UK/Irish style hedgerow in the US?

[Grasshopper]

OK, so we live in Florida (near Tallahassee), which basically = jungle. As in, my field mesh fencing (board or Horseguard tape on top) is getting grown over by brush and saplings after just a few years, despite periodically going through and cutting down saplings and other growth. When the prior owners put in the fencing, they did it themselves and didn’t space the posts evenly, so my options for redoing are limited. I love the look of flex-rail fencing, but I suspect due to cost that’s not going to be an option for the next 10 years while kids are busy growing and being expensive!

In the spring I was in Ireland and spent some time eyeballing their hedgerow fences. Is that something I could make work here? It’d be a whole lot easier (I think) to go through and hedgetrim the top and sides 1x/year (in the fall, when it’s cooler) than to try to keep the fenceline clear, which would basically require RoundUp 2x/year along the whole pasture fenceline. Or should I just put on the Tyvec suit and stew in my own broth (yup, FL) while using copious amounts of the dang stuff?

[Texarkana]

I had a neighbor in Tennessee who let the brush claim his t-post/woven wire fence, then kept it trimmed to look like a hedgerow. It was actually pretty snazzy looking. Although I don’t think that’s how they do it in the UK. :lol:

[atr]

You need to learn how to “lay” a young hedge to end up with that truly impenetrable, ancient UK hedgerow. In essence, what you are doing is cutting the saplings part way through, and laying them over and interweaving them into the next plant. It’s a thing of beauty when done properly.

Once well established, you can then just have at it with a flail hedger and trim it back…

But your existing fence might well provide enough structure to just let whatever is growing, grow. or weave some of the saplings through it and into each other to reinforce, then trim as necessary. Lucky you. I have to get down on my knees and beg for anything but scrub oak to grow around here.

[wsmoak]

I feel your pain. I try to avoid chemicals but at least once every couple of years I throw up my hands and spray the fence line. That fence was WAY too expensive to let it get ruined by sweet gum / blackberry / whatever else is trying to grow. We also just bought a DR string trimmer (on wheels) which is so, so much easier than carrying the weed whacker.

[Polydor]

Here in west coast, the blackberries grow pretty much like a uk hedgerow. Most horses respect them. Other than one gelding who had a yearling tried taking one hedge on , failed miserably and landed in the water filled ditch on the other side . Survived and was only scratched up and covered in disgusting water.

P.

[Chall]

One farmer who boarded horses in NY (dutchess county) had one short corner composed of dead tree logs, branches and brambles that he added to periodically.
It worked well, but it was a common line fence between two of his pasture, so if a horse got through it he’d just be in another paddock, not free/loose.

[B_and_B]

You can try it. You’ve got the advantage of the Florida growing season and a fence in the middle. Without the fence, you would be looking at decades before it was truly impenetrable. You may find that trimming it twice a year works better, and aim for a pyramid cross section when doing so.

[Palm_Beach]

I find that along with a hedgerow, you get all kinds of weeds and vines growing up with the shrubs, so it’s still a lot of maintenance. BUT it sure does look nice! Ours is along a board fence.

[lorilu]

Just one word of warning. I live in Ocala. I have no climb perimeter fence. It is on the property line . Over the years a tree grew up through the fence - it hid my neighbor’s garage quite nicely. Then last year we had a hurricane. When the tree came down it brought 20 ft of wire fence wit it. I had a he{{ of a time finding someone to remove it due to the wire fence - and fix the sections of fence - it took a tractor and $500. Yep. SO, be careful of the wind load on your fence.

[Raincityrider]

The no climb along the front of my property is planted with a 7-8 foot Escallonia hedge on the roadside. It’s an evergreen, has attractive flowers and the bees love it. I don’t do much to keep it dense. It doesn’t grow to a branch diameter that will damage the wire. Once a year I tidy it with the trimmer. It’s about 550 feet long so that takes a while but I think the privacy and weed control is worth it. I live in bramble country but I don’t find them sprouting out of the hedge very often. I believe Escallonia grows in zone 8 or below.

I will add that I had a laurel hedge at my prior property and HATED it. I needed a chainsaw to trim it back and it was a ridiculously fast grower that would pop the fence wire. Success really depends on the plant you choose. I’m not sure how easy it is to find politely growing plants in your jungly climate.

[gumtree]

Keep in mind what type of invasive species of vines like Kudzu and some others that have moved in, taken over in your area. These types of unwanted plants love to use hedgerows, bushes etc to grow on. If not kept in check they can and do completely cover a nice bush, hedgerow in one growing season and kill it by the following year.

[clanter]

I was thinking more on the lines of invasive species of snakes that will move in

[lorilu]

Here in Ocala lots of folks use viburnum for hedges. Gets big, and I see it gets trimmed every few months.

[RPM]

@atr

You need to learn how to “lay” a young hedge to end up with that truly impenetrable, ancient UK hedgerow. In essence, what you are doing is cutting the saplings part way through, and laying them over and interweaving them into the next plant. It’s a thing of beauty when done properly.

Once well established, you can then just have at it with a flail hedger and trim it back…

This.

[Guilherme]

What works in Ireland may not do so well in FL!

There have been many comments about these barriers but the one not yet mentioned was permanence. Once you do one of these things then you will have to likely hire a 'dozer or backhoe to get rid of it. I’ve been informed that ag land does not often change hands in Erin and that when it does there are substantial restrictions on it use. Under such conditions a “hedgerow” fence makes sense. But those conditions hardly apply in FL (or most other places in the U.S.).

Along one of my property boundaries there is an old, barbed wire fence that has become close to a functional “hedgerow.” Last winter I hired a guy to clear almost 1500 feet of the line of tree branches overgrowing into the pasture. I could not effectively mow to the fence with my big tractor and bat wing bush hog because I’d damage the cab due to large branches. I was loosing more than an acre of production by not being able to get to the fence. I was also seeing erosion from water runoff in a couple of places that were hidden by high vegetation. TN is not FL but we have along growing season here, too. No kudzu (at least not yet! ) but lots of briars and trash trees.

How wide is the base of a properly done hedgerow at maturity? How much productive ground will a hedgerow take up? If it’s a perimeter fence what do state laws say about boundary fence maintenance? These are valid questions that need to be asked and answered.

G.

[susanne]

Remember that many plants otherwise ideal for hedging are toxic to horses, including laurel and yew.

For a hedge to be effective at enclosing a horse, it needs to remain dense from top to bottom, which requires proper pruning so that the top does not shade out the bottom. Keeping the bottom wider than the top is one way to do this.

Some potential hedge plants, such as blackberry, are quite capable of pulling down your mesh fence and, as they are not evergreen, leaving potential gaps in your barrier. Blackberry vines also taste good, encouraging horses to eat them.

For a secure, non-edible and non-toxic barrier, you could plant a horse-safe hedge a foot or so beyond your existing fence. As long as it is beyond reach of your horses, rugosa rose can form an impenetrable, nontoxic, dense hedge, but I would do it in addition to rather than instead of a mesh fence.

[TMares]

I think you’ll find the honey suckle, BlackBerry, privet, etc will make it an ugly mess.

[Grasshopper]

@Raincityrider

I’m not sure how easy it is to find politely growing plants in your jungly climate.

Haha…sigh. Yes, that is precisely the problem. We’re in zone 8, so I’m intrigued by the Escallonia suggestion, thank you. Is some of yours in the shade? One side of my pasture fence is shaded by our neighbors’ big pines, but all the rest is pretty sunny.

[Raincityrider]

Mine are in full sun but I believe they will grow in part shade in hotter climates. There are many varieties so maybe there is one that does particularly well under those circumstances.