Resuscitating box hedges

Hello
We recently moved into a new house. The house had been unoccupied for around a month, during the hot and dry spell, and the hedges are looking rather yellow (see pics).
Can anyone advise on what we should do to help, other than watering regularly? Should we apply any other product?
Any advice would be much appreciated!
Thank you
Oliver

 

Welcome to the forum!

I'm sure there will be someone here who can help you. I have never had dealings with a hedge although I do lkke the look of them

 

Welcome oliverk

I think your hedge has indeed suffered in the long hot dry summer. Could be a thing called box blight but drying out would be my guess. In either case the treatment is the same

If mine I would cut it back ....Do it by cutting a few inches off and then seeing if there is any sign of green wood. I would then leave it until the spring when new growth may well begin and then I would cut it to a few inches above ground. Apply a granular fertiliser, water and mulch (a mixture of mpc and dried manure or chicken pellets makes a good mulch)

 

Looks dead to me, however do as @Verdun says; there is a chance they could recover but don't get too hopeful.

 

I would brush off any dead leaves,clear them all up and then feed with some seaweed. Water once a week so the roots dont get sodden.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'll follow the advice and see what happens. Fingers crossed!

 

Have a look at the stems of the plants with brown leaves. If they're marked with black then it's serious and you should destroy it.



What you have I'm seeing right now all over SW England and in Holland and Belgium too. I believe it's a because the plant has been weakened by Box Caterpillar and maybe drought, though they have a reputation for being drought tolerant.

My advice is to do nothing till next spring and then see whether there's a recovery.

Even if there is some recovery you still may want to ditch it. Box has become very hard to grow recently because of the caterpillar.