Hornbeam hedge tips

[Caldan]

Hi,

I want a good screening hedge which will grow to around six feet on poor clay heavy soil. From my Internet research hornbeam seems to tick the key boxes and is wildlife friendly which I am keen on. I don't want a mixed hedge as a) have lots of that at side and b) is at front border with public pavement and so want to be as neat as I can get it. Total length 3.5 metres.

But I am getting a bit confused and so before order would appreciate any views on following questions (I have never planted a hedge before).

1) I want a good tight screening hedge (the teenagers use that path a lot) and so can I achieve that more effectively by buying root stock? I ask as this is planted more closely together. Or can I get the same buying 2ltr pots but more quickly?
2) if by root I need to plantin November which seems a challenge due to heavy soil being even heavier. If get lot plants can I really plant now and get healthy vigorous plants?

Basically if best end result is getting small root and being patient for couple of years then I am willing to do that. But if I can get same effect with larger potted plants at slightly more cost then would go fo that option. Did I mention the annoying teenagers?

Any advice gratefully received,

Cal


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[WendyC]

Personally I would go with planting bare rooted plants over the winter. Start your research about suppliers now and get your order in. If you ordered a few more than you needed and potted these on, if you did find yourself with gaps where plants didn't take you would have something to plant in straight away. I know my brother in law planted a hornbeam hedge at one property which was a new build. The contractors had sold off the lovely top soil ( had been allotments!!) and left blue grey subsoil which stank! They managed to establish a hedge in that. Don't know who the got the plants from but I could probably find out if you are interested.

[Caldan]

Thanks Wendy, I've done some looking and prices seem pretty similar on most of the Internet sites. Guess question is who gives the best quality or is it really the case that they all pretty much the same?


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[Caldan]

Oh, and good tip about buying a couple extra for pots. Will do that.


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[WendyC]

It might be worth seeing where they are grown as if you can find one relatively local to you you might find they establish better if used to growing in your type of soil, if that makes sense. I'm pretty sure my BinL used Ashridge Trees and has used the same company a few times.

[Paulieb]

Hi,
Not sure how deep/wide you can make the hedge, or whether you've thought this already, but if you planted the hedge in a zigzag pattern then you would most likely end up with less gaps.

Never bought anything from them, but someone like J.Parkers Wholesale, do a good offer. 17.50 for 25 trees (40-60cm), bareroot.

They recommend 15 trees for 4 metres, so if it was me I'd probably order 25 and pick out the best in terms of height and amount of roots.

Generally October/November is the best time to plant bareroot trees, as they have all autumn and winter to start growing roots ready to support the top part of the tree in the spring. Also by planting trees that are this size, the roots will be able to grow better/bigger compared with growing a potgrown tree that 'may' have been in a pot too long.

Either way it would be best to see what you're buying first (in a GC for instance) so you can see the roots in the pot, etc. However I've not noticed bareroot Hornbeams in GC's before.

Good luck.

[Caldan]

Hi,
Not sure how deep/wide you can make the hedge, or whether you've thought this already, but if you planted the hedge in a zigzag pattern then you would most likely end up with less gaps.

Never bought anything from them, but someone like J.Parkers Wholesale, do a good offer. 17.50 for 25 trees (40-60cm), bareroot.

They recommend 15 trees for 4 metres, so if it was me I'd probably order 25 and pick out the best in terms of height and amount of roots.

Generally October/November is the best time to plant bareroot trees, as they have all autumn and winter to start growing roots ready to support the top part of the tree in the spring. Also by planting trees that are this size, the roots will be able to grow better/bigger compared with growing a potgrown tree that 'may' have been in a pot too long.

Either way it would be best to see what you're buying first (in a GC for instance) so you can see the roots in the pot, etc. However I've not noticed bareroot Hornbeams in GC's before.

Good luck.

Thanks for the advice. Have to be honest and say that I'm not sure if I see the roots I could recognise good from bad. But agree to plant zig zag as keen on strong break from road and bare root does seem to be the way to go unless anyone tells me otherwise


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[Paulieb]

A good root system should have a main stem with lots of fine roots which are the roots that absorb water. A poorer root system will have just one thick stem.

You should also be able to see the 'ground level line' which is where they will measure from to grade each sapling.

[Caldan]

Well my 40-60cm bare root hornbeam hedge planted in autumn is now mostly showing some encouraging green buds. It has a mass of compost and feed under it so fingers crossed it will take well. Pkan is to water this first year if gets too dry but apart from that pretty much leave alone. Unless others disagree?

Come autumn will tidy up and sideways growth if goes out further than want shape of hedge. Want it to be very thick as key screening. Should I try to limit upwards growth to encourage this or will it just develop over time and my job is just to keep sideways growth neat?

Planted quite close together so hope will have desired result! Any views welcome. My first hedge.


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[Glutton4...]

Pruning will encourage growth, and Hornbeam will never be really dense without. Decide how tall you want the hedge, because once you have pruned out the growing tip it won't get very much taller. I wouldn't feed it any more this year, but would water it well if the ground appears dry when sticking a finger in two or three inches down. As with many plants, a good soaking of water once a week is far more beneficial than a daily sprinkle. I would also give a good sprinkle of slow-release fertiliser in the spring of next year. However, others may have different methods.

[Kristen]

Probably too late to be much help, but we have a lot of hedges here (including some Beech, even though we are on heavy clay, because I wanted Copper for that bit. They were given better drainage than the rest of the garden, and even so are still struggling ... so what they say about Hornbeam being better on Clay than Beech is definitely true, IME). Anyway ... I haven't even got started and I have digressed!

We have quite a lot of Hornbeam (half a mile at a guess), planted as bare root plants from Ashridge Trees (all the hedging plants I have had from them have been superb, and the tiny number that have snuffed it they have replaced without question). We planted 60/80 size as the next size up is where the price jumps, whereas not that much difference to 40/60. (The Beech we planted 150/175 as it was a boundary hedge, and we wanted some instant size - but within 3 or 4 years smaller plants would have caught up - and 150/175 is NOT cheap!!)

I planted the Hornbeam as a double row zig-zag. There is leaky-hose snaked along the row (i.e. it tightly touches the stem of each plant, so that when the plants are young the water goes close to the plant; as they grow they get more benefit from the whole length of the row being watered). We water heavily once a week in dry weather. Don't remember doing it much / at all last summer, and definitely not at all in Summer of 2012 !

The Hornbeam were planted in March 2011 (i.e. quite late in the season) as 60/80cm

We installed the leaky hose, and then a mulch of well rotted manure and then woven weed suppressing fabric (removes the need for almost all weeding, and keeps the moisture in) - I think that is very important, of all the hedges we have planted the ones where we haven't done that have not done as well as the ones where we have.

The wet Summer of 2012 was ideal for hedge growth and average height was 140cm in Oct 2012.

I haven't got any measurements to hand for Oct 2013, but there are plenty of plants which are 6' or so - so my guess would be 180cm.

I provide a strong Nitrogen fertiliser just as the buds are breaking in Spring (another week or so, here, and they will be ready). I think that elongates the current season's growth, and probably makes the stems grow a bit more too, so although not adding many more "joints" to the stems it increases the actual growth.

I prune every winter (have just finished them, still time if you are quick and like the idea). I take out every leading bud (from main stem, and all side stems) - which obviously becomes more time consuming as the years advance and the plants grow! Now I am just doing it for the top half of the hedge, where it is still thin-ish, as the sides [at the bottom] are already being clipped to "width". This pruning/pinching-out is intended to bush them up; I don't find it makes any difference to height, but it does cause anything from 2 to 4 of the terminal buds to put on pretty much the same amount of growth, each, during the season, so I get a nice handful of stems, rather than just a single strong leader (this is not a trick to try with, for example, Yew or other conifers, as they really need their main growing point to put on height).

When the hedge gets to intended width (well, perhaps 9" narrower than that) I trim with secateurs - forming and imaginary edge some 9" inside the final width. This keeps particularly vigorous side branches in check, and makes the sides thicken up. Once the whole hedge is approaching "full size" I will then get some string out and do a proper job of forming straight sides, and top, to repeatable exact points.

I will let the top grow 12" above final height, and then cut the main stem back to 6" below final height so that it then sprouts strongly in a fan-shape and then I will cut those at "final height".

There are some pictures of one of my Hornbeam Hedge here:
Long Walk | K's Garden

and the replacement of our front hedge (it was Leylandii) with Copper Beech and topiary Yew here:
Replacing the Front Hedge | K's Garden

[Glutton4...]

Wow Kristen, what an excellent post. I've never been a fan of membrane, but putting it over a mulch, and after watering, seems like the way to go. In commercial applications I've only seen it used as a way of avoiding proper site preparation, and found it starved the plants of water and nutrient, which is why I could never understand their insistence on its use.

Your hedges are a credit to you, they look lovely. I'll have to make time to read your blog.

[Caldan]

Probably too late to be much help, but we have a lot of hedges here (including some Beech, even though we are on heavy clay, because I wanted Copper for that bit. They were given better drainage than the rest of the garden, and even so are still struggling ... so what they say about Hornbeam being better on Clay than Beech is definitely true, IME). Anyway ... I haven't even got started and I have digressed!

We have quite a lot of Hornbeam (half a mile at a guess), planted as bare root plants from Ashridge Trees (all the hedging plants I have had from them have been superb, and the tiny number that have snuffed it they have replaced without question). We planted 60/80 size as the next size up is where the price jumps, whereas not that much difference to 40/60. (The Beech we planted 150/175 as it was a boundary hedge, and we wanted some instant size - but within 3 or 4 years smaller plants would have caught up - and 150/175 is NOT cheap!!)

I planted the Hornbeam as a double row zig-zag. There is leaky-hose snaked along the row (i.e. it tightly touches the stem of each plant, so that when the plants are young the water goes close to the plant; as they grow they get more benefit from the whole length of the row being watered). We water heavily once a week in dry weather. Don't remember doing it much / at all last summer, and definitely not at all in Summer of 2012 !

The Hornbeam were planted in March 2011 (i.e. quite late in the season) as 60/80cm

We installed the leaky hose, and then a mulch of well rotted manure and then woven weed suppressing fabric (removes the need for almost all weeding, and keeps the moisture in) - I think that is very important, of all the hedges we have planted the ones where we haven't done that have not done as well as the ones where we have.

The wet Summer of 2012 was ideal for hedge growth and average height was 140cm in Oct 2012.

I haven't got any measurements to hand for Oct 2013, but there are plenty of plants which are 6' or so - so my guess would be 180cm.

I provide a strong Nitrogen fertiliser just as the buds are breaking in Spring (another week or so, here, and they will be ready). I think that elongates the current season's growth, and probably makes the stems grow a bit more too, so although not adding many more "joints" to the stems it increases the actual growth.

I prune every winter (have just finished them, still time if you are quick and like the idea). I take out every leading bud (from main stem, and all side stems) - which obviously becomes more time consuming as the years advance and the plants grow! Now I am just doing it for the top half of the hedge, where it is still thin-ish, as the sides [at the bottom] are already being clipped to "width". This pruning/pinching-out is intended to bush them up; I don't find it makes any difference to height, but it does cause anything from 2 to 4 of the terminal buds to put on pretty much the same amount of growth, each, during the season, so I get a nice handful of stems, rather than just a single strong leader (this is not a trick to try with, for example, Yew or other conifers, as they really need their main growing point to put on height).

When the hedge gets to intended width (well, perhaps 9" narrower than that) I trim with secateurs - forming and imaginary edge some 9" inside the final width. This keeps particularly vigorous side branches in check, and makes the sides thicken up. Once the whole hedge is approaching "full size" I will then get some string out and do a proper job of forming straight sides, and top, to repeatable exact points.

I will let the top grow 12" above final height, and then cut the main stem back to 6" below final height so that it then sprouts strongly in a fan-shape and then I will cut those at "final height".

There are some pictures of one of my Hornbeam Hedge here:
Long Walk | K's Garden

and the replacement of our front hedge (it was Leylandii) with Copper Beech and topiary Yew here:
Replacing the Front Hedge | K's Garden

Thanks for this excellent post. Took me a few reads to ensure I understood it! What is interesting is you suggest trimming back lead and side stem. I had thought to do so at top would stop it reaching full height. I am going to leave this year as it now in leaf but will def do a vigorous cut back in winter as key for me is ensuring that it provides screening from a busy path. Thanks again for taking the time to provide such a comprehensive post.



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