind a bit more thickness nearer to ground level, where there are thinner branches. Hope that makes sense, and yes they are Prunus laurocerasus.
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I cut ours back quite hard in places with thick older wood and it always comes back.
Unless you have an actual dead branch or twig .
We get the odd small one here and there.
I just recently cut through one about 6 inch circumference, and it is sprouting again.
I try and cut just above a "bump" in the twig or branch as they are usually the growing points.
Sorry if too much information.
Hope we are talking about Prunus laurocerasus, and I have not made a mistake .
So you can prune as hard as you like.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
I suppose what I am actually asking is what happens if I cut back into the new growth. Will that encourage more sprouting from those cuts? I’d really like to get more growth lower down on each plant, without having to cut down the main ‘trunks’. Each bush is easily tall enough, but I wouldn’t mind a bit more thickness nearer to ground level, where there are thinner branches.
Hope that makes sense, and yes they are Prunus laurocerasus.