newly laid hedge

[Gary Elson]

Hi Guys

Good to see people having a go and enrolling on courses to learn

I used to lay professionally about 20 ish years ago when I was young farmers age (18 - 26) also competed in the National championships a couple of times

I used to lay midland style (bullock hedge) - clearly the best style

Last comp I did had a local radio reporter talking to the competitors
He asked the oldest guy in the veterans class (he was at least 70 - the competitor not the radio guy) in the normal bubbly radio presenter stylee

".... this is radio hereford...So your the oldest competitor in the competition have you been laying hedges all your life ?........"

Old guy looks at him like he's got two heads and replies ......."No not yet !"

End of conversation !

Once you start it difficult to stop I still have all my kit although haven't swung a bill hook in anger for a good few years

Great stuff

Gaz

 

[caliban]

This is a great thread, but can anyone tell me what "flailing" is?

 

[mr dazzler]

Flail cutters are mounted on a tractor. They have a device attached, PTO driven and on a jcb type boom arm, and which has revolving metal blocks or chains that smash through anything in their path. Some operators are actually quite stupid and try to take down small oak and ash trees (6 or 7 inch diameter, not just the small top shoots ), they end up with shards of wood everywhere, and the hedge looking like it was subjected to an explosive blast......
PS Geoff, thanks for the excellent set of pictures, top job

 

[caliban]

Thanks for the explanation. Sounds well ugly.

 

[John Fenna]

It is! Very - especially when it is done to Blackthorn heavy with Sloes ready to harvest!

 

[caliban]

LOL! You'll just have to put something else into your gin John.

 

[mr dazzler]

Of course a traditinal flail is a different thing altogether. Before mass mechanistation of farming happened in the 19th century, they didnt have threshing machines or combine harvesters to produce usable grain for milling (or flail cutters to butcher up decent hedgerows.....). Instead they used a proper flail, which was a long handle stick attached to a shorter beating stick with a hinge, often made of eelskin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dreschflegel.jpg
They swung it round, obtaing a good hit with the short stick. Because of the hinge, the striking part was able to contact the threshing floor "flat on" which gave a more efficient hit than just the tip if you had of used a long straight stick.....

 

[Toadflax]

Some operators are actually quite stupid and try to take down small oak and ash trees (6 or 7 inch diameter, not just the small top shoots )......
PS Geoff, thanks for the excellent set of pictures, top job

And you'll see in the last two pictures that we'd left in a 'standard' towards the far end of the hedge. I think that this was in part because it didn't really fit into the lay, and it also adds a bit of interest for humans and wildlife.


Geoff

 

[swyn]

I stand corrected Toadflax, although the end result of your efforts looks good! Hard work for right handers though.

I have been experimenting with hedging predominately 'flailed', filling in the gaps with young stock, also Beech (and Hornbeam) hedging which behaves differently to Hawthorn. I have found that you can get a good result by snipping the potential 'leader' on the young plant. This results in 'tillering', thus, early in the life of the young plant it is encouraged to spread more rapidly than it usually would when just left. The complete opposite of what is practiced in trying to grow timber trees!
The resulting Hawthorn hedge in question is then thick right from the base to the height where the flail hits. Beech hedge is rendered impenetrable by this method and when underplanted with Holly forms a thick, wind proof and pleasing screen.
I am in year one of a four year hawthorn mix planting campaign and have just finished planting 200 hedging plants and 200 mixed shelter belt trees plus all the associated fencing and guarding. The hedging will be laid in due course, in the meantime perhaps it should be me dressing up the disused Hazel coppice and reaping the benefits of the resulting growth!

Swyn.

 

[locum76]

Hi all.

Still looking for advice on this. Is hedgelaying a seasonal job? I imagine that its best done in the dead of winter or in summer when the sap flow is reduced.

Rob

 

[Toddy]

Kenny Grieve, the fellow who teaches greenwoodworking, also does Hedging.
He lives at Brotus in Fife, nearer to you than Aaron, Rob.

You could contact him and ask...........and if he ran a course at Kirkliston you'd probably get folks happy to come along and learn
http://www.brotus.co.uk/

cheers,
Mary

 

[FreddyFish]

Hi all.

Still looking for advice on this. Is hedgelaying a seasonal job? I imagine that its best done in the dead of winter or in summer when the sap flow is reduced.

Rob

I would guess winter or at least not the nesting season.

 

[paulhereford]

Hedgelaying is a wonderful craft and whilst the principles are straightforward, the actual laying of a hedge can be very challenging depending on the material in front of you. I learn't as a BTCV volunteer when I was younger and still lay the odd metre or two now and again. One thing you can guarantee though is that every passerby is an expert and/or ex Welsh National hedgelaying champion (well around here in Herefordshire) lol....I would recommend to anyone to go on a weekend course and learn.

 

[Radix lecti]

Love to have a go at hedge laying,perhaps one day.

 

[paulhereford]

Love to have a go at hedge laying,perhaps one day.

Maybe a bushcraft meet with an adjoining hedge that needs managing is an idea worth pursuing.....might look into that

 

[GPWool]

I note one hedge has been laid by 'right handed' folks and the other by 'left handers'! Great to see though.

I've been trying to kickstart the hazel coppicing again here in Bucks. Unfortunately, so far, without success. No one wants to lease the acerage where the coppice stands are, so they continue to decline. One professional Hedge-layer visited and was keen, but in the end it was still easier for him to travel to the West country and buy the raw materials from already established suppliers than try to clean up the stock here. This reaction came during the last large fuel price hike. I wonder if the £1.20 per litre costs will cause a re-think.

In all seriousness though, I am still open to offers!

Swyn.

Hi are you still looking for someone to lease the coppice?