[bridge72]

Hi,
We plan to get a green beech hedge planted in the next couple of weeks. The length is about 75m.
We went to a garden centre who are offering 3ft green beech plants for €3.50 each, but they have larger beech plants/trees (between 4ft and 8ft) which they will give us for €4.
(we could get 3ft plants for €2.50 elsewhere).
Initially we thought it was a no brainer to get the large plants/trees (we could get nearly all 6ft or taller plants if we wanted), as it would mean an instant hedge.

Now i'm worried that maybe the plants would be too old to train into a hedge.
Can i ask:
1. Would you recommend buying all 6ft plus plants for €4 each for a hedge, versus buying 3ft plants at €2.50 to €3.50 depending on the garden centre.
2. Would the large plants leave large gaps at the bottom whereas 3ft plants could be trained to have leaves right to the ground.
3. Would you need more 6ft plants to ensure they knit together properly?
4. Would the larger plants require a lot of work to become a hedge?
5. Would the larger plants make as good a hedge in time (as growing from 3ft plants) as long as it is maintained properly?
4. Are there any other drawbacks with the larger plants?
Thanks in advance for your help.

[Greengage]

First dont go to a garden centre try a wholesale nursery, hedgeing can be bougth in diferent sizes bare rooted check roots that they have a good fiberous root system and that they are heled in somewhere on the nursery, These will grow pretty quickly depending on how high you want them, If you have the money you could buy bare rooted 6/8 trees and these can be trained into a hedge no problem. 6/8 refers to the girth of the tree measured about 1metre above ground in cms, they willalso be about 6/8 feet high from a good quality nursery.

[bridge72]

Hi Greengage,

Thanks for the reply.

It was actually a nursery we went to:
the plants were in the ground so i don't know about their root system, but they were planted in a nice spot.

we would probably want the hedge to be 6 to 8 feet tall finished, so i presume a 6 to 8 foot plant bought now would take a while to "leaf" out into a proper 8 foot hedge..

as long as the 6 to 8 foot plant can be trained into a proper hedge i think we'd take them as they will surely give us a proper hedge in a shorter space of time? (even though i've heard that the smaller plants will grow quicker)

[TreehouseTed]

My first post!

We planted a beech hedge 2 years ago - I bought them in pots from a nursery. I wanted them to go inside our front railings which were c. 5ft. I couldn't afford to get everyone at 5 ft so I planted 5ft trees interspersed with 4ft. I couldn't believe how quickly they took off. I now have a lovely thick and colourful hedge - it has given us great privacy.

Even though we bought them in pots one didn't take - I replaced it the following winter without hassle.

One thing, if buying them barerooted be careful that they all have the same foliage colour. It would look silly to have a purple leaf sticking out like a sore finger in your hedge!

Ted