How to become the master of unkempt Thuja?

We are currently working our way through the garden. Not everything that the previous owner had planted seems to have been properly maintained in recent years.

On the side boundaries of the property, there were Thuja hedges planted. These were (in the sense of 1) row, which we were still able to cut fairly comfortably with the electric hedge trimmer. We did it for the first time and maybe there are special tricks for that. We went at it vigorously and now you can mainly see dried brown and, well, cut branches. That’s not very nice – will it green up again?

The big problem, however, is a pure jungle of Thuja, planted around the courtyard, which rises from the basement level. The "slope" up to the ground floor level consists of a kind of staircase made of flower pots and is about 3.50 m high. That means you don’t get a secure footing from the front to cut this Thuja. From the back, you practically can’t get to it either. This is probably not a (1) row of Thuja, but rather intricately planted hedges that form a thicket. I would estimate it to be about 2 m wide. We can get to the back side of this Thuja jungle from the rear, i.e., garden ground floor level, and have cut quite a bit down there.

Also from the back, where at least you can stand safely, the problem is that the hedges have grown so massively that even with this great electric hedge trimmer, which certainly packs a punch, you hardly get much down because the branches are so thick. We don’t get through the thicket enough with the trimmer to really reduce height.

Chainsaw? Does a professional need to handle that?

Chainsaw, then an excavator or similar for the roots. If you absolutely want to have Thuja, you have to prune it back regularly a little. They inevitably become bare inside, and it won't grow back if, like you, you have cut away the green layer. If you remove them (which I honestly consider the best solution according to the description), you have to enrich the soil before you can plant anything else there sensibly, as Thuja exhausts it.

I fully agree with Kekse - We also have this kind of crap here, but since we're still renting, we weren't allowed to remove it (and in the end, the effort wouldn't have been worth it for us anyway).

If you cut down to the bare wood, nothing will grow back there -
and yes, I would pay a professional because it’s a sh*** job to get everything out - and they can also replace the soil right away.

Well... damn stuff. If you take care of them, they make a pretty hedge, where birds like to nest and where there are butterflies. If you let them grow wild, you can hardly cut them back. I also think they're done for, and the ones still standing have also gotten out of control. Actually, they are trees, and when planted alone, they grow really big and very old. Karsten

Oh dear, then we probably gave you the rest. Yes, it looks quite bare and I can’t imagine how it’s supposed to grow back. We probably thinned out too much on the sides. But I don’t really know how it should have been done differently? Really just trim the top tips?

if they have already overgrown, you can hardly shape them - if you plant them young, you can already cut the shoots on the sides, of course, but regularly and never too much. I also find them nice as a solitary plant, but as already mentioned elsewhere ;) I don’t really like to barricade myself in the garden and therefore I find hedges made of them rather, uh yes, ugly. Even though indeed blackbirds/tits/robins are in them. (With us in combination with a 2m high surrounding wooden palisade fence on a concrete foundation wall, so 100° cat-proof, that’s why I don’t know if the birds like the thuja or the barricaded garden). to stay on topic – you could also leave 2-3 main trunks standing and let ramblers climb on them. Only I don’t know how they will cope with the soil.