Instant Hedging
When ordering hedging one of our most popular requests is that the hedging is instant, but not everyone means truly instant hedging.
So what is instant hedging?
- Instant hedging are small plants that have been put into troughs or 1m long bags and grown into a mature hedge over a couple of years (sometimes longer for slower growing species like Yew).
- It is regularly fertilised to maintain plant vitality
- Is regularly trimmed (often 4 times per year) so that when it is ready for sale it is already hedge-shaped both on the sides and the top
Instant hedging is very popular where customers are infilling an old hedge where there’s a gap caused by damage, disease, property development etc – and it’s also popular where an instant impact is needed, for example to improve the kerb appeal where a house is being sold. But by far the majority of instant hedging is sold to customers who just don’t want to wait for individual plants to knit together.
Not all varieties of hedging are available as instant hedging. The most popular varieties are Beech (Fagus sylvatica), Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), Box (Buxus), Yew (Taxus). Instant hedging is a premium product which takes years of time from experienced, specialised nurserymen.
The horticultural alternatives to instant hedging where the costs are not justifiable are root balls (seasonal and lots of evergreen varieties) and tall pot grown plants. Both give instant height but not instant knitting together, but they’re both good options.
Using Tall Pots For Instant Hedging
Using tall pots for instant hedging is where customers would like ‘the instant effect’ but are prepared to wait for the plants to knit themselves together naturally over a period of time. So the pots would give the customer the height they are after, just not the density. However, this is a cheaper option to go for if you are wanting an instant effect.
Large pots are usually pots sized 10L and over. These hedging plants are established mature plants, with developed root systems, stems and foliage (dependent upon time of year and whether evergreen/deciduous varieties). The advantage of buying this type of hedging is firstly, that they easily transplant and adjust successfully to their new home in the garden and secondly, the plants are mature so you need less per metre to achieve fullness.
