Buxus Still not growing in some areas - Rennie Bottali

Ok We planted a structured victorian garden at the front of our house just over 4 years ago. We used a Buxus which when we purchased was about 8 inches tall. In the main part of the garden it has grown to 18 inches and we are now nearly ready to prune into a hedge. Our problem is where is is planted along the edge of the driveways and paths. In this area it is only has grown about three inches and is brown and green also the plants have not grown in width so it looks like we could put another plant in between to fill the gap.

Any help on this would be great.

Kind Regards

Rennie Bottali

 

Sorry i can't help with a solution but i'll be interested to know also..My buxus 'hedge' looks a bit of a mess...some have grown and some are still small...all the plants look healthy enough and i fed them and gave them a sea weed spray but still not growing

 

How long have you had your. I know they are slow growers but ours has been 4 years which I thought would have been ample time. Also I thought they were meant to be quite hardy... Hopefully someone has gone a view on this.

Kind Regards

Rennie Bottali

 

To me it sounds like a combination of poor soil and sun scorch. Does it get hot at the front ?
All of my Box have done a lot better in semi shade area's. In full sun and when the soil dry's out, it caused this problem.
I have found keeping them well watered in hot dry times help.

regards
G

 

We have had a lot of rain but a few months ago it we had a long dry spell and this is when they started to go brown. I was waiting to see ( as it has been raining nearly every day ) to see if they start to go green.

Also i can see some of the roots so I think they may have been planted to high out of the ground.

They never seem to stay green but go from brown to light green.

Again it could be our soil as it s a fairly new house.

To answer your original question yes they are in direct sunlight as along the edge of the path at the front.

Kind Regards

Rennie Bottali

 

When i planted my Box, in the dryer sunnier areas they went brown. Not dying and still growing although much slower. I put in a water sprinkler hose now on that side so they get a drink in the summer without to much effort my me. They all greened up this spring with loads of new growth.
I would have them up, keeping as much of the root as possible, re plant with decent top soil and compost mix. Add BF&B aswell. This will give them a boost. Every year mulch them also with new compost.

G

 

Hi Lolimac,
From what i can tell, Buxus are very shallow rooters. When they dry out, they havnt got the roots to go deep to get water. When planting, a good compost in decent soil is must as its this that holds onto the water.
When its dry thet things struggle, and go into sleep mode and do not grow much this coupled with sun causes the browness.
Lots of water at night and the sea weed mix sounds great

 

Ok this does seem like the issue. They were planted in basically new build soil so I think
a replant is in order with some compost. I still think they are planted to far apart as it looks like you could get another plan in between but I did not want to over plant as well.

Kind Regards

Rennie Bottali

 

I think you've got it Rennie ,think thats what my problem is too...compost poor...
Sorry if i appeared to hijack your post
Try a seaweed foliar feed to

 

No problem I have had some great information. I will get some on the trip to the garden centre at the weekend.

Kind Regards

Rennie Bottali

 

Hi bit of an update and question at the same time. The buxus has grown about 30 percent taller in some areas and has not grown in height in 4 years in other. Was going to cut into a boc this year but need to find s remedy to even out the growth.

Any thoughts would be welcome

Rennie Bottali

 

i've a small box hedge i bought about 4 year ago, planted it in a pot straight away & trimmed it into a nice circular shape, its lovely & healthy but it hasn't grown a cm since! which is just great tbh as i havn't had to trim it again

 

Give them a foliar feed and they will soon grow. Seaweed i found best.

G