Too late for planting Whitethorn slips?

Western Pomise

Am just wondering has it gone too late to plant whitethorn slips or should I leave it till next Autumn?
Under pressure from OH to do it but not going planting them to see them fail!

Thanks for any replies.

_Brian

Get them in.
It’s a very late spring anyway but they willl Likely be available for another month.

Get them bare root. Be perfect.

Western Pomise

_Brian wrote: »

Get them in.
It’s a very late spring anyway but they willl Likely be available for another month.

Get them bare root. Be perfect.

Thanks,pardon my ignorance but what is meant by ‘bare Root’?

Lumen

Western Pomise wrote: »

Thanks,pardon my ignorance but what is meant by ‘bare Root’?

The plants come with no soil around the roots, so they're cheaper to pack and ship.

Because the roots are a bit crippled/traumatised, the planting has to be done while the plants are in cold-induced hibernation (and with no foliage to support), so it only works for deciduous plants out of the summer growing season, and there are even some deciduous plants which are too sensitive to root disturbance to be transplanted bare root.

_Brian

Western Pomise wrote: »

Thanks,pardon my ignorance but what is meant by ‘bare Root’?

They come like this.
https://goo.gl/images/u3jaZ4

You need to be ready to plant them when they arrive, or stick them in buckets of compost as a short term measure.

magicbastarder

were you planning on trying to plant cuttings?

Western Pomise

magicbastarder wrote: »

were you planning on trying to plant cuttings?

No the missus was looking up buying them online....so it probably is the bare root type.Would be planting them outside a wire sheep fence(she wants to hide)....only about 2 foot of soil outside the fence,then there is the edge of a stone road....if you can picture that.
Does 2 foot allow enough room for a Whitethorn hedge to develop over time if we kept it pruned and looked after?

Lumen

Western Pomise wrote: »

Would be planting them outside a wire sheep fence(she wants to hide)....only about 2 foot of soil outside the fence,then there is the edge of a stone road....if you can picture that.
Does 2 foot allow enough room for a Whitethorn hedge to develop over time if we kept it pruned and looked after?

Presumably the roots can grow back through/under the sheep fence, more of an issue is maybe runoff from the road overwetting the soil.

Space is going to be an issue though. Left to its own devices whitethorn is a tree, and you're trying to limit the radius to 1ft. It's going to want to push the fence over and encroach on the road, and a thorny hedge sticking out into a roadway is...scratchy.

Do you have enough space to plant it a foot or so inside the fence, and then remove the fence when it becomes a proper hedgerow?

Or move the fence in a bit.

Western Pomise

Lumen wrote: »

Presumably the roots can grow back through/under the sheep fence, more of an issue is maybe runoff from the road overwetting the soil.

Space is going to be an issue though. Left to its own devices whitethorn is a tree, and you're trying to limit the radius to 1ft. It's going to want to push the fence over and encroach on the road, and a thorny hedge sticking out into a roadway is...scratchy.

Do you have enough space to plant it a foot or so inside the fence, and then remove the fence when it becomes a proper hedgerow?

Or move the fence in a bit.

I see where you are coming from,ironically I only put up the fence last year(replacing an old one)....but the OH is not a fan of sheep fences!.....left to its own devices what kind of radius would a single row of Whitethorn grow to?....I intend on keeping it pruned as it’s on way into our house.
If I got the fence brought in a few foot what radius would 2 rows of bare root shoots require to grow well,with them being pruned as they should be while growing?
I don’t want to lose too much ground off the area inside the fence as it’s one of the few good fields I have:)
I appreciate though that it would not be ideal to limit the growth of the root system for the hedge and messy looking to have the hedge growing in through the sheep fence (which is new)
From looking at a few sites it seems that it’s best practice to plant 2 rows....is that correct?
Thanks for everyone’s replies so far.

Lumen

It's a bit subjective, but allowing for 3-4ft deep makes a decent single row hedge. Double row needs 18" between rows so there's no point if you're aiming for a narrow hedge.

I planted my hedges 3ft from the fences to allow for pruning and maintenance of the fences, but you presumably have access to the back side from the road.

Proper laid hedgerows are really deep as (so I've heard) livestock hate jumping where they can't see.