S30 Side Passes by Hedge Height
Based on 1.3m cutting width with 10% overlap (~1.17m effective per pass).
Use this as a fact-checker when estimating passes on site.
| Height | Side passes/face | Top work | Notes |
|---|
| Under 1.3m | 1 | ✓ Yes | Single reach, full height |
| 1.3m – 2.6m | 2 | ✓ Yes | Two positions with overlap |
| 2.6m – 3.0m | 3 | ✗ No | Side only, near max reach |
| 3.0m – 3.6m | 3 | ✗ No | ⚠ Near arm limit — take care |
| Over 3.6m | Not safe | ✗ No | Exceeds max safe reach |
Material Type — Throughput Guide
Anchored to real data: soft/light = 3,000 m/hr (competitor benchmark) · very woody/light = 170 m/hr (barberry, 50m/5 passes/1.5hrs).
Calibrate these with your own times as you complete jobs.
| Material | Examples | Light | Moderate | Heavy |
|---|
| 🍏 Soft / green | Pittosporum, photinia, Leyland cypress | 3,000 | 2,100 | 1,350 |
| 🌿 Semi-woody | Privet, laurel, box, mature cypress | 1,350 | 945 | 607 |
| 🥦 Woody | Hawthorn, rugosa rose, established buxus | 600 | 420 | 270 |
| 🔪 V. woody / reduction | Barberry, heavy reduction cuts, neglected hedges | 170 | 119 | 76 |
Return travel speed also adjusts by material: soft 100 m/min → semi-woody 70 → woody 45 → very woody 25 m/min.
On dense thorny material you can't return at full speed either.
Top Pass Width Guide
| Top width | Access | Top passes | Notes |
|---|
| Under 1.2m | One side | 1 | ✓ Full visibility |
| 1.2m – 2.4m | One side | 2 | ✓ Full visibility |
| 2.4m – 3.0m | One side | 3 | ✓ Safe limit |
| 3.0m – 6.0m | Both sides | varies | ⚠ Limited visibility |
| Over 6.0m | — | — | ✗ Not recommended |