Yew hedge going brown!

CraighB

Hi guys,

I planted my new bare root yew hedge in November (they are all about 30cm tall). I didn't water the plants in as the ground was moist and we had snow and rain straight after. I noticed in the past few weeks some of them have started to turn brown and crispy! Not all sections of the same plant have turned brown but just a few branches. We haven't had any rain for quite a while now but the ground is moist still so I'm sure it's not underwatering. The only thing we have had lately are frosts but I'm not sure if this would so that to the young plants?

Any help would be appreciated.
Craigh

Uff

I think others might say differently but my opinion is that they should have been soaked in water for an hour or two then planted and given another drink of water. 
I would trim the dead branches off.

AnniD

I agree with @Uff, trim the dead bits off. The rest looks healthy enough at the moment. If the ground is damp they will probably start to pick up now the days are starting to lengthen and Spring is coming. 

Dovefromabove

I also agree with @Uff
I would have done exactly as she describes. 

Fire

Even if the earth is damp, I would give them a few buckets a week anyway if it's not raining. It won't hurt. Some areas of the country have been very dry though Dec and Jan.

Fairygirl

I wouldn't worry about those at all. Ground looks more than damp enough, and they won't appreciate being soggy.
The only other thing would be to take all the little weeds out - a light hoe would be fine. A mulch will help keep on top of those too, but you can do that in a month or two, when they'll tend to germinate even more quickly. As @AnniD says, they'll come away again at that point too. 

No hedging is perfect after planting, especially as bare root, and there's always the odd bit of damage over the winter months. You can remove the dead bits later 

CraighB

Uff said:

I think others might say differently but my opinion is that they should have been soaked in water for an hour or two then planted and given another drink of water. 
I would trim the dead branches off.

I soaked them for about an hour before planting but just didn't water them in. I also sprinkled mycorrhizal fungi over the wet roots. It's only a handful of the plants that are going brown, some of them look absolutely fine but I will cut off all the dead bits.

All is not lost though if any of them don't recover because I actually ordered too many and I have a bunch of them planted in a container and I can use them to replace any bad ones

CraighB

@Fairygirl Yes I did notice today all the weeds starting to grow so I am going to go out there at the weekend and get rid of them

I just need to make sure I don't trim off any of the leading shoots on the yew as apparently that slows down the rate of growth.

Fairygirl

I rarely need to water in plants if the ground's moist, and especially if I'm planting in Autumn/winter @CraighB, so unless you're in a really, really dry area, or the soil was light and sandy [and it doesn't look like that] it would have been fine, especially if you soaked them first. 
It'll be a while before they really get going though - they're just getting their root systems going. Good to have a few spares too though 

Cambridgerose12

The rationale I was taught for watering in was that it allows the soil to settle around the roots and prevents air pockets. Obviously how much this would cause a problem is going to depend on your soil type, how well you firmed them in, etc. as well. But at this stage the best course of action is not to worry about it!