Instant laid hedge?

[Pandion]

Hi all,

 

Had a request today to install an instant laid hedge, ie, don't muck about planting whips and waiting 10 years, they want it and they want it now!

 

I suggested planting large plants (4" diameter, maybe 6 - 8 ' tall) staking and irrigating and waiting until next season to lay. Would be expensive but that didn't seem to be an issue.

 

Then I wondered if I could plant and lay immediately, in the green so to speak, avoiding having to stake etc. As I'd just planted them, I could be pretty sure there would be no nesting birds!

 

Could the plants deal with the shock of early summer planting ( I'm busy until late May / June) and immediate laying? I'd like to wait until they are dormant and have had a decent season to establish but wondered whether it's possible in terms of plant physiology.

 

Many thanks.

[Graham]

They'll die. Can't they wait like normal people:001_smile:

[Gavint]

We plant stuff like that all the time, at all times of the year, with great success. A cherry laurel, yew or thuja hedge can be planted to good immediate effect with the right stock. Find a good nursery in the area that sells b&b hedging plants. Of course, the bigger the plant size and the denser the planting will raise the price. We regularly plant 150cm yews, photinias, thujas as hedges. Smaller sizes (up to 1m) are on 3 per meter spacing, bigger ones on half-meter spacing.

[Daniël Bos]

Why not just plant them at the desired angle and stake and bind them?

Would be easy to do, should be fairly successful and the stakes and binders should be adequate support for them to take well. If you plant them midlands style an irrigation system would also be very easy to put in.

[arbwork]

Instant Hedging | Evergreen & Deciduous Instant Hedging | Instant Hedge Screening | Garden privacy Hedges | Mature hedge plants - Practicality Brown Ltd

[Pandion]

Thanks all.

 

Good shout Rover, hadn't considered that. Though might not ( or might?) get any growth from the base?

 

Gavint and arbwork - from our quick phone conversation, she had seen a laid hedge up the road, liked it and wants one! Here to help!

 

One step up from one customer who saw me hedgelaying and wanted one but couldn't understand that she needed trees first. Only had a barbed wire fence. Tricky. !

 

Meeting soon to have a look and chat.

 

Thanks.

[Luke Quenby]

Thanks all.

 

Good shout Rover, hadn't considered that. Though might not ( or might?) get any growth from the base?

Gavint and arbwork - from our quick phone conversation, she had seen a laid hedge up the road, liked it and wants one! Here to help!

 

One step up from one customer who saw me hedgelaying and wanted one but couldn't understand that she needed trees first. Only had a barbed wire fence. Tricky. !

 

Meeting soon to have a look and chat.

 

Thanks.

 

 

If you or the customer is concerned about this then scoring the bark in a spiral, bit like a helter skelter, around the main stem will encourage quick growth where there is none. Works best on Hawthorn and Blackthorn, best done early spring or as the saps starting to rise.

[Pandion]

If you or the customer is concerned about this then scoring the bark in a spiral, bit like a helter skelter, around the main stem will encourage quick growth where there is none. Works best on Hawthorn and Blackthorn, best done early spring or as the saps starting to rise.

 

 

Thanks Luke, I'd been told that if you nick the laid stem with the billhook buds can be encouraged. Never been able to work out if it works or not in practice.

[Daniël Bos]

Surely if the customer "saw a laid hedge and now wants one" they won't give half a flying *** about regrowth from the bottom.

The only thing they'll see is whether or not the stems are all at the same angle and the binding. "Oh that looks nice, that weavy thing on top"...)

[fagus]

Your main issue will be the May planting.

I learned that the earlier you plant the better. I aimed to plant before February. Root hair growth will occur above freezing so anything in the ground early starts growing and gets a head start.

 

Yes, you can plant just about anytime but watering becomes essential later on.

 

One of Sod's laws is that you get dry spell after late planting and near 100% losses can occur.