When is the best time to trim my hedges?

Question

My renters let them get really tall. There are a couple of bare spots in them. Will cutting them shorter help them fill in?

Answer 1

Trim hedges and heaths in spring
Like overgrown hair, untrimmed hedges may go unnoticed to everyone but the owner. A spring trim will get your hedge back in shape and stimulate new growth.

Trimming a hedge will help make the individual shrubs blend with one another. The best time to trim a hedge is after the flush of spring growth, late April through early June, depending on your growing season, according to Ross Penhallegon, horticulturist with the Oregon State University Extension Service.

"Spring trimming after the growth spurt will help the hedge hold its desired shape longer than pruning before the active growth period," said Penhallegon.

When shearing a hedge, remember to make the bottom wider than the top so that light can reach all the leaves.

On older, slower growing bushes, modify the shape gradually over several years. Some older shrubs may only be trimmed about a half-inch per year, he warned.

Don't forget to shear heaths and heathers heavily right after they finish blooming, as well. Cut just below the point where the blooms formed. Annual post-bloom trimming will stimulate new growth in the center of these small shrubs and keep them compact. Apply a complete fertilizer to keep heathers and heaths healthy and robust.

Later in the spring, apply a nitrogen fertilizer to young hedges to green them up. For mature hedges, apply a complete fertilizer, such as a 16-16-16 combination, or good composted manure once a year.

As June approaches, concentrations of spider mites may appear in hedge foliage. If the leaves develop a gray cast and look dusty, it's likely that spider mites are present.

To verify that you do have spider mites and not just mildew or dust on your shrub, hold a piece of paper under a branch of the infested shrub. Shake the branch. Tiny brownish to reddish specks will fall on the paper. Examine them with a magnifying glass or hand lens. If the brown or red spots begin to move, odds are they are mites, said Penhallegon.

Hose the hedge with water in the early morning to help control the spider mites, or apply an insecticidal soap.

Answer 2

Type in the search bar "this old house hedge trimming" (without the quote marks) then click "cached". I just did this and there it was, a piece by their landscape contractor Roger Cook. I saw the piece a little while back and it is in-depth. I'm going to go back and check this out myself.

Answer 3

might take a while to fill in, but they should. I would trim them early morning or late afternoon to avoid the heat...

Answer 4

hedges, cut them anytime, they are usually hardy and will grow back again.

Answer 5

um, lemme see.................winter time maybe ?