Please tell me when and how to prune my cotoneaster hedge. It is very thin and tall Thx

Question

I am trying to rejuvenate my deceased father's cotoneaster hedge. There was a lot of dead branches and the live ones had little growth on the main stalks with a few spindley side branches. Where I had evened the top of the hedge it has bulked up a bit but the lower part of the hedge is thin and sparse. I would like to prune it back a few times this year to stimulate the thickening process. It is May 16th. How soon can I tackle the pruning and how many times in the season can I cut the hedge back?

Answer 1

that's in the rose family.....should only grow 2 to 3 foot.....so I would wait until late fall when the other rose's are trimmed......then before the snow comes put some very old horse or cow manure mixed in with some mulch and ring around it with lime.  That is what I do with our roses...........