Box Hedging

Last year I planted some box hedging for my mother who lives in Scotland. I don't often get up there but she told me today on the phone that it doesn't seem to be growing very much and the leaves have turned yellow. Any suggestions or solutions would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

Sounds to me like it needs a good feed.

And maybe suffering with lack of water? whats the soil like?

 

I don't know about the yellowing leaves, but box hedging is very slow growing anyway.

 

My box plants are quite yellow too - whats the best thing to feed them with? What is the best compost to use when repotting them?

Thanks

 

"What is the best compost to use when repotting them?"

I would tend towards a John Innes (soil based) compost, rather than Peat-equivalent based.

I was also put some long-term fertilizer granules in. I got some from Westland for my plants in tubs, and the urns, this year and the plants look much better than previous years - and I haven't fed them at all yet!

I tried some water retaining gel for the first time over the weekend. I just mixed it in with the compost at the recommended rate, and after planting everything watered well, and then found lots of expanded gel on the surface. I reckon it won't do nearly as well there as within the compost, so in future I'm only going to use the gel in the compost in the bottom 1/2 of the container.

If the plants are looking sickly I would move them to somewhere a bit shaded, and out of any wind, until they have recovered. I would feed with a general purpose feed (i..e the NPK rating should have similar numbers for all three components)

 

I would go for a higher nitrogen number as they are greens, although you can't go far wrong with growmore.....could try a foliar feed for a few weeks, see if they pick up on that:thumb:

Regarding John Innes I would agree with that completely.