Privet Hedge Damage

wonkeyyoks

Hi, I recently had a bonfire and it has damaged the leaves on my young Privet hedge.

The leaves have wilted and browned, but are still soft to touch, the stem I think is fine and the hedge didn't catch fire, it was more the heat.

Will it just recover naturally?

Many thanks 

Ian

Fairygirl

The damaged stuff will just drop off, and it should produce more. It might be worth taking the main stems back a bit too, which can help reduce stress. Less top growth for the roots to try and sustain. 

You'll not do that again! 

wonkeyyoks

Fairygirl said:

The damaged stuff will just drop off, and it should produce more. It might be worth taking the main stems back a bit too, which can help reduce stress. Less top growth for the roots to try and sustain. 

You'll not do that again! 

Thank you for responding, that makes me feel much calmer, I invested much time, money and effort in planting that hedge last Autumn, it's only a few plants out of 120 stretching 30 metres but I was mortified none the less. I'll be giving it a 1st cut at the tops in September.

No I wont do that again, especially in windy conditions, and wont let the grass cuttings build up so high in future so as to have smaller fires. School boy error you could say.

😬

Fairygirl

If it still looks viable down near the base, it should be ok. Privet's very tough   
At worst - if they don't make it, you can take cuttings from elsewhere, and they're quite easy and quick growing, or you can sometimes just bring a longer stem across and cover up the damaged areas. That depends on whether you can take a few stems and get them tied in well enough, but it's certainly possible to do that. 
There's still plenty of growing time left for this year, so it's probably best just to wait and see how those bits get on 

Dovefromabove

Absolutely agree with @Fairygirl 👍 

Just a thought but do you really need to burn your grass clippings?  they’re such a useful resource. As long as they’ve not been treated with weedkiller you could even use them as a mulch to improve the soil alongside your hedge and keep the weeds down 
https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1007839/using-grass-cuttings-as-mulch

😊 

wonkeyyoks

Dovefromabove said:

Absolutely agree with @Fairygirl 👍 

Just a thought but do you really need to burn your grass clippings?  they’re such a useful resource. As long as they’ve not been treated with weedkiller you could even use them as a mulch to improve the soil alongside your hedge and keep the weeds down 
https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1007839/using-grass-cuttings-as-mulch

😊 

Thanks, never even crossed my mind, I have a large garden/lawn area and at the height of spring I'm cutting it every week and produce loads of clippings. (we live on the Romney Marsh so extremely furtile)
We moved here 4 years ago, went from a postage stamp of a garden to 1/3 of an acre and been learning as I go! That a really helpful tip! 😎

Dovefromabove

Oooh I used to have a third of an acre ... room for a really good two or three bay compost heap. Ours used to have hedgehogs hibernating in it. 

Lovely area Romney Marsh 😎 

Fairygirl

Can you create a good compost heap too @wonkeyyoks?
If you add lots of brown material to the clippings - cardboard/newspaper etc, you'd get a a good result.
Worth doing if you have a good sized plot, especially if you have other plant material that you can add, plus any household stuff- peelings /eggshells etc.
As long as you don't add meat/fish products - just vegetable matter, it's grand

wonkeyyoks

Fairygirl said:

Can you create a good compost heap too @wonkeyyoks?
If you add lots of brown material to the clippings - cardboard/newspaper etc, you'd get a a good result.
Worth doing if you have a good sized plot, especially if you have other plant material that you can add, plus any household stuff- peelings /eggshells etc.
As long as you don't add meat/fish products - just vegetable matter, it's grand

I have a small compost going but it has snakes living in it and they give me the heebegeebies so just letting it be, I'll just buy compost as I need it! 😳

Fairygirl

Home compost isn't the same as the commercial stuff though. 

They'll be slow worms you have. Completely harmless  

https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/reptiles/slow-worm

Dovefromabove

The compost you make is ‘garden compost’ and is best used as a mulch or soil improver ... or it can be added to other ingredients to make a ‘potting compost’. 

😊 

Lucky you having slow worms. Wonderful creatures ... and the gardener’s friend ... they eat slugs 😉