Copper Beech issue

yorlum11

Hi Guys,

We planted 140 bare root copper beech hedging in late February. most grew well but maybe 30 of them didnt grow. Stayed brown with no new growth. Looking at it the few that did not grow were in one section of the hedge. The same bunch so to speak as they came in 25's from garden centre. Any ideas?

baaba maal

You will always (in my experience) get a few failures when you buy a batch of barerooted plants. The conditions for the batch that died might have been slightly different (soil a bit thinner or less nutrients), or when you watered them, they got the least and so didn't take.

Personally, I would just wait until the autumn and fill in the gaps then- to replace them with potted plants now would be a lot more expensive. did you plant single or double row? If single, it might be an idea to double up the replacements to fill the gap in quicker.
One suggestion on encouraging the growth- I found that really precise in the first year or so, pruning when you are cutting back growth really helps to thicken up the plants at a young age. By this I mean I pruned them with a secateurs- not a shears! By cutting back just the end leaves on each small branch I think the plant benefits a lot (and when they get bigger you just clip them as normal, with shears or hedgetrimmer).
Just my opinions, mind.

yorlum11

Garden centre replacing all dead ones in November. Hopefully they will take the second time.