Frequently Asked Hedge Planting and Maintenance Questions

What is the difference between root balled, pot grown and bare root hedging plants?

When you buy evergreen hedging plants there are a selection of different ways in which you can have them supplied depending on their size and the time of year. These are your main options:

Bare root

Summary: Getting plants bare root is a great way to save money but there are risks associated too. Bare root plants are usually smaller than 1m if evergreen and so at English Hedging we don't supply our own plants with bare roots. We can source bare root plants for you.

Availablility: Autumn/Winter time when the plants are dormant

Sizes available: Up to around 1m if evergreen or around 2m if deciduous

Advantages: With bare root hedging plants you can keep the weight down significantly (because there isn't all that soil) and thus shipping can be much cheaper. They are also lighter to move around and plant. 

Disadvantages: When you take the soil of a plant's root ball there will always be a certain amount of root damage. This needn't be a problem if the job is done well, the plants are kept well watered and then planted promtly but otherwise the chances of loosing plants are raised significantly. Make sure that the plants you buy come from a reputable source and are freshly dug to avoid disappointment. 

Root balled

Summary: Root balling is much more common with larger plants where the roots need to be kept as safe as possible. Survival rates are often excellent and the plants are cheaper than their potgrown rivals. Watch out for the weight though!

Availablility: Autumn/Winter to early Spring time when the plants are dormant

Sizes available: Any! (plants over 2.5-3m will often be dug with a machine called a 'tree spade').

Advantages: Root balled plants are less costly than their potgrown rivals and because the roots have plenty of room to spread out in the ground the plants will typically be much bushier too. When dug and transplanted carefully there is not need to worry about survival. This is  great way to get bushy instant hedging around 1.2-3m high (above this height the weight of the plants can be prohibitive).

Disadvantages: The largest disadvantage of root balled plants is the weight as that quickly ads up, whatever the soil they are grown in. On the larger plants it can mean that they don't grown for a season and instead spend that energy getting established but once established they will grow well.

Pot grown

Summary: Pot grown plants have huge advantages like being lighter than rootballs and usually having a 100% survival rate. Risk is much lower but the price is a bit higher. 

Availability: All year round

Sizes available: Any

Advantages: Plants that come in pots are always lighter than root balled plants because the soil in the pots is typically a well draining compost. That means you can get much larger plants and still be able to plant by hand. Because the roots are contained the pot size can also be smaller and thus easier to transport and plant. Roots are not disturbed when planting and so survival rates are excellent. And to top it all off, they are available all year round. 

Disadvantages: Some pot grown plants can be less bushy than their root balled rivals which makes getting that instant evergreen hedge a bit further away than ideal sometimes. However, there isn't aways that difference. If a plant has been in a pot for too long it can become 'pot bound' where it will take a season or so to get the roots out into the ground this will delay the establishment and growth of the plant.

Do I still need to water my hedge when it rains?

In the majority of cases, yes. Remember that the an evergreen plant mainly harvests water from it’s roots. Usually rain will only penetrate the top couple of inches of soil but the roots of an evergreen will be lower than that. The key question is; is the ground around the roots damp? If not then you should be watering. You can check the ground around the roots by carefully digging a trial pit next to the rootball of the one of the hedging plants.

While we are talking about weather, do remember that wind dries out the foliage on hedging plants, particularly large leaved plants like cherry Laurel, Photinia Red Robin and Portuguese Laurel. So, if it’s overcast but windy don’t give up with the watering!

What spacing should I use when calculating the number of plants I will need for my new evergreen hedge?

On the page of each of our hedging varieties we include a recommended spacing next to each height of plant listed. But these are always only a recommendation. You may have noticed that different companies have different recommendations. In our case we like to have a long term view of the hedge and ask the question; what do you want your hedge to be in 10 years from now? It’s best to space according to the finished hedge height rather than the height of the individual hedging plants when they are planted. For example, if you are planting 2m high Leylandii and you want the finished hedge to be 2.5m high you could plant at 50cm apart but if you want the finished hedge to be 5m high you would be better spacing at 75cm-100cm apart.

As a rough guide, depending on the plants, you will want to space your new hedging plants at about 60cm-100cm (2’-3’) apart. The closer plants are planted the quicker the hedge will fill out and become a solid screen.

Occasionally it works well for a client to plant large hedging plants in two staggered rows- which gives a solidly instant hedge. This method should only be used when the hedging plants are installed at the height they will be maintained at.

If you would like to see what the plants you are interested in look like when spaced at the recommended spacing please just ask as we can send you pictures.

Which Evergreen Hedging Plants will I need to stake?

The best practise when you are trying to establish a new evergreen hedge, however large, is to make sure it is supported against the wind. This is the case for every variety of evergreen hedging plant. The aim is to make sure that the rootball is firm in the ground and will not be caused to move by the wind. If the rootball moves, then the tiny fibrous roots which are newly developing may snap off which will set back the establishing of your hedging plants.

However, in some cases you don’t need to put in new stakes. If the hedging plants are under 1.5m (5ft) high you have a couple of options:

1. If you are planting pot grown conifers (Leylandii, Thuja or Taxus) you may be able to use the cane which they come with. Carefully cut the ties which bind the cane to the plant, then push the cane through the bottom of the rootball and into the ground until firm. They carefully re-tie the plant to it’s cane using bark friendly tying tape.

2. If you are planting the new hedge against an existing solid boundary marker (fence or wall) you may be able to loosely tie the plants against this. Make sure to use bark friendly tying tape or flexible tree ties. This will work for most hedging plants under 5ft high such as Leylandii, Thuja, Taxus, and Prunus.

Don’t be tempted to skimp with the staking. Get it right the first time and you’ll have a stronger, healthier mature evergreen hedge. You can purchase stakes and ties suitable for your plants from us. Just ask when you are placing an order.

Do your plants come with a Guarantee?

Because our hedging plants are living, we are not able to guarantee them after they leave our care. For example, if they are not watered correctly, planted correctly, transported carefully, or are damaged by animals/insects after planting, then the plant might not thrive. However this would not be due to the quality of what we supplied. So what we can guarantee is that we will supply healthy plants that have a top notch chance of surviving. If you have any concerns with the quality of the evergreen hedging plants you are purchasing, we would encourage you to let us know and if necessary refuse the delivery. When you sign the delivery off you sign to say that you are happy with what has been delivered. You are, of course, more than welcome to come round and check the plants out on our nursery before they are dispatched out to you.

Our plants are of the highest quality we can produce and because you are buying English grown hedging plants they are not spending days in the back of a lorry unwatered. Any plants you order are freshly dug or taken off the nursery for you. Our reviews speak not only of the high quality of our hedging plants but also of our high attention to customer service.

Which hedging plants don’t need to be watered?

The plant which doesn’t need watering is as common as the person who doesn’t need food! In other words, if you are planting a new evergreen hedge please provide for watering. A good rule of thumb is that you need to water through the summer after it has been planted and after this you should be ok unless there is an exceptional drought. So, if you are planting a new evergreen hedge in June you’ll need to water through until the winter and on through the following summer. But, if you are planting in November you should only need to water though the following Spring and Summer.

If you are planting a new evergreen hedge, have a think about using an automatic irrigation system to save time and water. We can supply and install these if needed.