New Laurel hedge in trouble

enfant terrible

Hi guys,

Planted a laurel hedge last September and have noticed a lot of the leaves on most trees have holes and are brown in colour.

Found a few snails on the trees, are these guys the problem?

Added photos below to show what i'm talking about.

Thanks

_Brian

A lot of evergreen hedges had a hard time with the hard cold wind, out neighbor has an established laurel and it’s much worse than that as it’s exposed.
Yours should be fine, I don’t think the slugs are a problem for the laurels but maybe I’m wrong on that.

I see freshly cut grass there, how are you cutting round the hedge plants ?, carefully ?, and definitely not with a strimmer as it will strip the bark and kill them.

If you can clear the earth round the plants to stop the grass competing with them, then feed them with 10-10-20 or similar balanced fertiliser, not too much Nitrogen with P&k for leaf and root strength.

enfant terrible

_Brian wrote: »

A lot of evergreen hedges had a hard time with the hard cold wind, out neighbor has an established laurel and it’s much worse than that as it’s exposed.
Yours should be fine, I don’t think the slugs are a problem for the laurels but maybe I’m wrong on that.

I see freshly cut grass there, how are you cutting round the hedge plants ?, carefully ?, and definitely not with a strimmer as it will strip the bark and kill them.

If you can clear the earth round the plants to stop the grass competing with them, then feed them with 10-10-20 or similar balanced fertiliser, not too much Nitrogen with P&k for leaf and root strength.

Cheers Brian,

Yes i used a strimmer's, hopefully i didn't kill any of them.

Should i dig up the ground the clear the earth around the plants?

Relief to know the holes and brown colour means their not dying.

_Brian

Check the bark round where you strimmed, tue strimmer will peel the bark back and if you loose enough the plant can’t feed.
Don’t dig round the plants, just pull back the grass, you could mulch with some compost to help them.
Don’t spray either or do so really carefully.

Samuel T. Cogley

L:ook fine to me, just keep them well watered come the better weather (if it ever comes). Mine went really bad and rebounded well.

Drifter50

I have a massive problem with mine, they just won`t thrive. Seems they don`t like very wet or boggy ground, I`m thinking of throwing in the towel and trying a beech hedge. I feel your pain though

_Brian

Beech hates wet soils too, it will sulk just as badly.

Hornbeam looks 90% like beech but does very well on poor soils.

enfant terrible

_Brian wrote: »

Check the bark round where you strimmed, tue strimmer will peel the bark back and if you loose enough the plant can’t feed.
Don’t dig round the plants, just pull back the grass, you could mulch with some compost to help them.
Don’t spray either or do so really carefully.

Probably a stupid question but what would I use to pull back the grass?

_Brian

enfant terrible wrote: »

Probably a stupid question but what would I use to pull back the grass?

Follow either arm right down to the end and you’ll find great tools there.

Seriously, just stick on a pair of gloves and rip it back, easier to avoid damage.

enfant terrible

_Brian wrote: »

Follow either arm right down to the end and you’ll find great tools there.

Seriously, just stick on a pair of gloves and rip it back, easier to avoid damage.

Thanks Brian,

Will do that

One last question should i cut the hedge now to promote growth, have read different opinions online, how much to cut?

feedthegoat

Half my laurel hedge is as the opening post , the second half is glossy green and 6 inches higher! Have thrown down a bit of 10:10:20, hope it does the job