[lordthanatos]

Hello all

ive moved into a house with a somewhat crazy hedge. Attached is a pic.

I have tidied it from this pic but Im wanting to drop it down a good 2 foot to let more light in and allow me to plant some stuff in the front garden.

Whats the best time of year to do this and can i literally take 2 foot off or should i do a foot this year and then another foot next year

really have no idea with this side of things

thanks

[yaxley]

Well to be honest privet hedge is pretty well indestructable i have cut them right down and they regrow just cut the top down as far as you want personally i would cut that down to the top of the picket the finished top will be very woody but it regrows in time and i would do it now ...

[mumofstig]

this very recent thread should help 
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=102281.msg1142977#msg1142977

[sunshineband]

and a quick short back and sides should do the trick and you will have a very attractive hedge come mid summer 

[JayG]

If you are very particular about the final height you want cut it down to 6" less than that to allow for the space the regrowing shoots will take up after they in turn have been clipped and start to thicken up (also allows for the inevitable slow increase in height over the years no matter how well trimmed you keep it.)

Do it all in one go (thickness as well as height if you want) - there may be one person out there who claims to have killed an established privet but I'd need him or her to take a lie-detector test before believing it! 

[sunshineband]

If you are very particular about the final height you want cut it down to 6" less than that to allow for the space the regrowing shoots will take up after they in turn have been clipped and start to thicken up (also allows for the inevitable slow increase in height over the years no matter how well trimmed you keep it.)

Do it all in one go (thickness as well as height if you want) - there may be one person out there who claims to have killed an established privet but I'd need him or her to take a lie-detector test before believing it! 

and if you saw how Mr Sunny hacked ours down, you would believe privet really is indestructable -- lots of nice new green shoots and those ole bare branches now    (Thank goodness  )

[lordthanatos]

thankyou so much for the info, ill be attacking it this weekend so ill send a pic once done thanks again

[RichardA]

agree with everything said especially about cutting 6 inches below final line and letting come back up. My mother had a long garden with a privet hedge along one side -- it was indestructible - it was also a very convenient height for her to leave things on if in the garden. Besides the usual clothes pegs, kitchen knives, etc one year when I cut it I got my hedge trimmers tangled on a dog lead and collar. (they had not had a dog for several years at that stage) so watch for what you might find - being at the front watch for kids pushing coke tins etc into it.
R

[Agatha]

If you want to make it 'thinner' as well as shorter, it would be worth cutting one side back very hard and just trimming the other this year, then reversing the process next year, as cutting back both sides hard at once will leave you with a 'see-through' hedge until it bushes out.

[pumpkingrower31]

If it is Privet or also known as (Ligustrum) they are very hardy and you can cut them back pretty hard, you can cut them back now. What I like to do first with any shrubs or hedges I try to wait for a small period of time when you don't get any hard frosts. This will help reduce any chance of frost damage and reduce the chance of disease from setting in once the branches are cutt, but like i said privet are hardy and the chances of that happening is slim

[Lulu]

I have privet - 120 foot both sides of my garden.  listen to the others - its indestructible, trust me I have tried many times!!  The one thing to say about hedges in the front garden in a city/town situation is that I agree with RichardA  - it seems to turn into a dustbin.  Once my leylandi (yep really  ) had gone from my front garden the litter I got disappeared overnight but I have  noticed that my neighbours who do have privet in the their front gardens still suffer from the cans etc inserted in their hedges.  We walled the front and I have flowering shrubs on my drive now instead.
Now where are my shears as its short back & sides time for that privet