Hawthorn/hedge transplant

[Lewis]

Got some hawthorn bushes ect growing in places that could be better sited and to patch up some hedge gaps ect… what steps to get the best uptake and survival of the bush? Would now be a good time of year to do it?
Strap around the trunk and heave them out?
digger bucket and scoop them out?

 

[CornishTone]

I’d say scoop them out, keeping as much root mass intact as possible and do it in winter then they’re dormant.

 

[Crowfarmer]

Coppice it in the autum/winter and dig out as much the root ball as possible.

 

[Nearly]

Choose a wet time.

 

[yoki]

Got some hawthorn bushes ect growing in places that could be better sited and to patch up some hedge gaps ect… what steps to get the best uptake and survival of the bush? Would now be a good time of year to do it?
Strap around the trunk and heave them out?
digger bucket and scoop them out? View attachment 1178804View attachment 1178805View attachment 1178806

Now would probably just be about the worst time to do it.

October onwards, November probably even better, and as somelse said, cut them back before you move them and then there won't be as much stress on the roots until they get re-established.

 

[upnortheast]

If you had to do them now be prepared for regular watering to keep them alive

 

[Kidds]

Just buy some new transplants this winter. Will be just as quick.

 

[Post Driver]

Winter time job, scoop them out using as big a bucket on the digger as you can. The hole you have dug for it, loosen up the sides incase the digger bucket has smeared them tight. Line it it with well rotted manure if you have any. Prune back the bush too, so that the rootstock is not having to keep alive as much of the plant

 

[Werzle]

As above dig out in a big root ball and put plenty of rootgrow in the new hole. Hardly worth the hassle

 

[andybk]

friend moved an old hedge maybe 15 years ago all shifted back 20 yards to create an entrance for planning prob 100 meters worth , hedge was a regular trimmed hawthorn / blackthorn type , no one thought it would survive looked a right mess for few years , but its all growing now , big 360 dug a fairly deep trench behind and pulled hedge back into it , a wet summer after job prob helped a lot

 

[Danllan]

Got some hawthorn bushes ect growing in places that could be better sited and to patch up some hedge gaps ect… what steps to get the best uptake and survival of the bush? Would now be a good time of year to do it?
Strap around the trunk and heave them out?
digger bucket and scoop them out? View attachment 1178804View attachment 1178805View attachment 1178806

Haven't done it with hawthorns, which may be a bit more sensitive, but have done so successfully with blackthorns and a few hazels and hornbeams. As above, mid-winter, soft ground, cut back fairly hard first and then out with as much root & ground as you can get in the bucket.

I think the biggest we did had about a four or five inch main-trunk, five tonne digger. We did about two dozen, it was eight or nine years ago and all have survived; wish I'd done a lot more back then...

 

[Ffermer Bach]

Haven't done it with hawthorns, which may be a bit more sensitive, but have done so successfully with blackthorns and a few hazels and hornbeams. As above, mid-winter, soft ground, cut back fairly hard first and then out with as much root & ground as you can get in the bucket.

I think the biggest we did had about a four or five inch main-trunk, five tonne digger. We did about two dozen, it was eight or nine years ago and all have survived; wish I'd done a lot more back then...

Really? Apart from the thought of making sloe gin, I can't think of any other reason to have blackthorn on the farm.

 

[Exfarmer]

Really? Apart from the thought of making sloe gin, I can't think of any other reason to have blackthorn on the farm.

Name a better way of keeping people out!

 

[Danllan]

Really? Apart from the thought of making sloe gin, I can't think of any other reason to have blackthorn on the farm.

I like them; early blossom, good firewood, make a very strong anti-livestock and anti-personnel hedge, very resilient and they give us sloes! (And we have loads of them!)

My pet-hate, regarding trees, are the bloody horse chestnuts, crap in every respect except looking pretty for one week every year with their 'candle' blossoms...

 

[primmiemoo]

Really? Apart from the thought of making sloe gin, I can't think of any other reason to have blackthorn on the farm.

They attract lichens. The contrast between them and the black-purple bark is really striking. What others have said about blossom and thorns, but if you want a variation on ordinary blackthorn, there's a prickly damson that grows in the Midlands and North West (bullace?) that's a more versatile fruit.

 

[Danllan]

They attract lichens. The contrast between them and the black-purple bark is really striking. What others have said about blossom and thorns, but if you want a variation on ordinary blackthorn, there's a prickly damson that grows in the Midlands and North West (bullace?) that's a more versatile fruit.

Yep, forgot the lichen, beautiful - but we really only see that here when they grow to their standard size. Thinking on it, I guess the tallest blackthorn we have must be well under thirty feet...

We had lots of bullaces on the old place in Herts, in a good year the amount of fruit was astonishing. A few times we even had enough to make it worth using our big old cider press,

I remember doing several decent stacks of cheeses of bullace pulp, made some wonderful drink, but it was only the enthusiasm of youth that made picking up all the fruit worth it.

 

[Ffermer Bach]

I like them; early blossom, good firewood, make a very strong anti-livestock and anti-personnel hedge, very resilient and they give us sloes! (And we have loads of them!)

My pet-hate, regarding trees, are the bloody horse chestnuts, crap in every respect except looking pretty for one week every year with their 'candle' blossoms...

I have planted blackthorn on the top of the farm, but they can't cope with the weather (at over 1000'), the quickthorn are doing fine (even if growing very slowly like a bonsai), but the blackthorn have either died or not grown at all. Mind you, I guess that's why all that ground was severely disadvantaged.

 

[Danllan]

Really? Apart from the thought of making sloe gin, I can't think of any other reason to have blackthorn on the farm.

...

I have planted blackthorn on the top of the farm...

 

[Exfarmer]

One beauty of blackthorn is its ability to fill gaps, it will make an impregnable hedge for all stock and people . It was widely used in the past as an outer defence. It is virtually vandal proof once established, which can be as quick as quickthorn ( Hawthorn or May )

 

[Ffermer Bach]

...

I hadn't thought things through properly when I first planted hedges here, just had a mixture of species. It was only after watching them grow, and realising that blackthorn suckers into the fields that I realised the error of my ways. I then planted a couple of hedges from the woodland trust, where originally they insisted in adding blackthorn to the mix. I would not get anything from the woodland trust now (in their more hedges scheme), as they insist on adding spirals and canes (even though they are not needed here). Last two hedged I planted were self funded and 90% quickthorn, with 10% other mixes.