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Pruning Bird Cherry hedge plants

Stu ClarkeStu Clarke Posts: 2
in Talkback

Hello, I planted several Bird Cherry (Prunus padus) whips within a new native hedgerow last winter.  However, I'm struggling to find any advice on how it should be pruned.  Most websites give advice on pruning it as a tree.  But them as hedging plants.  Any advice welcomed.  Thank you

Posts

  • treehugger80treehugger80 Posts: 1,923

    prune after they have flowered like any shrub, but only do it every couple of years otherwise you loose the berries,

    I have a flowering/fruiting wildflife hedge that I chop back in winter to knee high every five years (and I do it in three sections so I always retain some berries)

  • PalustrisPalustris Posts: 4,307

    Funny you should ask. I was (until the wind got up and it started raining) pollarding the hedge at the bottom of our garden. It is a mixture of Field Maple and Bird Cherry. They are now about 15 feet high, so I am taking them back to just below the height of the wire fence. Probably the wrong time of year, but this is the only time I can actually get at them from either inside or outside.

  • Stu ClarkeStu Clarke Posts: 2
    At the moment they are basically sticks in the ground, having dropped the few leaves they had for the winter. But am wondering whether they should be shortened to encourage bushiness, like hawthorn, or whether they will do this on their own without turning into trees..
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