Hello all again, sorry if this is a bizarre question but hopefully someone can help by experience.
I have previously cut some of the hedges at the allotment using handheld sheares and after about 5 minutes I need a rest (I do not have very muscular arms), now the problem I have is that some of the hedges are difficult to get to or a bit tall.
I use a corded electric hedge cutter at home and its OK to use over short periods.
My question is in regards to cordless extended hedgecutters, I am thinking of getting a electric one to do the allotment, what I would like to know is anyone with HF used one without any problems and do they have any best practice to follow (I have never used one before).
As usual thank you.
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uzininemm
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Hi Uzininemm. Yes strange question - I had to read it 3 times - but I can relate having recently cut my hedges with said tools… A couple of things I suppose - longer cordless hedge trimmers are heavier to use and not as powerful so take a bit of force to cut; I end up leaning into the hedges to reach and get covered in bruise and cuts (occupational aspirin hazard). Best practice would be use a corded one as much as you can but do it in 5 minutes segments and have a break - all very frustrating though. Sorry if I misread your question 😂 Chris
Hullo honey. I salute your determination. Just a brief note of caution: If you can only now cut a few minutes at a time, beware the risks of further electric equipment…. Best wishes x
Dear uzininemm
Your question is not as bizarre as you think, your heart failure is covering a very wide diagnosis which you don’t at this time go into much, but all problems with the heart tend to make us breathless and weak feeling.
You seem to cope ok after having a rest period every five minutes and as long as you feel that your not pushing your heart to much {you will know} you could continue at this pace,
do you have pain? Need to use a GTN spray? You have to remember that I am not medically trained and can only base my answers on my personal experiences.
My neighbour has just brought a new cordless hedge trimmer and its head bends at 90 degrees to do the top of a very tall hedge, maybe that sort of thing may help you?
Some times {like me} you have to ask for help, that may {again like me} be against your nature, but worth thinking about, because at the end of the day its a hedge doing its hedge thing and you are so much more important.
Morning Blue1958, didn't go into the exact condition as I have done so many times in the past on other threads.
never had a GTN spray, not offered by my cardiologist. You are right I was after personal experiences, the medics have been wonderful however what they can't always help you with are the practical matters, (I would be very surprised if any of mine had been asked this question).
Part of the problem is I am 6ft 5 and have never had strong upper body strength partly due to having long arms!. The first 12 since coming out of hospital has been one of learning and doing what I can and can't do, at first I could only do 5 minutes of the lawns without a break, now I can do both in 2 30 minutes sessions with no trouble. I also go the gym and am doing for 4 or 5 45 min sessions a week now and by experience I have found 2 on and 1 day off is a about right for me).
Its another new experience for me, I am quite happy to do it segments, but it is really helpful to hear other peoples experiences and then to base my plans on them, so thank you.
wow ! We are both as tall as each other and I have a feeling that this could be as much a hindrance as a benefit, I have all the “don't get up so quickly “ talks thrown at me constantly as I’m sure you do.
but we are here and to be honest I have suffered with heightism all my life, from a simple “can you get that from the top shelf” to “how is the weather up there” that now its a part of me.
But I think that with height comes problems with age and illness, why am I telling you this? Its something that we both already know.
Like you I have kept as fit as possible, more as a hobby than anything else but even I have to recognise the odd age twinge that certainly has got worse since the bypass, is it the drugs? I think that it is and no amount of “you look really good for your age” etc helps.
At the end of the day I am so great full of the help that I have had about something that I had put down to an “age thing” that hopefully in time will make my life have a better quality to it, for like you at this precise moment I feel like they have accelerated an old age feeling which is daft as I am only a year older than I was before it all happened {God is it only a year?}
So here we are, you with your hedge growth and me feeling like an old man, but I am up, showered and replying to you, my walk calls me and the sun is trying its hardest to light up a grey morning, that will do me fine, is it enough for you? I hope so for now, grab at what’s here and try not to miss, what was here, to much.
I am so pleased to be able to talk to you.
Take care
Hi I admitted defeat in the end as I’d tried the corded and resting, cordless with adjust angle and height so didn’t need to get up ladder and resting but in the end I thought I can’t get fit enough (at the time I thought it was just unfitness) in time to stop the hedge being as high as the house. So I had it replaced with fencing. Yes it’ll need painting but a paint brush is lighter than a hedge cutter. The point is we should ask for help and find ways to work round these challenges which is why your asking so not a strange question at all. I hope you find a a solution soon as the impact of not getting what we want done preys on our minds. I don’t have heart failure though but I know that feeling of having to rest every so often. 😊
Thank you for the reply and encouragement, unfortunately fencing is not an option, (The council certainly wouldn't be happy at the allotment). I am quite happy to do it in stages as long as I can do and you are right a couple of the guys up there would more than likely help me out.
Simplest is to pay someone to cut them for you. We had horrible almost dead leylandii hedges round our front garden that I just couldn't manage so we had those taken out and I have a gardener now once a week, £20 an hour, to prune back things that are too high and other bits I can no longer do like the hedges I Left for the birds in the back garden.
As I said previously, I have already faced and met challenges, and to me this is just another one. Yes I might have to give in and not do it, but I want to give a go safely first of course.
I have got trees in the garden now I DEFINITELY won't be doing them
I Understand that. I want to do mine but unfortunately have severe spinal problems as well as heart. There comes a point where you just have to give in.
Love your answer so much, but the gardener is on holiday, nanny says that its not in her job description and don’t get me started on the chauffeur and his dismissive remarks! { there really was a finger print on the bonnet }
Tut Tut staff are so difficult to handle these days.
Sorry I don’t post on here very often, however I read your question and just had to reply. Having had a major heart attack in Feb 2020 leaving me with chronic heart failure, I slowly started to recover somewhat. my EF is around 30-35. I started to feel that I could do more and more things as time was going by. In August 2021 I bought myself a ryobi cordless extendable hedge trimmer after using it for 15mins I had a cardiac arrest. if it wasn’t for my wife administering CPR (breaking all my ribs) and a neighbour running to get a diffibraltor, that we are lucky to have in our village, which kept me alive until the air ambulance came. I was taken to hospital and was in a coma for 2 days.
I now have an ICD fitted and take life much more easily.
So my advice to you is to get someone in because it’s so easy to find yourself stretching for those last few branches.
Hi Bubum Well fair play to Your wife potentially saving your life. I agree with you 100% about the over stretching etc. I install heavy boilers as part of my job and ended up in hospital after over stretching lifting . I was assured by cardiologist that there was nothing wrong with my heart. I have since had what I thought was like mini heart attacks and ended up in hospital and getting a stent fitted . It now transpires that I have an EF of 30% and have AF and am on the list to have Ablation which i Hope sorts all these issues out. All the best
I use a Makita 18v telescopic battery cutter. I have a large garden with nearly 300 metres hedges of 10ft high hedges. Quite expensive if you include the battery but by far and away the best I’ve ever used. I’m nearly 70 with severe psoriatic arthritis and heart disease. Exercise is good for me.
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