Hedges and trees are often supplied in the form of a root ball. This is when a plant has been specifically grown in the ground with the purpose to then be lifted and moved elsewhere.
A root balled plant is dug up from the ground usually by a specialized machine with rounded blades that resemble a circle of large pointed garden spades. The machine operator can move apart these sharp cutting spades, to be able to drive up to the plant and close them into position. The blades are then mechanically forced into the ground until it creates a rounded ball consisting of the soil and the plants main roots.
The machine then lifts the plant out of the ground and carefully places it onto a square of wire-net and hessian mat. The hessian mat is pulled up and wrapped around the ball, then followed by the wire net which holds the hessian in place by twisting and tightening the wire.
