Griselinia Hedge.

Seaniemac

Hi, I will be planting a Griselinia hedge on a boundry of a new site which I have purchased and I`m wondering what`s the best way to go about it. The boundry is 45 meters in lenght and I will be getting approximately 240 Bare Root Plants. A friend said I should spray a strip a meter wide with weed killer before hand. Would it be too much to Dig and plant this much hedge by hand or should I get a digger in to pull a trench and then plant and backfill by hand? Any Advice would be Greatly Appreciated.

Norfolk Enchants_

Seaniemac wrote: »

Hi, I will be planting a Griselinia hedge on a boundry of a new site which I have purchased and I`m wondering what`s the best way to go about it. The boundry is 45 meters in lenght and I will be getting approximately 240 Bare Root Plants. A friend said I should spray a strip a meter wide with weed killer before hand. Would it be too much to Dig and plant this much hedge by hand or should I get a digger in to pull a trench and then plant and backfill by hand? Any Advice would be Greatly Appreciated.

First off Seanie, generally speaking you need 3 plants per metre, unless you are going with a double row in which case 5 per metre is required, of course it also depends on the size of the plants you are purchasing. Personally I'd avoid griselinia and plant laurel or privet instead or if you want a really nice easy to maintian hedge then I'd go with beech if you location is suitable.

The gound prep is important, to get the best advice a photo would be required.

As regards actually planting them the plants, 2 people would plant 200 no problem in a day if the ground conditions are favourable, i.e. ground already broken with a machine (digger or rotavator), ground fairly level and for the most part stone free.

Seaniemac

Thanks for your reply Norfolk Enchants. Firstly, I should have said that I have already bought the Griselinia Plants. I can hire a digger for a few hours to dig a foot wide channel to plant the hedge but should I spray off the area first to kill any growth before digging? Back filling would be done better manually I think.

Norfolk Enchants_

Seaniemac wrote: »

Thanks for your reply Norfolk Enchants. Firstly, I should have said that I have already bought the Griselinia Plants. I can hire a digger for a few hours to dig a foot wide channel to plant the hedge but should I spray off the area first to kill any growth before digging? Back filling would be done better manually I think.

You can spray it off first, but you don't have to, one of the main benefits of doing it first is that you're not wresting with sods of grass and weeds when backfilling.
Anyway now isn't the time to spray weeds as they need to be actively growing in order for the weedkiller to work fully.
Best to get the machine driver to skim off the top weed/grass layer with the bucket first put it to one side and then you effectively have the same as if it was sprayed.

touchdown77

Norfolk Enchants_ wrote: »

Personally I'd avoid griselinia and plant laurel or privet instead or if you want a really nice easy to maintian hedge then I'd go with beech if you location is suitable.

Why laurel over griselinia? (does it grow as much?)

Norfolk Enchants_

touchdown77 wrote: »

Why laurel over griselinia? (does it grow as much?)

They both grow at about the same rate, so it's just a personal thing I prefer the shape and look of laurel over griselinia, the leaves are a darker green and look more vibrant on the laurel when you get that shiny/waxy look on a good healthy plant in the middle of summer.

Kristopherus

touchdown77 wrote: »

Why laurel over griselinia? (does it grow as much?)

Griselinia took a hammering in the winters of 2010 and 2011. Laurel is a much tougher plant and imo is a faster growing hedge. I'm basing that on my own and several neighbours experience after 2011. All now have nice laurel hedges.

Norfolk Enchants_

Kristopherus wrote: »

Griselinia took a hammering in the winters of 2010 and 2011. Laurel is a much tougher plant and imo is a faster growing hedge. I'm basing that on my own and several neighbours experience after 2011. All now have nice laurel hedges.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that of course, griselinia has to potential to be wiped out by extreme cold events, laurel doesn't.
You are correct in saying laurel is faster growing, but both would require been pruned/clipped three or four times a year and when you have a tightly pruned hedge the difference is negligible, but if you were to leave them both unpruned for a year or two the laurel will get out of hand faster.

macraignil

Seaniemac wrote: »

Thanks for your reply Norfolk Enchants. Firstly, I should have said that I have already bought the Griselinia Plants. I can hire a digger for a few hours to dig a foot wide channel to plant the hedge but should I spray off the area first to kill any growth before digging? Back filling would be done better manually I think.

Some Griselinia plants did survive the cold winters a few years back but it might be an idea to supplement them with another more frost hardy variety. My parent's hedge had privet as well as Griselinia and when most of the Griselinia was killed the surviving privet hedge kept some privacy to their back garden.