Cheery Laurel Help

I have recently been gifted a few laurels, all around 4ft. I have had them planted around 3 weeks now and some of the leaves have started to wilt/yellow/brown. I have been careful not to overwater them but have made sure they have had enough water with the past few weeks of sun in the UK.

Could this be caused by a deficiency in the soil?

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

 

Those symptoms do look like dehydration to me. Plants of that size will need a lot of water for the root system to get established at this time of year. If there's not enough water the plants will shed leaves to compensate. A photo from further back would also help to see planting density and location. Preparing the ground well before planting is also important by incorporating lots of organic matter.

 

Hey, thanks for the reply.

Hopefully it is just a lack of water, I have read conflicting stories online about over-watering so was being careful. I have attached another image.

 

I assume they were in pots?
If so the rootball often dries out and becomes difficult to re wet.

Putting a hose at the base of each plant in turn, might help the water to actually reach the rootball often a trickle over a longer period of time is better than a heavy watering in one short time.

 

Hello, thanks for the reply

They have come from the ground not a pot and are around 18 months old. Dug up and re-planted within an hour.

 

Ah ok, they would have lost some roots then.
Probably not the best time of year to move them to be honest.

 

I thought this might have been the case, we had a really dry spell for a couple of weeks which probably didn’t help.

 

Unless you have poorly draining soil, you really can’t overwater newly planted laurels of that size at this time of year. Regardless of how carefully they are lifted they can still experience transplant shock, even though they are tough plants. Putting a thick mulch of organic matter on the soil surface will help to retain moisture. Good luck with them!

 

I'd cut those back to make it easier for establishing.
In wetter, cooler areas, you can easily move shrubs at this time of year, but at that size, it isn't easy because the top can't be properly supported by the root system. Anything that takes a good pruning is more straightforward though, simply because you can cut back without any problems to the plants themselves. Keep them watered

They also look very close to grass which can be a lot of competition for moisture, so just keep on top of the watering - right in at the base of each plant, until they show signs of recovery. By autumn it shoul dbe damp enough to lay off the water more easily.