Hedge-mastering - Assorted hedge/shrub trim pics

[Hedgemaster]

Some tall hedges... Before: After: Before: After: Along the way... The Hedgemeister hedge-mastering... That's an 8' stepladder by the way... (and the wooden privacy fence seen in other pics is 8' tall as well) The view from up here... The Stihl is great - awesome even, but all of it's expensive, commercial grade goodness doesn't mean SQUAT if I can't reach to the far side of the hedge. Had to break out the YardMan and add the extra extension pole... May as well trim up the lilac while I'm at it... All done!

[Hedgemaster]

Lawn care business tips

Originally Posted by WorkForMySelf Great pics. Can you give me some advice on clean-up when there are alot of bushes in a pine straw or mulch island? Its really a pain to clean up even laying a tarp out when they are so close together. Or is this just one of the headaches of the industry? I hate traditional "blue" tarps - they are good for some things (especially for dragging piles of leaves), but they are hard to work with, and if there's a breeze, they blow around. I use painter's tarps. Get the cheap ones from someplace like Harbor Freight. The ones in the pics are 4'x12' and the size/shape is ideal for long runs of hedges, and they can be "wrapped" around larger individual shrubs. If there are a lot of little shrubs, you could try a sheet (maybe even cut in half or thirds), as a lighter material would make it easier to tuck in/around tight areas. Every job is different, so you need to do what works best for that job.

[Hedgemaster]

Did I mention I got stung by a hornet while doing this?

See the tubular bird feeder on the far right of the first pic?
An empty bird feeder means plenty of room for a hornet's nest inside.

When I picked it up to move it it was like I was holding a LANTERN OF PAIN! Out they came and off I went running like a girl! Only one of them nailed me though.

[Sprinkler Buddy]

Nice job, I try to avoid yards with shrubs such as this. Lol Just not worth the risk the older I get.

[Hedgemaster]

Originally Posted by Sprinkler Buddy

Nice job, I try to avoid yards with shrubs such as this. Lol Just not worth the risk the older I get.

This one's hard to avoid. Every time I look behind my house - there it is!



Would you believe I took about 3 feet off the top of those about 7 years ago using nothing but a pole pruner.

Snip. Reach. Hook branch. Snip. Get hung up on branch. Shake loose. Hook branch. Snip...



I came to my senses shortly after having done it. That was insane.

[Sprinkler Buddy]

I would make an exception for one of my neighbors but Steaks on the grill are on them. Lol

[Hedgemaster]

Another "hedge" job I did a few weeks ago.

This is actually a mass of forsythia. I think I posted a pic of this last season when I first trimmed it. A neighbor came over and said "That hasn't looked that good in 15 years!" Apparently the previous owner never cut them.

Anyway, here are some before/after pics of the first trim this season. They WERE further out onto the sidewalk, but I had knocked some of that off the previous week while I was there to mow.


Before:




After:







Before:




After:




There's more of them up around the bend, but I didn't take pics of the rest.
Nothing earth shattering, but it sure looks better when it's "neatened up" a bit.

[Hedgemaster]

Another hedge trim. "Square".
Note that these hedges were about 90% "dead" on top due to a heavy frost late this spring when the tender leaves were just coming out. I took about 2" off the entire top and waited a few weeks for them to green back up again.


I'll start with before/after shots...























A few random shots...

[Lopes Lawn Care]

Great job on the hedges man. how do you like that stihl trimmer? I was thinking of adding one to the arsenal. I've rented one before and you definitly feel it after using one all day but it works like a champ.

[Hedgemaster]

Originally Posted by Lopes Lawn Care

Great job on the hedges man. how do you like that stihl trimmer? I was thinking of adding one to the arsenal. I've rented one before and you definitly feel it after using one all day but it works like a champ.

I've been pretty pleased with it.
Plenty of power for normal trimming and even for semi-heavy work.
If by "feel it", you mean the weight, yeah, I thought it felt heavy at first, but I've gotten used to it. I'm not a big guy and prior to the Stihl, I had used nothing but a cordless trimmer on my own property for several years, so the weight was a considerable change for me to adjust to.

My dealer steered me to the FS90R since I was initially looking at the Kombi system, but didn't want to spend the extra hundred dollars that it costs just for the powerhead and a string trimmer attachment. They make "most" of the same attachments for this trimmer, but you can NOT get an extension for the pole pruner like you can with the pole pruner in the Kombi system. Something to consider.

I have the hedge trimmer attachment and the edger attachment and both work very well, but the edger takes longer to swap out. The hedge trimmer only takes 30 seconds, but if I needed an edger on a regular basis, I'd just buy a dedicated unit because it takes a just a little bit more fussing with.

Here's the thread I started when I was first looking for a trimmer - maybe you'll find some useful info there.
http://www.gopherforum.com/showthrea...trimmer+advice