Soil depth for laurel hedge roots

rampantbunny · 03-11-2019 10:23pm #1

Was planning on planting 50m of laurel hedging (bare root) at some point. For some of the 50m length, there's a line of drainage (about 2-3ft clean stone over land drainage pipe). My concern is with the amount of top soil over the stone...in places I'd guess there's a max of maybe 12 inches.

So, to the questions; is there a minimum amount of soil required for laurel roots?
Secondly, if I were to build a mound of soil on the planting line, would the laurel eventually grow down to the level of the original lawn, and therefore hide this elevated mound?

Lumen · 04-11-2019 8:05am

12" max, but what's the min? How wide is the stone layer?

You might be OK because prunus roots tend to be shallow, but a small berm would do no harm.

Yes, the roots will grow down and out. Not uncommon to see laurel planted on banks near where I live.

Make sure the soil you do have is decent topsoil and not backfilled subsoil.

rampantbunny · 04-11-2019 10:14am

Lumen wrote: »

12" max, but what's the min? How wide is the stone layer?

You might be OK because prunus roots tend to be shallow, but a small berm would do no harm.

Yes, the roots will grow down and out. Not uncommon to see laurel planted on banks near where I live.

Make sure the soil you do have is decent topsoil and not backfilled subsoil.

Sorry min of 12 inch. Drainage trench approx. 2ft wide at top, but the trench deepens as it runs so there could be 2 -3 ft soil coverage in some areas.

Re. planting on a berm; I would expect the foliage to extend out and downwards towards original level of the lawn. Would I be right in this assumption? Might sound like a strange question but I've seen enough leylandis (granted they are a totally different plant) that grow poorly at the bottom so the trunk can be seen.

standardg60 · 04-11-2019 7:56pm

rampantbunny wrote: »

Sorry min of 12 inch. Drainage trench approx. 2ft wide at top, but the trench deepens as it runs so there could be 2 -3 ft soil coverage in some areas.

Re. planting on a berm; I would expect the foliage to extend out and downwards towards original level of the lawn. Would I be right in this assumption? Might sound like a strange question but I've seen enough leylandis (granted they are a totally different plant) that grow poorly at the bottom so the trunk can be seen.

Its no problem at all with a min of 12 inch depth, the plants will root down into the stone anyway.
I wouldn't bank up the soil, the only way to get plants to extend downwards is to leave the branches unpruned so they eventually sag under their own weight which is not a good idea, especially for a hedge.
Leylandis only get bare at the bottom as a result of no or poor pruning.

rampantbunny · 04-11-2019 9:34pm

I've already decided to get in some top-soil anyway because there are a few hollows here and there I want to fill.
Where I will plant the laurel I've always noticed that grass growth is pretty weak. I think it's because the ground tapers towards a small private lane-way so it got a minimum of top-soil when it was going around and all the stones were raked to that area. I can afford to lift this with more top-soil to give the laurel a better chance. Not a berm though if the laurel will struggle to cover up.

Thanks folks.

Soil depth for laurel hedge roots

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