Prepping for hedgerow planting, what herbicide to use to kill off existing grass and weeds?

[Turnip]

So we are looking to plant 200m of hedgerow this winter in one of our paddocks. As I only have a knapsack sprayer can people recommend a herbicide to use before hiring a rotovator to prep the ground? From what I can read about planting hedgerows the aim is to have a strip cleared of all growth for the plants to be planted in.

 

[primmiemoo]

These look swish, but possibly useful to show up any specific trees in the hedge that need saving from the thwacker? ~

Home - Nexgen Tree Shelters

NexGen Tree Shelters are made from British wool. Our tree guards are fully degradable and non-toxic and break down to feed the soil and support the ecosystem.

nexgen-ts.com

 

[primmiemoo]

Make yourself one of these



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Ye gods, you'll have enormous daffodils from that outfit!

 

[Ffermer Bach]

Make yourself one of these



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I think you would need to plant a lot of hedging to justify making that.

 

[wr.]

I think you would need to plant a lot of hedging to justify making that.

Yes, perhaps so but I made it in two evenings and the steel cost around £15 plus brackets around £80. It does make the job much easier and quicker.

 

[wr.]

Is the hole not too big?
When we cut a slot with a spade we only make it just wide enough to put in the roots, tread it down and job done. The roots are often quite a wide fan, whereas your magic tool will restrict the roots.
Also if it was very wet would these holes not fill with water?
Be interesting to see if you did a comparison whether there was any difference.

We had a really good take with the hedge plants to be fair. The holes could be made smaller with a smaller diameter bar if preferred.

 

[Tubbylew]

I do agree rotally with you @Ffermer Bach on the spirals. I wish the clever bods could come up with a biodegradable version, something that would last about 3 years max.

I need to use guards against hares and rabbits here.

Iirc the duchy were trialing biodegradable ones made from wool a couple of years back, but they did have a wire clip which was a bit of a draw back, incidentally, I think they're moving away from using guards and deer fencing and just planting thicker to compensate.

 

[Overby]

The instructions now say not to use spirals, what's everyone doing, just planting bare?

 

[Rod Dumbreck]

We are taking our spirals off established hedge, it seems to take at least three times as long to do this than the whole planting and guarding in the first place.

edit: I see that I made a similar comment up the thread, its hard to believe but we still have someone out there amongst the thorns and brambles

 

[willyorkshire]

The instructions now say not to use spirals, what's everyone doing, just planting bare?

If you have no hares rabbits or deer you could risk it. If one spiral blows off our 1200m hedge, plant is gone in 24hrs eaten by hares.

 

[Kidds]

Planted mine bare last year, hawthorn, blackthorn and beech.
No significant damage and plenty of rabbits.

 

[Overby]

Planted mine bare last year, hawthorn, blackthorn and beech.
No significant damage and plenty of rabbits.

It does say now to definitely not use spirals so i'll go bare too. Just wondering if there were any alternatives or if they whined when you sent pcs of them in bare without constructing 6,000 mini electric fences or suchlike

 

[Overby]

"Avoid using spiral guards as they limit the amount of dense growth at the base of each plant, are unsightly and are difficult to remove."

 

[willyorkshire]

We couldn’t plant without either spirals or rabbit fence. Tried once trying to split arable fields but hares ate every plant in 2.4km!