how old is your hedge?

[robin wood]

This is common knowledge amongst foresters and countryside workers but may be new to some so here goes.

In 1974 Dr Max Hooper published his "Hooper's hedge hypothesis" It basically says that the older a hedge is the more species there are in it. So you go to your hedge, pace out a random 30m section and go along carefully recording the number of woody species (trees and shrubs) The number of species in a 30m length is very roughly equal to the age of the hedge in centuries.

It is very rule of thumb but generally it gives an idea if a hedge is very old or one from the enclosure acts a couple of hundred years ago.

Some make up theories to support the rule saying that new species gradually colonise a hedge over the centuries. Others say that the 1000 year old hedges were actually left when the woodland was cleared and so species diverse from the start where we know that enclosure hedgerows tend to be pure hawthorn. Of course if you find a hedge planted in the last 20 years it will probably have 10 species in it because that is what folk plant now.

 

[Kepis]

Round my way, many of the hedges have been ripped out in their entirety so the farmer got a bigger maize or wheat field, most of the hedges that were around when i was a kid are long gone, although has to be said the new farmer round here seems to be a bit more savvy than the previous tennant farmer and has put a lot of the fields back to pasture and there is eveidence of hedge planting in places.

 

[mr dazzler]

It gladdens me to see so much new hedge planted around East Anglia. It depresses me to see a new one reach sufficient height and density ready for its first laying-and some daft t##t promptly flails the top off it........ oh well at least I gather the flailings sometimes for kindling
According to this theory Rob the hedge against my garden is 2 or 3 hundred years old-hawthorn, blackthorn, ash, (plus bits of laurel that have been used in recent years as filler to cover the gaps created by continual flail/topping) It used to be a pub car park, where my house is now, the pub is around 200-240 years old. The farmhouse that is resposible to "manage" the hedge is nearly 500 years old. Possibly the hedge was put in when the farmer sold the land to build the pub? It wouldnt of been a car park then, but they did have stables and a barn attached to the pub. We found eveidence of a huge old oak or ash tree where it was grubbed up and backfilled with black soil. We are doing some extension building work-footings range from 1400 to 2200 mm "because of proximity to hedge and trees"-ridiculous waste of time materials and money IMHO given that the nearest the newbuild will be to any part of the trees is 5 meter's -the house is on 1200 and hasnt settled one mm-but the planning gods dictate....."Tree consciousness" seems to be their latest trend.

 

[shep]

I like this and I will keep an eye out on my next bimble.
But,
How long is it since hedges have been planted with mixed seed? Surely there must be some quite new ones that were planted as a mix of 3 or 4species?

 

[jerryo]

we planted up a few miles of hedgerow a few summers ago and we used 5 or six different species - blackthorn, field maple, dog rose, hawthorn, beech . . and another that i cant remember
this was a countryside initiative scheme if i remember rightly. .

 

[xylaria]

The hedge on my allotment is from the 1920's as that is how the allotments are. It has elder, hazel, berberis, three types of rose, bramble, a pine tree, rowan, sycamore and dogwood, and some thing that might be a malus. I have the only original hedge on the allotments the rest have being grouted out by allotment holders in the past and poor maintenance. Some have being replaced by solely privet hedgerows. Most of the allotments are now surrounded by wire fence. We are getting broken into repeatedly and now we want a nice thick well laid thorn hedgerow back.

A well laid hedge is lusty bullock proof, its going to be a lot more thief proof than fence.

If anyone knows of any schemes that will help us restore a hedgerow, or know which plants are capable of vegetative reproduction Can you PM me please.

 

[jerryo]

i know there are certain grants available for restoring hedgerow but i'm afarid i dont have any specific details . . a good place to start maybe defra?

one thing though, a newly planted hedge will take many years (15 - 20?) before it offers any kind of protection from trespassers.

 

[xylaria]

That's why i was thinking if I laid whithes that can sprout like willow when it is shoved in soil, along the pre-existing fence, and maybe do a midland weave top it should thicken up quite quickly. Apart from willow and elder I don't what else can grow like that. Even holly dead or alive weaved into the existing fence would be better than what we have got.

 

[jerryo]

i would think that you may still have problems with the stability of the hedge doing it that way but i maybe wrong. another option though a more expensive one would be to use hurdles instead of wire fence. you could plant up the whips around the hurdles and the two would weave together quite nicely. . . probably would be costly though.

 

[Toddy]

Willow is a good base because it takes off quickly, is awfully useful and easily cut back. Holly once established is a pain to get rid of (I've got three in my beech hedge, my neighbour hates them so I keep trying to get rid of them, but they keep coming back up) It layers in well and keeps coming.
Loganberry and briars are another nightmare to deal with but they do discourage folks climbing over the garden fence

If you would like some cuttings of holly and loganberry will you pm ? I'll put some into root and bring them with me to the Dark Ages Meet up...........and would you like a well rooted blackcurrant sport too ? It produces beautiful fruit, no disease, ever, in over twenty years, it's just kind of productively vigorous, especially if a branch can touch the ground at all

If you contact BTCV they might well know about grants and the like for re-establishing hedgerows.

atb
Toddy

 

[xylaria]

Thank you for the offer toddy, I will say yes to loganberrys and the blackcurrent thank you. Willow sucks the water out of ground, its great if you live near a water course and wish to dry out a marsh.

 

[locum76]

i know there are certain grants available for restoring hedgerow but i'm afarid i dont have any specific details . . a good place to start maybe defra?

one thing though, a newly planted hedge will take many years (15 - 20?) before it offers any kind of protection from trespassers.

in scotland if you are looking for money for this kind of thing it would be worth starting looking for grants with the SRDP...

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Rural/SRDP