15 foot THICK cedar hedge

9 years ago

Hello,

I just bought a house, and the cedar hedge (white cedar) has not been trimmed in about 10 years. As a result, it is literally 15 feet thick, with about 10 feet over my property line, and 5 on the neighbors. It significantly reduces the size of my backyard, so I am hoping to trim it down over a series of a couple years on the side that is on my property.

The issue is that the brown zone starts only 1 or 2 feet from the outside. I would like to take the tree back as much as I can, but 1 or 2 feet to stay in the green zone is not enough. Is there a way to bring lower growth up? Can I cut it fully back to the trunk, and splice branches back into the trunk but at a shorter length?

I am looking for some specific advice on how to do this, and almost a step by step (i.e. do XYZ in year 1, ABC in year 2). None of my research has provided this.

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Comment (1)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
i would start by asking the neighbor if they find any pleasure in it.. and perhaps come to an agreement to destroy the whole.. and start over ... either helping with labor.. or splitting the cost ... cutting it down is usually not the problem.. as much as getting rid of the mess after ....

on most things... you have to PRUNE .. not shear... back to a live branch ... you cant just lop off 2 feet ... though i am not researching your specific plant ...

but regardless of what you do ... it will be ugly for a number of years .. and your will have to be able to put up with that ... some peeps can.. others cant ...

i just googled white cedar.. and was told.. that common name is used on a few different plants.. it would be good to know.. the latin name of your plant .. so as to be most specific on advice ... and that is why you may not be able to track down specific info.. including youtubes on the process .... we can ID the plant with a pic ....

i dont know what you are talking about with splicing ... if you mean grafting.. its an idea.. but i never heard of it.. and it is not the favored season for grafting ...

good luck

ken
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