The buds should be long and pointed but may not have burst open yet. Native trees tend to know when to sprout and aren't taken in by all this sunny weather!!

Martin, are the leaves still on your Beech?, they will be falling off shortly, they will need watering before feeding as it is very dry here. To check if yours are alive, scratch a little bark off here and there.

I planted a beech hedge a few years ago and found it took ages to come into growth. I was worried, just as you are. I hope that if you wait the buds will start to burst, but it may take a few more weeks yet. Fingers crossed, and don't give up yet.

My beech hedge is just losing last years leaves and doesn't look like bursting into leaf for a while yet. Be patient, it will go into action when its ready!

Thank you all very much for the goodwill! Yes, I have some long pointed buds and sparse on the leaves front so after reading your posts I am ever hopeful.
Just one last thing - doctorbob said 'water before feeding' - what should i be feeding them??
regards, martin

I'd let them start growing before thinking of feeding them. Remember the root systems have been bashed around and can't cope with lots of "stuff". Water is the most important thing in getting plants established.

If the weather's been dry where you are you could think about watering them, but remember you want the roots to go down and find their own water, so if you do decide to take a hand you have to give occasional really thorough soakings, not a little sprinkle every day.

When I've planted trees I keep a mental note of when it rains, and whether it's proper rainfall, not a little bit of drizzle - that doesn't count unless it keeps it up all week. If it rains, I reset the mental counter. If it's been more than a week since the last good rain, I give each newly planted tree or bush a bucketful of water, applied slowly. So for your 30 bushes, you'll need to put on 30 buckets of water, starting by pouring on a cupful or so onto the soil around each bush, going along the line several times to get the soil wet so that it can absorb the water and not just have it roll off. Once it's wetted and ready to absorb, you can add a bit more water at a time. You want to get the soil wet right down to the bottom of where the roots are, so you need to keep at it.

Obviously, if you have a hose that will reach this is all much easier, but you'll need to spend some time and effort watering to keep those bushes alive if there's no rainfall.

If there's still no rain after another week, you'll have to do it all again.

See - there is one advantage to having a typically wet English summer! ;-)

I am liquid feeding all mine everytime I water with a liquidiser attached to a hosepipe, I have already soaked whole rows with a bleeding hose.

Thank you all for your helpful advice - I think my hedges will be OK! kind regards, martin