Planting trees and hedges

First of all, it is important to be patient: Do not start planting too early. Sometimes bare root plants are already for sale at the beginning of October, but this is far too early. The ideal planting period for bare root is from the beginning of November to the end of March. The weather is unpredictable, but this is a good guideline. You should only start planting once the plants are dormant. That is, in the autumn from leaf fall until the first buds open in spring. You had better keep an eye on the long-term weather forecast, because if severe frost is predicted, it is best to wait with planting.

🌳 Preparation

1. Ensure that the planting hole (tree) or planting trench (hedge) is sufficiently large. Guideline = twice the size of the plant's root ball. In the case of small, bare-root hedges, it is best to provide a trench of around 0.5 m. This is often seldom the case, especially in difficult soils such as clay and/or polluted soil. However, the size of the hole is very important for these types of soil!

2. Water the plants sufficiently before planting. For example, you can immerse the bare-root plants in a tub of water.

3. Do not remove the wire basket under any circumstances!! Both the jute and the wire root ball regenerate in the soil, so you do not have to remove them yourself. The wire root ball keeps the root system of the plants together just fine.

4. If necessary, place stakes before planting the trees. For trees with a smaller trunk thickness (up to 14), one post is usually sufficient. Place these in the direction from which the wind most often blows. Do you place the poles after planting? Then there is a good chance that you will damage the plants!

5. The plants you buy are usually grown in loamy soil. This is the ideal garden soil. Do you have clay or sandy soil in your garden? Then it is advisable to use a soil improver. Sandy soil can be weighted down with bentonite and clay soil with perlite.

🌳 Planting

6. Mix the soil improver with the soil already present. Fill up part of the planting hole with this mix. The ideal planting depth is fairly easy to determine. The plant or tree should have the same depth as the grower. You can easily see this yourself: the part of the plant that was under the ground has a brown colour while the part that was above the ground has a green deposit.

7. Place the tree or hedge in the planting hole/trench and check the planting depth. Also check whether your plant is standing straight up and is not hanging crookedly. Be careful not to step too much into the hole or trench because the soil has to stay light.

8. With hedges, it is important to check the planting distance. If you have to plant many metres of hedge, indicate the planting distance on a yardstick that you can reuse every time!

9. You can choose to add some organic material when planting. Examples include well-digested or dried farmyard manure, good compost or a compound organic fertiliser that does not contain too much nitrogen. Note: Do not use fresh cow manure or compost that has not been sufficiently processed. Also, always stick to the prescribed dosage when applying organic fertiliser. Do you not do this? Then the roots of your plant could burn.

10. Top up further with the mixture of soil improver and soil.

🌳 Post-treatment

11. Water sufficiently in the weeks after planting and also during the dry periods in the first year after planting. The roots of these plants are not yet deeply rooted. Therefore, they cannot bring up the water that is deeper in the soil, and they might dry out.

12. Protect the soil against severe frost during the first months after planting. You can do this by covering them with a black cloth (catches the heat of the sun) or by giving them an extra layer of compost.

13.   After three to four months, it is advisable to add fresh organic material and to fertilise the hedges and trees again.

These articles might also interest you?