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Learn about bare root hedge plants, along with instructions on how to ‘Notch plant’ small bare root plants.
How to plant a bare root hedge
- Storage
If you don’t intend to set the hedge immediately upon arrival, store the plants in a cool, frost free shed or garage.
- Planting Preparation
When planting out, do not remove the hedging plants from the box or bag. Exposure to sun or drying winds may lead to root desiccation and eventual failure.
- Planting Method
Do not dig huge planting pits that require laborious backfilling. If the soil is reasonably good, use the ‘notch’ planting technique. Push your spade 4-6″ into the ground, open up a wide slit and place the root in at the nursery soil mark.
Be sure to ‘heel in’ very tight. This is most important to ensure good root/soil contact. After heeling in, you should have to tug the plant quite hard to remove it. - Protection
King and Co recommend using planting protection when planting bare root plants. Each planting site has its own predators such as voles, rabbits, deer. It is important to protect your newly planted plants to ensure they are not attacked. In the instance of rabbits, you could use spiral rabbit guards paired with a bamboo cane for stability.
- After Care
After completion of planting, mulch the hedge with either; plastic, woodchips or similar to trap moisture in, and prevent growth of weed competition.
Frequently Asked Questions
We recommend using 5 plants per metre when using our 40-60cm bare rooted hedging plants. The best way is to plant in a double staggered row.
Bare rooted plants should only be planted once they have become fully dormant, which in the UK is between November to March. This can however move by a few weeks depending on the weather.
Good soil to root contact, which is achieved by heeling in the plants firmly.
You can incorporate compost and soil improver in the planting area, one of the most efficient methods to help bare rooted plants grow is to plant in conjunction with a mycorrhizal fungi such as Rootgrow.
Yes. King and Co recommend watering in the plants once planted to settle the soil. Usually the hedge will not need additional watering until late March/April when the weather warms up and the ground begins to dry out.
King and Co are Plant Healthy Certified meaning our plants are sourced, grown and handled in the most careful and bio-secure manner.
Bare root hedging is typically a lower cost solution to creating a new hedge or infilling an existing hedge as opposed to using container grown or rootballed plants.
