A privet question

I've found hedging of all sorts is pretty resilient. It might look ugly till it shoots again next year but unlikely to die.

I'm not an expert, but do like to use a hedge trimmer with gay abandon.

Ten inch high hedge, no. Badness occurs.

Anything bigger than three feet, have at it. If you want it a foot shorter, take just under a foot and a half off so after a year the top is at the desired height with lightweight green stuff on top, not the woody stumps of the haircut.

Yes, it will be fine, privet is pretty bombproof. Remember to cut about 4" further down than you want the eventual height to be, so that you can trim the regrowth. Any time over winter is fine, main thing is to avoid bird nesting season from March onwards.

Late winter just so you don’t have so long looking at an ugly short hedge. But otherwise I defy anyone to kill or damage privet of all things by over-pruning. I’ve got a seedling growing in a stone wall and can I kill it? Can I bugger.

Have you considered employing the services of a privet detective?

Cheers folks, it's getting it then.

The top of a hedge can look ugly freshly lopped so maybe take it off the bottom.

I might be misremembering but privet is often used for beginner bonsi trees as it grows pretty quick and is quite forgiving...

I think a general rule of thumb is don't reduce it by more than about 33% or a third assuming you leave lots of healthy bits .. And then let it recover.

I took the horribly overgrown privet hedge at the front of our house back to a couple of sticks for each plant when we moved into our current house. Grew back much more manageably, took a couple of years to look presentable and a couple more for all of the gaps to fill in mind.

Slight thread hijack, apologies but I too have a privet question. My hedge, well one of two,  drops all its leaves every winter and it’s flipping annoying. They go black first then fall off. It’s also not very full. It was planted as young 3ft high plants about 3 years ago. Any idea why?

Because it's Ligustrum obtusifolium?

I'm assuming that it's:

not stupidly cold where you are and

the leaves don't go curly and/or

are being munched

Annoying if it is Ligustrum obtusifolium and therefore I can't do anything to make it keep its leaves. Local gardener planted it for us and made no mention of a deciduous variety. I am the worlds worst gardener and everything I try to grow either dies or gets infested with bugs so I assumed it was just me over feeding it/not feeding it enough/over watering it/not watering it enough. Hmph.

I cut mine back and then put light weight netting along it to give some protection to the sparrows that nest there, we've a sparrowhawk that patrols the area.. Took about a foot off.

I cut mine back and then put light weight netting along it to give some protection to the sparrows that nest there...

Depending on what netting you've used that could be dangerous to larger birds, e.g. blackbirds, etc.

It might be better to just let the sparrows sort themselves out. "Our" sparrowhawk doesn't take sparrows, loves a pigeon or a blackbird though

Very fine mesh (small) holes, looks almost solid green.

Mesh not netting then should be ok. Never put netting or fake cobwebs in hedges as it can trap birds feet etc

I defy anyone to kill or damage privet of all things by over-pruning. I’ve got a seedling growing in a stone wall and can I kill it? Can I bugger.

Came here to say this.

The old house had a privet hedge. It did nothing for 50 weeks of the year, then come spring and the first whiff of adjacent sun and rain and it grew like a triffid. It'd be three feet high one day and eight feet a fortnight later. I tried my damnedest to murder it to death and the bloody thing proved indestructible. The first thing the new owners did was crop it right back to trunk stumps, that was four years ago and today it's approaching the upstairs windows.