Project Hedge Cut 2023 - complete

[dewaltdisney]

Over the last month, I have been taking height and trimming my Laurel hedges and I also topped out my neighbour's conifer hedge. I have a vested interest in keeping that down as they can soon get out of hand and grow into tree surgeon land. With my Laurels, I have sussed out that you really are only concerned with the face so what I have done is cut access holes to allow my ladder to get into the middle so I can reach out both sides to top them evenly. I do about 10 feet or so at a time as this generates enough green waste to fill my two containers for the dump. The biggest issue is the cyanide gas that leeches out as I put the cuttings through my chipper. I wear a mask but I still can feel off colour a day or so after so I usually have a few days between sections. My mini chain saw has been brilliant again and it makes the job much easier than using any other tool I have. With the neighbours conifer hedge, I wanted to bring it down 3 feet or so to my adjacent hedge line and as I have a purpose made gap behind my Laurels and the fence I was able to get my ladder in and reach over and top it from my side (with a bit of acrobatics). Most plants have male and female branches, the male branches are long and the female stubbier but with lots of small branches that radiate. The male frond like branches go through the chipper easily but the female dense branches have to be divided somewhat to fit down the chipper chute and this slows the job irritatingly. The conifer chippings are very dense and heavy and I struggle lifting my containers. Of course, if I was sensible I would decant the load into some bags to make it lighter. Over the dump, being tired I realised I would not find it easy to hump the heavy container up the steps and lift it into the green waste skip. There was a bloke who looked like a bouncer there and I asked him if he could give me a hand. He said sure, no problem, picked up the container like it was empty, ran up the steps, and pitched it in. He did the second one too without me asking and I thanked him for his help. It reassured and pleased me that there are decent folks around. you just have to ask. Since then I have done the same thing twice, a young lad with his Dad did them and a guy of a similar age grabbed one side and we did them together. I then helped him with his load. I would add the lazy staff were sitting on their arses watching us.

So I am bloody glad that job is out the way. Today I will get my Dremel tool out and touch up the chipper blades as they must be getting dull.

DWD

[wine~o]

Bloody hate hedge trimming. Luckily I've found a very good hedge guy (good when he turns up...) that will do ours for less than I can earn whilst he's here.

[oz0707]

I didn't realise chipping laurel gives off cyanide?! As for pockets can't quite imagine what you mean but sure it looks smart. Plenty of people put there still willing to help thats good.

[Someone-Else]

Just saying...........

Laurel is considered a non-toxic plant, widely used as flavorings. Conversely, cherry laurel leaves, morphologically similar to those of laurel, contain toxic cyanogenic glycosides.

Information from Here

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Cyanide is lethal if breathed in.

A person will die instantly if the HCN concentration is above 270 ppm, (Parts per million), and after 10 and 30 minutes respectively if the HCN concentrations are respectively 180 and 130 ppm.

There is also Wikipedia

The average face mask will not protect against cyanide. Some average respirators can offer slight protection
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I genuinely did not know, so I googled it. Above is what I found, as I said, I am only just saying.

[dewaltdisney]

Thanks for your concern SE, mine are not the really dodgy Laurels but they all have a degree of cyanide that is released I am sure. The dodgy bit is when I put the cuttings through my chipper to reduce the green mass, you can smell the almond smell which is associated with cyanide, semtex, or marzipan. Two of those will kill you. I always chip in the open when the breeze can dissipate any gas and the chipper is designed to throw the waste out a discharge chute so the air flow is away from me. I leave the green waste in open containers overnight to allow the fumes to escape and when I schlep them to the dump I have my windows and sun roof open to vent the car as I make the short journey. I always have a day or so rest between trimming sections and this tends to work for me. You can get a headache but I do not know if it is psychosomatic or just simple dehydration. I am still here thankfuly .

DWD