Planting Laurel Hedge After Removing Conifers

Ms2011

I am in the process of removing about 12 conifers from the front boundary of our property. The conifers are about 25 years old so long established. We got the guy who was cutting them down to leave about a 5ft stump as we intend to use them as fence posts, attach wire fencing inbetween & train a laurel hedge alongside. Our property is on a main road so we need the hedge for privacy.
Now I read that it isn't possible to do this as the conifer roots will strip all the nutrients from the soil & anything planted will die.
Is this the case or would it be possible to do?

Lumen

Ms2011 wrote: »

Now I read that it isn't possible to do this as the conifer roots will strip all the nutrients from the soil & anything planted will die.

Where did you read that?

As I understand it, rotting wood draws in nitrogen fixed from bacteria, so it comes from the air not the soil. Over the long term that process will improve soil quality.

The advice I've got is to leave the stumps and roots to rot. The only practical problem is that as the roots rot the soil will subside, so if you have a nice flat lawn over the top it may not stay that way.

I would take the course of action which disturbs the soil the least, i.e. leave well alone.

my3cents

The confers will certainly have reduced the nutrient levels in the soil but the bigger issue may be that they have pulled all the moisture out of the soil so you'll need to make sure your new plants do not dry out.

Get one extra large and deep hole dug now so you can see what the soil conditions are like. If the soil is really dry then it would be best to dig some organic matter (garden compost, leaf mold, even peat if you have to) into each planting hole and add a good handful of blood fish and bone meal fertiliser to to the mix.

Ms2011

Lumen wrote: »

Where did you read that?

Good old Google

I googled it & a few articles said there would be issues as the pine neddles would have made the ground acidic & the roots would have drained the soil of nutrients

We would need about 65 individual laurels so it will be costly to put in the hedge, I don’t want to waste that money if it's just going to die

magicbastarder

my3cents wrote: »

the bigger issue may be that they have pulled all the moisture out of the soil so you'll need to make sure your new plants do not dry out.

they would have been pulling moisture out of the soil, but as soon as you strip the tree of its foliage, that will stop and the moisture shouldn't be an issue.

my3cents

magicbastarder wrote: »

they would have been pulling moisture out of the soil, but as soon as you strip the tree of its foliage, that will stop and the moisture shouldn't be an issue.

You'd think that and in many soil types you'd be right but I have seen it were the soil on an old conifer hedge line refuses to absorb water even years after the hedge is gone.

You can get the same effect with peat based composts which refuse to absorb water if dried out for too long unless you keep them completely soaked for a good long time. An old conifer hedge will often raise the ground a little which allows the rain to run off preventing water getting the chance to soak in.

I've winched out big old cypress stumps from tree's that had been felled years earlier only to find the ground beneath and around them bone dry.

lazybones32

1: I don't think you need the wire fencing to train the laurel. It'll naturally grow upward and outward if it can.
2: I'd go with bare-root laurels instead of larger pot-grown ones. They're cheaper and will be more likely to acclimatise and tolerate the cramped underground conditions better than a larger specimen. It wouldn't hurt to loosen up the planting area with a mattock and remove some roots for the initial hole. The tree roots will die and rot as the laurel roots expand, so it is possible to make the switch without a lot of labour or money being spent.

You don't need a lot of anything to make this work - some slow-release fertiliser and a well-dug planting hole. Water them in well, even if showers are forecast (only the top few mm of soil might get wet).

Ms2011

lazybones32 wrote: »

1: I don't think you need the wire fencing to train the laurel. It'll naturally grow upward and outward if it can.
2: I'd go with bare-root laurels instead of larger pot-grown ones. They're cheaper and will be more likely to acclimatise and tolerate the cramped underground conditions better than a larger specimen. It wouldn't hurt to loosen up the planting area with a mattock and remove some roots for the initial hole. The tree roots will die and rot as the laurel roots expand, so it is possible to make the switch without a lot of labour or money being spent.

You don't need a lot of anything to make this work - some slow-release fertiliser and a well-dug planting hole. Water them in well, even if showers are forecast (only the top few mm of soil might get wet).

Great, thanks for the reply

Fairdues

lazybones32 wrote: »

1: I don't think you need the wire fencing to train the laurel. It'll naturally grow upward and outward if it can.
2: I'd go with bare-root laurels instead of larger pot-grown ones. They're cheaper and will be more likely to acclimatise and tolerate the cramped underground conditions better than a larger specimen. It wouldn't hurt to loosen up the planting area with a mattock and remove some roots for the initial hole. The tree roots will die and rot as the laurel roots expand, so it is possible to make the switch without a lot of labour or money being spent.

You don't need a lot of anything to make this work - some slow-release fertiliser and a well-dug planting hole. Water them in well, even if showers are forecast (only the top few mm of soil might get wet).

I second this.