A red beech hedge is a decorative privacy screen. But until the hedge is really dense, it takes time. How many beech trees do you have to plant per meter of beech hedge so that the hedge quickly becomes dense and opaque?

About two plants per meter of hedge is a good measure for the beech hedge

Two plants per meter of beech hedge

  • 2 red beeches per meter of hedge
  • possibly 3 to 4 red beeches per meter
  • Remove excess red beech later
  • Alternatively: plant red beeches in a zigzag pattern

As a rule of thumb, plant the beech trees in the hedge at a distance of 50 centimeters. This means that you need two beech trees for every meter of beech hedge. For 25 meters of hornbeam hedge you need to buy 50 copper beeches.

Get dense beech hedges faster

It takes at least two years for a red beech hedge to become really dense. Gardeners in a hurry can speed up this process.

You simply plant the hornbeams closer together. Instead of 50 centimetres, they only leave 20 or 30 centimeters of space. This makes the hedge very dense very quickly.

However, this measure not only came at a higher price, it also means a lot of work after a few years. Then the supernumerary red beeches have to be removed. If they stay in the beech hedge, they rob the other trees of the necessary nutrients.

Plant wide beech hedges in a zigzag pattern

If you want to plant a wide beech hedge, you can use an old gardener's trick.

Simply plant two rows of beech trees over the entire length of the later hedge, offset to the side, i.e. in a zigzag pattern. However, you should keep the planting distance of about 50 centimeters, as it is very difficult to cut out excess beech trees with this planting method. You then need four copper beeches per meter of hedge.

By trimming the beech hedge to the desired width and height, after a few years it is no longer noticeable that the beech trees were planted in two rows in an offset manner. In this way you quickly get a very dense hedge that does not allow a view through.

tips

Do not plant a beech hedge too close to fences, walls, houses or sidewalks. The roots of the European beech are very strong and run quite shallowly under the surface. Over time, they can damage masonry and utility lines, or lift sidewalk slabs.

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