How to Cut Back New Zealand “Pampas Grass”
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- Опубликовано: 9 фев 2022
- The plants mentioned in today’s video:
Cortaderia richardii
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Visit John's garden at Ratoath Garden Centre in Co. Meath, Ireland.
It's always a great day when John uploads a new video!
Lovely to see you again...
what a pleasure to watch someone struggling at a difficult task. Refreshing change from usual YT b.s.
It's wonderful to see you actively engaged in a project. You seem to have completely defeated that grass. Well done!
John, I will watch you do most anything!😂
Now that is a huge freaking grass! Always great to see you John!
Absolutely love that you show The Reality of gardening!!!!
So happy you do not sacrifice the plant to a digger every ten years. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
We used to burn it in the winter. Worked great.
Love your videos
Welcome back John, that was a tough one.
This yearly work with 5 huge Miscanthus each Spring was exactly why I had them all removed. I used a hand shears only since I don’t have the electric tools. I do all of my own shearing and pruning by hand. Have many large box woods,, hollies, chamycaeparus, etc.
Good to see you back, with your power tools! I’ll never plant that grass in my yard, too much work.
I’m waiting your new video.
It’s always a treat to watch you work in your garden. Very entertaining thanks for sharing, I’ll be watching to see that glass come mid- summer .👍❤️😊
Well done! I have spent many hours wrestling with huge clumps of ornamental grasses for clients, I feel your pain!😄
haha thats it toi toi and as kids we called it cutty grass for some strange reason 😊
John where are you...miss you (Netherlands here
I tie mine into smaller “ponytails” with heavy duty twine and then shear up the ponytails from underneath with a cordless hedge trimmer. The smaller tied bunches are easier to manage.
Good idea!
Yep! You can then carry the bunches w/o making as much of a mess.
John recommended a hedge trimmer for pampas grass in another video, not sure why he chose a chain saw in this one.
Keep updating regular videos.
It’s so wonderful to see a new video from you!! I have some other hefty ornamental grasses and I knot together raffia to tie around each clump (so if it gets caught by machinery it doesn’t get snarled. LOL, not sure which direction I go in here in USA! Then I cut it with an old Sears Craftsman hedge trimmer that I got for $3 at a garage sale. It is very quick.
Just what I was looking for!!! Thank you!
And another thing: the trick is to cut ornamental grasses back before the new year’s growth has begun or else the plant will look weird for the whole season!
John Lord I always get happy watching you
I love it when a plan comes together!
I reckon a machete might have been a good tool to use for this situation. Maybe bear it in mind for next time.
This video brought me so much joy! I’m not alone in the battle of cutting back pampas grass. Inevitably and stupidly, I take on the task with bare legs and arms becoming wounded and blood is always drawn. Like you, the war eventually is won!
Looks like a pine apple tree entertaining as usual ☺️
Wonderful advice always and so passionate. Also down to earth, which I love. Hope you have new video soon.
My husband said don’t plant that! Lol love your real life gardening.
I think the main problem is that as you cut each 'blade' they are falling on the blade of the saw clogging it. It is similar to cutting rubber. You need the cut part to move away from the cutting implement. I would have tried wrapping it up like you did then getting someone to tie a rope to the top and pull it with a constant pressure to open the cutting area as you move it with the blade.
A hundred cuss words would have been flowing out of my mouth with your task. You'd have to tell me to keep it quiet for the children within earshot. Good to see you again, John.
Well done!
Ah that was satisfying - good job well.
In this episode, John demonstrates why New Zealand Pampas Grass SHOULD be burned…
I have a couple of grasses ... used to cut them back every fall this year I left them .... might give them a couple of years without growing so they get bigger and I can divide them. Mine are a foot and a half across ... I always trim it by hand as it is in a tight place.
I Cut all my high gras with my hedge shears. It works and im fast. 🤗
You crack me up!
I love watching a man work! lol....We have a different approach to cutting back large grasses...I grab a big chunk and my husband cuts it off at the base with a lopper and I put it in a cart. That way it gets pulled away as it's cut and it's much neater. A grass as large as yours takes about 10 minutes. Nice to see new videos of you John Lord!
Had to dig ours out after we kept getting strange callers at all hours. Couldn't fathom it.
Think the words you’re looking for were the Coriolis effect. A good tip is to tie it up the same direction that you’re toilet water swirls when flushed 😂
Hello Mr Lord and David a neighbour of mine has one in front garden I think it looks majestic and thought I'd like it for my garden so asked him if I could dig some out, he said he's been trying to get rid of it for years that it's a nightmare to reduce, i see what he means now after watching you . But it didn't take you long ,even so I think I'll give it a miss and just enjoy theirs.
You can also burn the previous years dried growth and it will still come back the same as always!
Hello from
New Zealand
the videos not gonna get sponsored by husqvarna by the looks of things. Only 11 minutes in yet though..
With a Husqvarna 3120 XP it would have taken a few seconds, but that would have been overkill. A good machete would have done the job.
Hope you are doing well. Would love to see a video
I wonder if a wire survival/camping saw would work to cut the grass? If you added rope extensions to the handles, you could wrap the wire around one side of the plant and then stand on the other side to pull on the saw.
While I don’t have this grass, I do have Pampas Grass - do you have to cut them back, and if so, how often? Planted a bunch near road for Privacy….. as always, love your videos 🤗❤️🤗
I live in Southern Ireland, and have burned an old one down, guess what it grew again no bother. Of course it was in the middle of a large space in the countryside. Good luck.
I cut mine back to about 4 inches the first week of March every year. Zone 6
So was it dying in the middle at all, since you had been procrastinating the cutting back? My Karl Forester often has middle dieback, but it might be due to some of the caterpillars I find in the grass occasionally
John!!!!!
Always do mine with the chainsaw every 3rd January :)
I cut around all sides towards the center , not just from 1 side.
I don't like having these tall grass plants on my property, their beautiful but what a chore to maintain... not worth the trouble.
Well in this case did you tried to do it with a macete ? I think it works better. (be careful.)
ah ha loving that kiwi infliction on the pronunciation. Sad sad world when a man can't even put a match to his own Toi Toi .
Now I know I don't want one; I'll just admire everybody else's.
Where were your safety glasses??
I have a pampas in a tub. Do I need to cut it back?
Yes prune it back even in a containtainer.
😂😂😂
John Lord and power tools.. what more could you want?
The question then may arise: 'Should one even have this grass in their garden'? Because, ideally, what you've done here is only halfway through the necessary horticultural practice, which is, of course, to the DIVIDE the clump!
And, this for me, is THE one aspect of grasses that is an absolute negative. They have to be managed...eventually. Hence I would NEVER have Cortaderia in my landscape. It's just too bloody big!
I haven't decided yet if "Maiden Grasses" (genus Miscanthus) also fall into this category. At least some of the larger ones.
What's the point?
No the lazy mans way it too set it on fire. Which pampas grass sound like a brick of firecrackers going off when burned and it burns super hot. Here the landscapers will just do it with the mower or string trimmer or if its a huge grass like this a string trimmer with a saw blade/ brush blade on the end
Haha 😂 you are so funny any way we'll done you are very quick . Your gadgets so useless 😂 we'll done
Correct pronunciation sounds like “toy toy” - toetoe is SOoooo wrong !!!!! Sorry as a Kiwi that made me cringe 😬.
There are NZ language aps available on the internet in future if you have any other native NZ plants in your garden you wish to feature.
New Zealand ToeToe has the beautiful seed heads from Spring to January, and the blades of grass are very hard to break.
The South American Pampas on the other hand, flower from January to May.
The blades of grass snap very easily and when they die they curl up like wood shavings at ground level.
The pampas are very invasive. I have both on my native, off the grid life style block here in NZ, as l like the beautiful seed heads.