Laurel hedge

We planted a laurel hedge against an east-facing fence three years ago and it has generally done well. Suddenly, though, (well, over the past six weeks or so) leaves have started to turn yellow and die. They don't seem to be on one particular plant: it appears to be haphazard. I attach a couple of photos (just having cleared up the latest drop and filled a Sainsbury's jute bag...Any advice or suggestions would be really appreciated. I would add that its aspect means it doesn't get lot of sun, being in the south west corner of the house (i.e. north east-facing). My other half and I are at constant loggerheads over pruning: he will only snip a tiny couple of inches off the tips whereas I favour much more radical pruning because I want to get a nice thick hedge. He can't see the logic in letting it grow 12 inches and then cutting back six of them. I gave it a really good prune in July. I'm afraid that I might have been the cause of the leaf die and drop; and I'll never live that down if it's all my fault... Many thanks.

 

Are these current piccies? All looks pretty healthy to me. Are the leaves dropping from near the base of the plants? Any sign of disease, fungus or insects attached to them?
Some else will be along soon to take a look. We have some pretty good hedge experts on GC,
Jenny

 

Hi Andrew...i haven't got a laurel hedge just a solitary bush and a couple of weeks back noticed the very same thing....it hasn't been 'pruned'....since then we've had lots of rain here and now it's looking good again...well there is a couple of yellow leaves but nothing like it was....i'm guessing a water 'thing'....hang about a see if anyone else has had the same problem

 

Hello, Jenny. yes, they were taken about ten minutes before uploading them today. Yes, it does look healthy: there is a lot of new growth from where I pruned it but leaves are just turning yellow and dying. Many thanks for your really quick response.

Kind regards.



Andrew

 

Looks fine to me. Might need water if your area has generally been wet this year (it has here in East Anglia!) but has been relatively dry for the last month.

Have you been watering it? How much rain have you had? (Putting a location in your Profile would help checking local amateur weather stations near you on wunderground.com would make it easy to see how much rainfall there has been in your area)

Re: pruning a young hedge: I "nip out" anything that grows a bit past a line that I imagine to be the final edge of the hedge; for the top I would let it get at least a foot past the final height, then cut it back to 6" below final height, and then (probably the following year) start trimming it at final height.

For the width I start off with my imaginary line a foot, or so, narrower than final width so that I start nipping out, and forcing the plant to branch, a bit before it gets to the full width, and then over the following year or two I move my imaginary line towards the actual final width.

 

Dear Kristen

What a good idea! We're in Bristol and it's been wet, wet ,wet. The soil is very moist where the bushes are.

Many thanks for the tips.

Kind regards.



Andrew