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Originally Posted by Lance Morgan  Hedge flails are worse they should be banned. they don't cut cleanly but smash the branches destroying growth and allowing diseases to kill the hedge plant  |
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Originally Posted by Jim Ford I went to a meeting some years ago when the sadly missed Gordon Benningfield fiercely criticised the use of hedge flails for damaging wildlife.
Jim |
Well, I've gone over to flail, variable speed rotor. Indeed it's a requirement here in Wales as part of an environmental grant available to the farm. Using is flail is the most environmentally friendly way of hedge trimming for the following reasons :
(a) It uses less fuel. A mow trim has to be done annually, where the more drastic flail can be done every three years, allowing a longer period of growth between cuts.
(b) Dead branches are good, as it encourages fungi, insects, lichens, mosses, micro organisms, and bugs which is the basis of the wild food chain.
(c) There is grater opportunity for new plants to grow, as there is a periodic but drastic removal of a sunlight canopy.
(d) Flailing is closer to natures way of regenerating, as it mimics natural storms in breaking branches. There is no natural 'mower'.
(e) Done at the right time of year, there is little impact on nesting birds, and disturbance is quick and infrequent.
(f) Unlike mowing, flailing is best done in January where there is no leaf cover, on a frosty day so the tractor does not churn the land.
(g) Ash and other fast growing trees can be left for a six or nine year cycle and coppiced using a shaping saw.
(h) Using a chipper also allows the mulch to be spayed onto the verges removing the requirement to mow any roadside grass that season.
Who was Gordon Benningfield ?
In the last six years all hedges on my land have been flailed instead of mown, and the result has been dramatic. There's alot more bugs, plant diversity, fungi, and the difference in the bird like is very dramatic. Infrequent flailing has turned the hedges from a baron monoculture to a diverse ecosystem and increase in birds is noticeable by their song on spring mornings. It might look a bit unsightly to an eye more used to suburban gardens for a few weeks, but by the onset of spring it's all regenerated. I even get some wild daffs in the base of the hedge. There's also a mixture of good chippings, compost and a few rotten branches in the hedge base. Yum Yums for bugs.
I've also found wild apple trees have started in one section of hedge, which suggests good pollination. Early indication is I'll have mistletoe on my tractor this Christmas, and I don't consider this a disease. Just natures diversity.
My advise : FLAIL every three years.
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