cut back hard.

@saramalone so in my example cut back hard means cut back to below the branching nodes? Cut back the entire branch?

google: rejuvenation pruning of P ... read a few of them ... or maybe videos ... and come back and ask about whatever confuses you ...

i seem to think you have various issues with them ... you might want to sterilize your pruners between plants ...

a folding tree saw can be a valuable weapon with shrub pruning .;.. and need not be expensive ....

here is a price point example .... when you look hard.. you can find them all over the place ... from cheap to expensive ...

https://www.walmart.com/ip/7-Inch-Folding-Utility-Saw-Triple-Edge-Razor-Tooth-Portable-Saw-with-Gear-Lock-by-bogo-Brands/915337201

ken

Ken's suggestion a good one - you need to be clear on what you want to achieve. Coppicing vs rejuvenation pruning, for example. Investigate pruning techniques to determine your goal and method of reaching it.

@saramalone I do not want to coppice the plant, and I do not really need a rejuvenation pruning. The bottom part of some of the hedges is leggy and does not have dense leaves. I want to know how to promote additional leaves in just specific patches of the plant. So I am just trying to understand where to make cuts to promote extra density in this part of the plant.

Here is a photo of the bottom area of one of the hedges.

@embothrium you are right I have not fertilized. Do you think Osmocote Plus would be appropriate? I also need a mulching strategy for these. Probably wood chips would suffice.

The fungal spots you see in that specific photo are rare on this plant. There are probably less than 30 leaves on a 20 foot hedge that show such spotting. Should I trim those leaves off?

The Photinia has a thrips infestation, which I am addressing. The insects are not currently visible and the damage is from a previous year. I have plans to keep them under control when their population surges this July.

Legginess at the bottom of larger growing shrubs is common - they shade their own bottom foliage - and there is not a great deal you can do about it other than coppicing the shrubs. And this characteristic tends to be more pronounced the more shade they are in........as these appear to be.

@gardengal48 Okay, so I will focus then on making the plants healthier. Do you have an opinion on fertilizer and mulch for inground Photinia?

Relative to pruning, so do I understand that Photinia will not respond to a limb pruning with additional density, the way say a rhododendron would?