Portugese laurel yellow leaves black spots

Car99

Hi All ,

I planted about 200 portugese laurel in Sept 2018 . They're doing ok but this year on about 90% of the plants the leaves have started to yellow a bit on the lower half of each plant and have some black spots damage on them see pic. The 10% that are doing really well are more sheltered than the 90% that seem to be struggling a bit. The upper half of every plant is dark green and has new growth.
This week I,ve thoroughly weeded around the plants and given them a feed with miracle grow. I would like to give them a slow release fertilizer this week(any suggestions on what type) .
Also if anyone has any info on what the black spots maybe and how to treat that would be good. Any other helpful suggestions also appreciated.

Samuel T. Cogley

Either too much or more probably not enough water.

Car99

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

Either too much or more probably not enough water.

Thanks for the reply. I was thinking that but it's been a wet winter could they really be short of water , our soil isnt very free draining. They only started to get yellow in the last three months so I guess it could be too much water.

Regie93

Widespread yellowing is not good. You should check the watering schedule first. And get rid of old/weakened leaves.
About soil, feed it with high nitrogen liquid fertilizer or poultry manure pellets.

Car99

Regie93 wrote: »

Widespread yellowing is not good. You should check the watering schedule first. And get rid of old/weakened leaves.
About soil, feed it with high nitrogen liquid fertilizer or poultry manure pellets.

Hi, thanks for the reply. I got the poultry manure how much should I use per plant , i have got 200 of them in a row 18" apart would a mug per plant be enough?
As for watering schedule I never water them until the summer and that's only after an prolonged dry spell. What sort of water schedule should I have to help them along?

standardg60

It's nothing to do with feeding or watering.
They are bare at the bottom because grass grew up blocking light, you need to keep them clear of any other growth.
It's also important to trim them to a triangular shape, narrower at the top than the bottom, otherwise the bottom will always de-leaf due to lack of light.

Car99

standardg60 wrote: »

It's nothing to do with feeding or watering.
They are bare at the bottom because grass grew up blocking light, you need to keep them clear of any other growth.
It's also important to trim them to a triangular shape, narrower at the top than the bottom, otherwise the bottom will always de-leaf due to lack of light.

That makes sense , I pulled alot of grass and weeds out of them last week. Cheers.