Best time of year to hedge/prune English Laurel?

ekote

17 years ago

Thanks

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Comments (10)

eileen_grow
17 years ago
The best time of year is when I'm away. We have about a mile of laurel hedge 9' tall. It is beautiful but requires a lot of work to keep it up. My husband cuts and I haul. Then I cry and we switch.
ekote
Original Author
17 years ago
I'm thinking spring after the flowers have faded on the hedge.

As much as this thing is a monster, it tastefully and effectively masks an ugly Costco vinyl shed and firewood shelter (think 3-sided box). But, it sure needs hedging...
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mdvaden_of_oregon
17 years ago
Tips:

You don't have to do all sides in one year, if its a serious reduction.

It can get hot in late May. Don't expose too much bare stem to the sun, like major cut-backs in late May to August. The bark can get sunburned.

I recall one guy - about 1989 - saying that English laurel was near indestructable, and defoliating it in June. It got "creamed" by the sun, with little foliage coming back that year, and bark peeling and cracking the next year due to the severity of sunburn.

So part of the timing answer, deals with how much you plan to prune or reduce.
ekote
Original Author
17 years ago
It's a 17'+ height hedge that needs to have about a foot or so taken off the sides. I suppose about a month ago would have been ideal. Perhaps I'll hold off till next year.
mdvaden_of_oregon
17 years ago
1 foot is not too radical for that big of a hedge.

The sides are safer from sun exposure than the top, especially if they don't face the sunset. Even if one side does face the sunset, it sounds very do-able now.
botann
17 years ago
Anytime you have the loppers and saw in your hands is the best time. The bigger the stem, the further in you cut if you don't want that sheared look.
Embothrium
17 years ago
May.
minnie_2008
15 years ago
Hi - I'm new to this, so might have posted this 3 times!!

My laurel hedge has flowered in mid-spring every year since it was planted about 8 years ago. Lovely fragrant, white, droopy flowers. Most years we just gave it a light-ish trim whenever it got out of shape to encourage it to grow to the right height/width (approx 12 ft high). Last year it had got so big we gave it quite a heavy pruning in October. This year - no flowers! So when is the best time to trim so we still get flowers each year?
minnie_2008
15 years ago
I didn't say - I'm in the UK!
Chopstick_japan_com
12 years ago
Seattle: February is the best time. By May, you'll have a dense covering of fresh, green leaves. If you prune too late, the new growth will be stretched and gangly. This timing also reduces the number of trashy flowers that deposit layers of berry-goo in September.

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Best time of year to hedge/prune English Laurel?

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eileen_grow

ekote
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Best time of year to hedge/prune English Laurel?

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