Bare-root hedging: the complete buyer's guide

If you’re planting a hedge of any meaningful length, bare-root is almost certainly the right way to do it. It’s cheaper than pot-grown by a factor of three or four, the plants establish faster, and a well-planted bare-root hedge can be in the ground and growing within an afternoon. The catch is that it’s a seasonal product, sold and planted only between November and March, and there’s a small but non-negotiable window in which the plants need to go into the ground after they arrive.

This guide covers everything we get asked at the nursery: what bare-root means, when to plant, how many plants per metre, how to handle them when they arrive, how to plant them, and what to expect in the first season.

What does “bare root” actually mean?

A bare-root plant is exactly what it sounds like: a plant lifted from the field with no soil or pot around its roots. The roots are clean, exposed, and packed in moisture-retentive material for transit. Because there’s no soil and no pot, bare-root plants are dramatically cheaper to grow, transport, and sell — savings the customer sees directly at the till.

The trade-off is that bare-root plants can only be lifted, moved and replanted while they’re dormant. For a deciduous hedge plant in the UK, that means roughly November to March. Outside that window, the plant is in active growth and lifting it without soil would kill it.

If you need to plant in late spring, summer, or early autumn, you’ll need pot-grown plants instead — same species, more expensive, but available year-round.

Bare-root vs pot-grown: which should I buy?

Buy bare-root if:

You’re planting between November and March.
You’re planting a hedge of any significant length (10m+) where the price difference matters.
You don’t mind the slightly more involved planting process.
You can handle and plant the stock within a week of delivery.

Buy pot-grown if:

You’re planting between April and October.
You only need a handful of plants and the per-plant price is a smaller part of total cost.
You want plants you can hold for weeks before planting.
You want plants that already have a developed root system.

For an average garden hedge of 15–25 metres, bought in winter, bare-root will save you £100–£300 over pot-grown for the same species. That’s the bare-root case.

When to plant bare-root hedging

The planting season runs from November to March. Within that window:

November to mid-December — best for most plantings. The soil is still warm enough for a small amount of root development before deep winter, which gets the plants off to the strongest start in spring.

Late December to February — perfectly fine, but plant during a thaw, not when the ground is frozen. If you can’t get a spade in cleanly, wait. Frozen-in roots don’t establish.

Early March — the last reliable window. Get plants in the ground before they break dormancy and start pushing buds.

Late March onwards — you’re risking it. By the time leaves are emerging, the plants need their roots in soil drawing water, and a freshly planted bare-root won’t be doing that yet. If your plants arrived in March and the weather’s been warm, plant immediately and water thoroughly.

How many plants per metre?

This depends on the species and how quickly you want a dense hedge:

Most hedging species — 3 plants per metre is the standard, giving plants 33cm apart.
For a denser, faster screen — 5 plants per metre (20cm apart) is common with green beech, hawthorn, and laurel where you want a thick hedge fast.
Double row planting — 5 plants per metre arranged in two staggered rows (20cm apart along each row, 30cm between rows) creates a near-impenetrable hedge in 3–4 years.
Box (Buxus) for a low edging hedge — 6 plants per metre (15cm apart).

A 15-metre hedge at standard 3-per-metre spacing needs 45 plants. The same hedge at double-row 5-per-metre spacing needs 75 plants. Order the higher number if you want speed; the lower number is fine if you can wait an extra year for the hedge to thicken.

What to do the day your plants arrive

Open the package immediately and check the roots are still moist. If they’re dry, soak the roots in a bucket of water for an hour before doing anything else.
Plant within 48 hours if possible. If you can’t, “heel them in” — dig a shallow trench somewhere out of the wind, lay the plants at an angle with their roots covered in soil, and they’ll keep for two to three weeks. Don’t leave them in the bag.
Don’t let the roots dry out. Wind dries roots out alarmingly fast. Keep plants covered, in shade, with damp sacking or a wet cloth over the roots until the moment they go in the ground.
Soak roots before planting. A 20-minute soak in a bucket of water rehydrates the roots and improves establishment. Don’t soak for more than a few hours, though — roots need air too.

How to plant bare-root hedging

The planting process is simple but matters. Done sloppily, you get patchy establishment; done properly, you get near-100% take.

Mark out your hedge line with a string between two stakes. A wonky hedge is a wonky hedge forever.
Dig a trench along the line, around 30cm deep and 30cm wide. Loosen the soil at the base with a fork — this is where roots will grow first. For dense planting, a continuous trench is faster than individual holes.
Improve the soil if it’s poor. A handful of well-rotted compost or bonemeal mixed into the trench bottom helps. Don’t use fresh manure on bare-root plants — it can burn the roots.
Place plants at the right spacing along the trench (see “how many per metre” above). The point where the stem darkens — the soil mark from the nursery — should sit at ground level.
Backfill with the soil you took out, working it gently around the roots so there are no air pockets. Firm with your foot as you go, but don’t compact the soil to concrete.
Water thoroughly even if the soil is wet. The watering settles soil around the roots more effectively than firming alone.
Mulch with 5–8cm of bark chips, well-rotted compost, or straw to suppress weeds and retain moisture. Keep the mulch a few cm away from the stems themselves to prevent rotting.
Protect from rabbits and deer with spiral guards or a fenced enclosure if you have either as a problem. The first year of growth is when bare-root hedges are most vulnerable.

What to expect in the first season

A well-planted bare-root hedge will look completely dead from planting until April. This is normal. Don’t panic, don’t water excessively, don’t dig anything up.

In April or May, buds break and the plants leaf out. Some plants will leaf out two or three weeks later than their neighbours — this is also normal, not a sign anything’s wrong.

Some loss is expected. A 5–10% failure rate is unremarkable; we replace any plant that dies in its first year if you let us know. Higher than 10% suggests a planting or watering issue — usually either the roots dried out before planting, or the soil is so heavy and waterlogged that roots couldn’t establish.

In the first growing season, water during dry spells (more than two weeks without rain) but don’t water otherwise. Overwatered bare-root hedges drown as easily as they dry out.

Don’t trim in the first year. Let the plants put their energy into establishing roots and main stems. Light formative pruning starts in year 2, full hedge trimming in year 3.

Common mistakes

Planting too deep. The soil mark on the stem is where the soil should be. Going deeper buries the lower bark and invites rot.
Planting too shallow. Roots exposed above the soil dry out and die. The whole root mass should be in the ground.
Letting roots dry out before planting. This is the single most common cause of failure. Treat bare-root plants like fish — out of water for as little time as possible.
Adding fertiliser to the planting hole. Bare-root plants aren’t growing yet; they don’t need feeding. Fertiliser in the hole can burn dormant roots.
Planting in waterlogged soil. If the trench fills with water as you dig, drainage is too poor for bare-root. Either improve drainage first (raised bed, drainage trench) or wait for spring and use pot-grown.
Not firming or watering after backfilling. Air pockets around roots kill plants. Water settles the soil; a foot doesn’t always.

In short

Bare-root hedging is a brilliant, cost-effective way to establish a hedge — provided you order in season, plant promptly, and follow basic handling rules. We dig and dispatch our bare-root plants from our Fife nursery from November to March each year. Browse our bare-root hedging range or get in touch with any questions about a specific species or your particular site.