Hello.

I recently bought Privet Hedges from the internet. The web address for the store is - (Fruit trees, nut trees, shade trees, plants, ground cover, shrubs, rose bushes, hedges and more – Autumn Ridge Nursery (http://www.autumnridgenursery.com/index.cfm?CFID=816069&CFTOKEN=65242003))
The 100 hedges and 10 trees came in a cardboard package about 5 inches round and 5 feet wide. Roots packaded in ice and newspaper. I took them out that night and soked them in water for the whole night and planted most the first day rest the second day. The things are baisicaly twogs with some root and a few had some branches and leaves but not much. Most people told me they won't grow or it will thake a long time. But they are supposed to grow 3' per year and I have some time.

The site and customer support does not have much info about how to care for these srubs. I asked at my local home depot and they said to add some 10-5-10 fertilizer to the soil and water a lot. I live in long islan ny and have densely compacted low nutient(yellow) soil underneath but I addes some mulch(wood chips) than some good soil over wood chips and planted them in that. From the internet I found that it's the same as trees don't add fertilizer because it might burn the roots and don't over water or they will rot. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

In case anyone is interested this is another site which sells similar products for less than the one I used. I haven't tried it yet though.
Direct Gardening (http://www.directgardening.com/)

I should warn about these 2 online stores because I looked at ( Garden Watchdog: The scoop on 'Autumn Ridge Nursery' (http://davesgarden.com/gwd/c/3246/) ) which is supposedly a unbiased site which alows peaople to post reviews about online nurseries and they got not so good reviews. 50/50 for autumn ridge and 25% positive 75% ( Garden Watchdog: The scoop on 'Direct Gardening' (http://davesgarden.com/gwd/c/231/) )negative about directgardening from posts. I am satisfied with my order from autumn ridge.

Thank you.

Please stop posting lawnmower help in the gardening and lawn section. There is a tools and power equipment section that it should go into.

Seriously any help would be great.

Eaven if you only have a green thumbnail than your input would be apreciated

Depending on what the ratio of roots to top growth is you may need to prune the top a little. You do not want to overwhelm the roots by too much foliage on a newly planted/potted plant. The roots may not be able to keep up with the water demands of the foliage and the whole plant will suffer.

The first year or so, depending on the environment and the species planted, is when the plant should become established in your yard. After this establishment the plants root system will be able to support a larger top.

Do not put many uncomposted wood chips in your soil when planting plants as the further decomposition of the wood chips will tie up nitrogen and reduce availibility to your plants. Use a slow release fertilizer on the soil surface around the base of each plant. Osmocote is a brand name of one slow release fertilizer. You can find it in Home Depot.

Concerning water needs. Most plants will get root rots if the soil in the root zone is saturated for lengthy periods. The soil around the plants roots should be moist but not saturated.