Examples of regrowth

Recently I came across a couple of examples of regrowth that are worth sharing. These were in a short length of wide-spaced Hawthorne hedge, laid approximately four years ago, which has the look of a practice piece, or a job that was not completed. Whilst the stems had been pleached there was no evidence of stakes or binders and there was no 'build' to speak of. So, not much of a hedge but it does illustrate nicely a couple of issues around regrowth.

The regrowth has not been trimmed and has reached between six and eight feet in height. There is little competitive vegetation at the base of the hedge, aside from some low-level bramble, and the new stems are thin, straight and only lightly branched.

The first photo shows strong regrowth from the stool, in fact there are a surprising number of new stems. There are two old pleachers, so it was multi-stemmed when laid, and may well have been previously coppiced.

The second photo shows a stool with a single pleacher. In this case the regrowth from the stool is not as strong but there are several strong new stems growing from the pleacher.

I believe that this second photo shows a pleacher that has not been thinned down sufficiently when laid and therefore a greater proportion of the sap is feeding the pleacher rather than the stool. This has caused vigorous growth in the pleacher with many new sturdy upright stems. In time the pleacher will rise further off the ground and if it were some time before it was laid again it would present a problem for the hedgelayer trying to make a stock-proof hedge. 

We have all come across these large old pleachers, still alive and with multiple upright stems, and are none too happy if we get a difficult one in a competition cant. I think this example nicely illustrates how these occur and why we should endeavour to get the 'hinge' to the optimum thickness to keep the pleached stem alive, whilst promoting strong regrowth from the stool.

SoE Improvers Day

A bit late uploading this as my modem gave up the ghost on Sunday and have only just got a new one fitted - good news is that it's faster than the old one.

With the need to return my veterans trophy before the SoE competition next month I took the long road to Donnington to lay a bit of spare hedge at the Improver's Day competition on Saturday.

Thankfully the day was dry, with bright sunshine throughout. On the drive down I passed through some bad floods around Arundel, and on site the fields were sodden and the ditches full. The hedge being laid was a continuation of the that used for one of last year's Training days and a maiden of some 12 years or so, mostly Hawthorn with just a few small Field Maple and Dogwood scattered throughout. Oddly the Field Maples had not grown well in this hedge, perhaps because of the soil type or the ratherwet conditions of this low-lying site.

 

My cant, as shown in the foreground below, had rather a lot of Dog Rose and bramble - I know always complaining - but was made up mostly of nicely grown 2 to 3 inch diameter Hawthorn reasonably evenly spaced. So, I laid with hand tools, except for two larger stems right at the end which were difficult to get at through my neighbour's laid-off stems.

End result looked OK, if a little thin at ground level. I was pleased with the pleaching and build (except the exposed pleachers) and with the general appearance. Although a double planted hedge the rows were very close together making staking more difficult than it should have been on a hedge of this age and stem dimensions.

SoE Training Day 3

Yesterday was the third South of England Hedgelaying Society's training day, this time at Guestling Thorne in East Sussex. A dry bright day; mild but with a chilling wind. The long shadows in the photo below indicate some nice early morning sunshine that did not last. The hedge was across the field from the one worked on for the John French Competition but was of a different character. Of indeterminate age, it comprised a mix of Hawthorne and Blackthorn with very little else except bramble and rose. Flailed repeatedly over many years at four foot six it had developed large stag-horns and rot had got into a lot of the stems; four or five years of top growth gave the hedge some height but there was nothing at all around the base.

 

As the hedge was unfenced and the sheep had eaten out all the vegetation up as high as they could reach, this is a good example of what happens when a hedge is not laid on a regular basis and is no longer stock proof, deteriorating rapidly and with no regeneration.

My student James and I had the cant shown above. It was the second to last one down the field and had fewer stems than those on the middle section but fortunately was not as heavy as those at the other end of the hedge. Lots of bramble and rose in the top which took quite a while to remove, but there was very little clearing out to do at the base other than the removal of dead and rotten wood. Except for the thinning down of a couple of large stag-horn stems with the chain saw we laid almost entirely with hand tools as most of the stems were between three and five inches in diameter. However, many were awkwardly shaped and partly rotten making for some challenging axe work.

Quite pleased with the end result, given what we started with. Stock-proof, but not enough material to properly cover the pleachers.

Nice stake line and good even width. The binders were not that great but we did a reasonable job given the materials we had.

Finally a general view of a few of the other trainers and students at work.

Moor Green Lakes

Yesterday's visit to Moor Green Lakes, the last laying session of the season, was to complete a section of hedge, part of which had been previously laid by the group (not sure exactly when).

A planted hedge of unknown age containing Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Dogwood and Field Maple, with little or no under-story thanks to the overshadowing trees, which had caused the hedge to grow somewhat lopsided out towards the footpath. 

Groups of large'ish Hawthorns and Field Maples were interspersed with sections of spindly Blackthorn - much of it dead - and Dogwood. As you can see the Hawthorns were very tall, having stretched up to the light, and had thin intertwined tops. The previously laid section of the hedge can be seen on the left of the photo below.

It was a pleasant day, not too cold and with little wind. A good turn out by the group ensured that we got the hedge finished in good time (to get to the pub) and the end result was very pleasing, attracting complimentary comments from members of the public using the foot path. Also, many thanks to members of the Moor Green Lakes Group that cleared and burnt the brash.

The John French Competition

Another day, another hedge - and this time not such a nice one. Very variable with a lot of heavy stuff at one end and quite thin at the other, with every variation in between. It was a planted hedge of unknown age but judging by the gnarled old hawthorns and the size of the stems on the oaks it was well over thirty years old. It had been repeatedly flailed at about four feet and the rabbits had decimated the planted stems in places creating large gaps. Over the years some Willow had grown up from the ditch bank as had the Blackthorn suckers. The hedge was also full of bramble and rose - not the hedge layers favourites.  You can see in the photo below the remains of an old picket fence, fortunately without wire!

 This is my cant - about half way down the hedge. A bit of everything in here. On the left some medium sized Blackthorn. In the centre a lot of rabbit damage and some old fencing. Most of the tall growth you can see, comes from a large willow stool growing in the ditch at the back and then on the right some gnarled old Hawthorns with three feet of new top-growth.

I know we hedge layers all like to moan about the cant we get but mine was really thin at the front with most of the growth coming from the ditch bank. What I do need to get to grips with is how to lay a hedge up the bank and still make it solid and stock-proof.

So below is my cant at the finish - no time to take photos before as I was sweating like a bull trying to get all the rose out of the tops and get the hedge down in time. Most people were having the same problem and as a result the judges extended the time allowed by three-quarters of an hour (we were laying 11 meters in five hours).

Not my finest hour as you can see and a bit thin on the right due to not much material coming over from my neighbour.

This next shot illustrates my problem. You will see that the hedge-line in the background is quite straight but then the bank continues towards the lower middle-left of the picture with no plants on it at all. What growth there is comes from the ditch on the right. Must get to grips with how to deal with this. Have to say I was not the only one with this problem.

Now if you want to see a nice straight stake-line and a thick, even hedge, look no further than this effort by Mr Tunks, who was placed second.

 Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the winning hedge but I am delighted to report that it was laid by Mike Bentley and a great job he did too. Frank got 'best work on a poor length'  which was also well deserved.

John had laid on a really nice lunch and thanks to him for this and a great, well organised competition - if a very hard one.

Tatsfield

Had a week away in Ireland so a bit late in posting this and the next post. It was a busy weekend with a SHG visit to Tatsfield on the Saturday and the John French Competition on the Sunday.

The Tatsfield hedge was a continuation of one we had done last season, separated by a field gate. However, this section was a much better prospect, with some nice planted sections of Hawthorne, Blackthorn and Field Maple. There were some difficult sections with large, heavy stems to be positioned and at the top end a very thin section of Blackthorn.

Forgot to take any photos before we started laying but this is one of the lower section taken some time into the job.

The next shot shows Con giving a master-class in staking and binding.

Now some work with hand tools on some of the reasonable sized Hawthorns under the supervision of Fred H.

In another section Fred O gets to work with the chainsaw.

 

And now the top section of the hedge, staked and bound. As I said, it is a bit thin this end but the final result looks neat with a nice straight stake line and the binders following the contours of the land just enough without exaggerating them. By this time the sun had disappeared behind the clouds making it look like a different day.

This next shot shows a section of the hedge we laid last season. The regrowth is not good due to the poor condition of the original hedge but it is there and hopefully in another year or so it will thicken up and gain some height.

The Nationals 2013

Yesterday was The Nationals at Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire. The weather was reasonably kind, with just a few light showers. However, the wind was quite strong at times, making it necessary to hang on tight to the taller stems as they came down to prevent them blowing way out of the hedge-line and breaking off.

Parking was away from the hedge and we were ferried to and fro by tractor and trailer, which always makes it difficult for people like me who like to bring the proverbial kitchen sink with them. 

The hedge itself was at first glance very manageable - how many times have I fallen into this trap - but was rather tall, at some fifteen to twenty feet, and did contain some sizeable Field Maples, but I think we all felt comfortable that the cants were much of a likeness, at least within our class. The side had been flailed up to about eight feet removing some useful side growth.

The first problem to arise was that two of the SoE veterans had been held up waiting for transport to the hedge and it was ten minutes past the draw time when the decision was taken that we could wait no linger and to draw for those that were present. The delayed two turned up a short while later and were told they could have extra time at the end so as to put things on a level playing field.

In the draw I get the first cant, which looks OK, except for some large Field Maples that appear to have been damaged when younger and had dead wood in the area of the pleaching hinge. Quite a lot of Spindle and Dogwood in the cant too, which could prove interesting.

 And then I get a bit of a surprise - the cant next to mine is the last of the SoE Intermediates and one of them has not turned up and so after I had laid-off the first two stems - I hadn't noticed that there was no one working that cant - I'm told by their judge that I will have to stake from my first peg and make what I can of the join into the un-laid section. No point in worrying about that now as there is a hedge to lay. So, I press on and take the tops out of a couple of Field Maples and get them down and it looks like this at about a third of the way down the cant.

Quite pleased with the pleachers at this stage, but struggling a bit with the build, as the Spindle and Dogwood was tall and thin and with all the side growth at the top - poles with fluffy tops - and I couldn't seem to get the build right. At one point I glanced at my watch and thought it said one o'clock, panic set in as I still had four or five stems to lay and there was no way I would be able to finish laying and get the stakes and binding done in an hour. After a while I could still hear chainsaws so thought others must still be laying and so had a look down the line, and indeed the others looked to be be as behind as me - another look at the watch showed that I had apparently misread five-past twelve. Big sense of relief but I still felt under pressure as I had a lot to do in the remaining time. So no time to take any more photos till the end. To cope with the un-laid section to my left I had to cut off one of the laid-off stems and force what I could of the others into the standing hedge at the start of my cant, which was not ideal. Anyway, I did get it finished in the nick of time and this was the result.

The binders supplier were absolutely beautiful and made it easy to get a nice straight top. The cleft Chestnut stakes were also good but my line had a slight curve that I couldn't straighten because of the number of heavy stems in the hedge and no amount of pulling and pushing would resolve the problem and I had no time left to move the last stake, which may have made it look a bit better. 

I was pleased with some aspects of the finished job but felt that the build was uneven and in fact the back of the hedge, in my opinion, looked better than the front. I also felt that it was a rushed job with no time to stand back and look at what you were doing, but then that's competition laying for you.

But everything said, it was a great day as always and although I was well and truly knackered at the end I did enjoy myself and its wonderful to see the different styles and the top-notch work done by some of the competitors.

So what should it have looked like? Well here are three shots shots - the first is a rather poor photo of the SoE Intermediates;

and the next two are of the SoE Open.

And for something completely different - here is Gary's Derbyshire cant.