Long reach hedge trimmer

I have the Milwaukee attachment trimmer. Two powerheads actually, and all of the attachments. 1" branches are a stretch. For one, the tooth spacing is barely larger than that. I honestly doubt you'll have many that are that thick in diameter. But, if you do, it's probably better/quicker to just use loppers on something that thick.

If you go with a cordless tool, you'll need several batteries to get through a job like that. Either bring an arsenal with you, or make sure you can use a charger there.

One thing to note - These extended, pole type trimmers are quite heavy and cumbersome. Necessary for taller stuff, but not fun to use.

The best tool for stuff up to about 8' high, is a short, pole style trimmer. Cordless better than gas, just for noise' sake. I took one of my powerheads, removed the attachment coupler, and mounted the hedge trimmer gearbox directly onto the powerhead. This is by far the best tool in the Milwaukee attachment system. Hands down. If you could make/buy the same style of tool in whatever brand cordless tool, and you'll trim shrubs even a few times a year, I say do it. It'll be the best hedge trimmer you'll ever use.

you can get a cheap ryobi power head and pole saw attachment for like $200 total, but with stringy cuttings which that hedge will make they'll often get pulled into the head a jam it, not too hard to pull out but sometimes gotta take the cover off. Otherwise it's not a terrible pole saw but the ryobi gas power heads are extremely unreliable even new out of the box they kept running into problems like stalling and hard start etc after just only like 10 hours use, and yes I used the correct oil gas ration and stabilize if not using within 25 days. I just buy another and switch it in the box when it does that lol. And I did email them that I have tons of pro stuff which basically never gives problems if maintained, but their power heads have gone to crud but I stuck with it because I have so many attachments which don't fit better brands, so hopefully they'll improve on that. Ryobi has otherwise gotten really good with power tools over the past ~10 years but the gas power stuff are comically low quality sometimes.

If you just hack at it with hedge trimmers it'll have all frayed cuts that I think should go over with loping shears to make clean cuts after, same with the pole saw. So you'd think why not just use loping shears to begin with but it'll still go a lot faster and easier to cut out what you want to and then just snip the tops with lopers.

another thing is if you don't need the job maybe convince them to just shape them up and only take like 8" off yearly with even battery trimmer should work, instead of halving them into the woodier part. What species are they and will the hedge even get much taller?

Cool thread...I'll chime in. I trim hedges of this size a few times a year (eugenia) and 100 ft around 10ft tall blah blah...anyway always used a echo pas 261 with extended hedge trimmer attachmen with pivot head, i dont trim everything all at once, always in segments (one week on this side, next week on top, etc) anyway the trimmer gets heavy after a while so got to rest and take breaks. So this year recently a customer gave me a older electric hedge trimmer (earthworks, extended pole, pivot head) and i just started using it...ngl it seems to work so far but main drawback is the electric cord. But its low noise and lighter. Im making my slow transition to battery and electric since im a OG and always loved the gas and power but hey got to get with the times. In your position just rent out a redmax, stihl, echo pole hedge trimmer for a few hours, should be enough to do the rough cut and include the rental price in the bid. A hedge like that i can do in a few hours from my past experience, those branches are kind of soft. Have fun.

Youngandfree said:

I've got a lady that called about finishing a hedge row her husband started. 230 linear feet, 6ft deep. Maintained part is 5ft tall, uncut part is 8ft. The only long reach trimmer I have is a Lowe's special pole attachment on a craftsman power head. I'm sure the branches in these things are going to be thicker than what my trimmer will do. I'm not really trying to buy a Kombi or PAS system. I had been telling myself I was going to get an ego pole trimmer when I needed one, since most of what I do is fairly well maintained. Never done long hedge row before.

EGO says their trimmer will do 1" branches. Can anyone confirm they've used it on some thicker stuff? I may see what the rental place has to rent also.

I'm not sure how long it will take me since I haven't done hedges like this. I'm thinking charge $2.50/linear foot plus dump fee.

Click to expand...

1" branches? Nope.

Cutting a single 1 inch branch is one thing, renovating a massively overgrown hedge is a completely different animal. Cutting back feet of growth, it's going to look horrible no matter how you cut it. Without seeing it in person, unless I was sure the overgrowth could reasonably be cut with a hedge trimmer, my inclination would be to cut all the vertical portions with a chainsaw then cut the top with a pole saw (chainsaw on a stick). The cuts will actually look better with a chainsaw than shredded with a hedge trimmer. Hedge trimmers are meant to cut small soft growth, not wood.

I would also cut the overgrown parts a couple inches deeper than the final hedge line. That way when you come back with a hedge trimmer the next time your cutting flush new growth instead of running the the trimmer across the ends of all the woody stumps left behind.

$2.50/linear foot? I don't know what that number would be derived from. Keep it simple, just give them a price for the day at your hourly rate and add the dump fee. Adjust if needed.

Quick pic of one of my Stihl Kombi trimmers with extension; also my Husqvarna gas hedge trimmer which is exceptionally light, just wish it had a longer bar.