Hand shears, powered trimmer or long-reach
Four tools, four jobs, and very little overlap between them. Most of the brown, ragged hedges in Kent were cut with the right intention and the wrong machine.
A cut stem heals, a torn stem browns
Everything in this guide comes back to one thing. A hedge does not mind being cut. It minds being crushed, torn or shredded, and the whole tool question is about which machine leaves a clean cut on the material in front of it.
A sharp blade severs a stem cleanly and the plant seals the wound within days. A blunt or overloaded blade bruises and tears it, leaving a ragged end with damaged tissue behind it. That end dies back a centimetre or two and browns off, and a whole hedge cut that way turns dull brown across its face about a week later. Customers usually blame the weather or the timing. It was almost always the blade.
The same rule explains why leaf size matters. A machine that severs a five centimetre privet leaf makes an invisible cut. The same machine passing through a twenty centimetre laurel leaf leaves half a leaf, and half a leaf cannot heal. Match the tool to the leaf and the stem, not to the size of the hedge.
What each one is actually for
Hand shears
Two long blades passing each other in a scissor action, which is the cleanest cut available on a hedge. Nothing vibrates, nothing snatches, and the operator can see every stem going into the cut. Wavy-edged blades hold slippery stems that flat blades push away.
Use for: box, small yew, topiary, the final finishing pass on any formal hedge, and any hedge under about a metre where speed is not the point. Limits: slow, and hard on the forearms beyond an hour. Not a tool for forty metres of leylandii.
Secateurs and a pruning knife
Not usually thought of as hedge tools, and essential on one species. Bypass secateurs cut with a scissor action and are what large-leaved evergreens need. Anvil secateurs crush against a flat face and should stay away from hedge work.
Use for: cherry laurel, taken shoot by shoot back to a joint so no leaf is cut through, and for tidying individual proud stems on any formal hedge after the main pass. Limits: a properly hand-pruned laurel hedge takes several times as long as a trimmed one, which is why almost nobody offers it.
Powered hedge trimmer
Reciprocating toothed blades, single or double sided, and the workhorse of every hedge round in the county. Blade length decides the finish as much as the reach: a longer bar bridges hollows and gives a flatter face on a long run, a shorter one is more controllable on detail and on curves.
Use for: conifers, privet, beech, hornbeam, hawthorn, Portuguese laurel and essentially all routine maintenance cutting. Limits: tooth pitch, covered below, and large-leaved evergreens.
Long-reach and pole trimmer
A trimmer head on a shaft, usually with a head that articulates through something like one hundred and thirty five degrees so the top of a hedge can be cut flat from the ground rather than at an angle from a ladder. The safest way to work a hedge between two and four metres.
Use for: tall boundary hedges, tops that cannot be reached, and cutting over an obstacle such as a bed, a pond or a parked car. Limits: reach, weight and sightline, which is the subject of its own section below.
Blade pitch decides the thickest stem
The gap between the teeth on a hedge trimmer blade is called the pitch, and it is the specification almost nobody reads and everybody is limited by. A stem thicker than the blade can accept is not cut. It is jammed, stalled and wrenched out.
- 16 to 20 millimetres of pitchThe domestic range. Comfortable on green stems up to roughly 12 millimetres, which covers a season's growth on almost any well-maintained hedge. Perfectly adequate for an annual tidy on a hedge that has not been neglected.
- 27 to 34 millimetres of pitchThe professional range. Takes stems of 20 to 25 millimetres without complaint and clears cut material through the blade faster, which is why it does not clog on heavy conifer growth.
- Above 25 millimetres of stemNot a trimmer job at all. Loppers, a pruning saw or a reciprocating saw, cutting stem by stem. This is the ordinary situation on a reduction or a rescue, where you are cutting several years of growth rather than one.
- Blade length, separatelyAround 45 to 60 centimetres for domestic work, 60 to 75 for professional. Longer gives a flatter finish on straight runs and worse control on shapes, and every extra centimetre is weight held at arm's length all day.
- Single sided or double sidedDouble-sided blades cut on the pull as well as the push and suit sweeping work on faces and tops. Single-sided blades are lighter, safer overhead, and preferred on long-reach machines for exactly that reason.
What we pick up, by species
The species tells you the tool before you have looked at the hedge. If you are not sure what you have, start with the identification guide.
Leylandii, western red cedar, Lawson cypress
Powered trimmer, professional pitch, cutting only into green foliage. Scale foliage takes a machine cut invisibly, so there is no finish penalty. Resin builds on the blade quickly on conifers, so it comes off with solvent at the end of each hedge rather than at the end of the day.
Privet, hawthorn, blackthorn
Powered trimmer. Small leaves, thin stems, fast regrowth, and nothing gained by hand work. Thorn species blunt blades faster than anything else on the round, so expect to sharpen more often.
Beech and hornbeam
Powered trimmer with genuinely sharp blades. The leaves are large enough that a torn cut shows, so this is a species where blunt blades produce a visibly brown hedge a fortnight later. Cut once in August and it holds.
Cherry laurel
Secateurs on anything where appearance matters, trimmer only where it does not. This is the one species where the tool choice is visible from the house. A hand-pruned laurel reads as solid green, a trimmed one as brown-edged for a month after every cut.
Box, yew and formal work
Trimmer for the bulk on anything sizeable, hand shears for the finishing pass and for every corner, shoulder and arris. Sharp blades and more than one pass. The crispness that makes a formal hedge look formal comes from the last five per cent of the work.
Griselinia and escallonia
Trimmer, with the same caution as beech. Griselinia leaves are thick and leathery and pull rather than sever on a dull blade, and the pale cut edges show against the bright green.
Battery, petrol or mains
Battery is now the default for professional hedge work in Kent gardens, and it earned the position. A current professional battery machine cuts as cleanly as petrol, weighs less, starts on a trigger, produces no exhaust in a customer's garden and is quiet enough to work outside a care home, a school or an office without anybody objecting. That last point decides a surprising number of commercial bookings.
Petrol still wins on sustained heavy work. A full day on thick conifer growth, a rescue cut, or a rural boundary a long way from anywhere to charge, and petrol is the machine you want. Torque holds up as the stems get thicker where a battery machine audibly slows.
Mains electric is a domestic tool only. A trailing cable near a reciprocating blade is a genuine hazard, it restricts you to within a cable's length of the house, and it rules out working in wet conditions. If a mains trimmer is what you own, use a residual current device without exception.
Where a long-reach stops being the answer
A long-reach trimmer gives most operators a working reach of about three and a half to four metres from the ground. Within that range it is the safest tool there is for a tall hedge, because both feet stay on the ground and the head can be angled to cut the top flat.
Past four metres, two things fail before the machine does. First, you can no longer see the surface you are cutting, so the top stops being level and starts being an estimate. Second, the weight at full extension makes fine control poor, and a heavy head that drops into the hedge takes a gouge out of it. Neither problem is fixed by a longer pole.
Above that height the correct answer is a platform, a tower or scaffold, with the top set out to a line and cut to the line rather than guessed at. What it is never is a hedge trimmer worked from a ladder. A ladder gives you one hand for a two-handed machine, no stable base, and a reciprocating blade at head height. That is the work covered by the Tall Hedge Service, and the reason it is a separate service rather than a longer version of the same one.
Sharp, clean, and clean between hedges
Blade care is not tool fussiness. It is plant health, and on box it is disease control.
- Sharpen before it feels bluntA blade that has stopped cutting cleanly still feels like it is working. The evidence arrives a week later as brown tips down the face of the hedge. Sharpen at the original tooth angle, both faces, and only a few strokes.
- Take resin off at the end of each hedgeConifer resin coats the blade, makes it drag, raises the running temperature and stops the cut material clearing. A resin solvent and a rag, not a scraper.
- Oil the blade before it goes in the vanLight machine oil, wiped along the bar. It keeps the reciprocating faces moving and stops rust forming between visits.
- Disinfect between properties, and always around boxBox blight spores and Phytophthora on laurel travel on blades, debris and clothing. Scrape the blade clear of trapped foliage and wipe it with a disinfectant before the machine touches another hedge. On box this is the difference between one infected hedge and a round of them.
- Protective equipment, every timeEye protection against flying stems, gloves, ear defenders on petrol, and cut-resistant gloves when clearing a jammed blade with the machine switched off and the battery out. Most hedge trimmer injuries happen while clearing a jam.
Nesting birds and the law
No tool on this page is the right one during the nesting season if there is an active nest in the hedge. Under section 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 it is an offence to intentionally take, damage or destroy the nest of any wild bird while that nest is in use or being built. There is no exemption for garden maintenance.
The main UK nesting season runs from roughly 1 March to 31 August, though the dates are guidance and the law asks only whether the nest is in use.
Check every face of the hedge before a blade is started, and look again as you work. Our full position is set out in the Kent Hedge Standard.
Tool questions we are asked
What thickness of stem can a hedge trimmer cut?
The tooth pitch sets the limit. Domestic blades run 16 to 20 millimetres of pitch and handle green stems up to about 12 millimetres. Professional blades run 27 to 34 millimetres and take 20 to 25 millimetre stems.
Feeding anything thicker in stalls the blade, tears the stem instead of cutting it, and is the commonest way a trimmer gets damaged. Above about 25 millimetres the work belongs to loppers or a pruning saw.
Why does my laurel hedge go brown after cutting?
Because it was cut with a trimmer. The blade chops the large laurel leaves in half, and a severed leaf cannot heal a wound that size, so the cut edge dies back and browns off within about a week. Multiply that by every leaf on the face of the hedge and the whole thing looks scorched.
The remedy is to cut laurel stem by stem with secateurs, taking whole shoots back to a joint so no leaf is cut through. It takes several times as long, which is why it is rarely offered, and it is the difference between a green hedge and a damaged-looking one.
Is a battery hedge trimmer good enough?
For maintenance cutting on a season's growth, yes. Professional battery machines cut as cleanly as petrol, weigh less, start instantly and are quiet enough to work outside a care home or an office. The limits are runtime and torque, so a full day of heavy conifer work or thick multi-stem growth still favours petrol. Most professional work in Kent gardens is now done on battery.
How high can you safely cut with a long-reach trimmer?
About three and a half to four metres from the ground for most operators. Beyond that you cannot see the surface you are cutting, so the top stops being level, and the weight at full extension makes control poor. Above roughly four metres the answer is a platform, a tower or scaffold. It is never a longer pole, and it is never a hedge trimmer used from a ladder.
Should trimmer blades be cleaned between hedges?
Yes, and around box it is not optional. Box blight and Phytophthora on laurel both travel on blades and debris, so blades are scraped clear and wiped with a disinfectant between hedges and between properties. Conifer resin comes off with solvent at the end of each hedge, because a resin-coated blade drags, heats and cuts badly. Clean, sharp, lightly oiled blades cut rather than tear, and a torn stem browns where a cut one does not.
Or hand it to somebody with the kit
We carry the machines this guide describes, sharpened, and the platforms for the heights it says a pole cannot reach. Send two or three photographs and a rough length.