Beech Hedge Sprouting - or not

[froglets]

Hi All,

I planted a bare root beech hedge on boxing day and although some started showing green leaf about 6 weeks ago, some are still not showing any signs of bud swelling.  I have 6 out of 20 still dormant ( or dead).

Is this a reasonable success rate? and is there anything I can do to encourage the remainder to sprout.  I have sandy soil, so incorporated lots of rotted stable manure into the trench & have been watering since the weeks of rain stopped.  The soil is very fertile and it's mainly a sunny aspect.

TIA

Froglets

[froglets]

[saddad]

If it was thorn then I'd say they are definitely dead, but not done beech, I would have expected leaves by now though!
You can always dig one up and have a look at the roots, for new root hairs..
:-\

[froglets]

Just had a wander down the garden to try that and see that one has the tiddliest bit of green showing and another has I think fatter buds than Monday.

Maybe 4 dormat out of 20 isn't so bad, and now I'm reluctant to disturb the roots on those four just in case....

Of course the spare stuffed in a corner out of the way is in full leaf ???

[Robert_Brenchley]

Scrape the bark and see if you can find any green, check the buds to see if they're plump and fresh looking, and see if the twigs have turned brittle. If you can't find any green, and all the twigs are brittle, and the buds have dried up and shrivelled, it's dead.