Are laurel hedges much tougher than Portuguese Laurel

henke

Hi

Planted a Portuguese Laurel in summer 2017 and it's doing very poorly. A few plants have died and more look likely to go. It's very straggly and not filled out properly. The ground isn't great but looking around the neighborhood I do see a few laurel hedges which look healthy. I'm considering ripping out this hedge and planting a laurel this summer but wondering. Are they much hardier and easier to grow? In comparison to the Portuguese variant.

I put down Portugeuse Laurel about 18 months ago, they were about 4ft high when I planted them and they did well for the first year. But since last Summer they're not looking well at all. A lot of yellowing leaves with brown tips and black spots. They're putting out plenty of new growth but I'm wondering if that too will do badly as it opens out. Google says not to let ithe soil around it get too dry or too wet, and I don't think it's either. I watered it well during long dry spells and watered it today as April has been so dry but I'm careful that it's not waterlogged. I see it growing in other peoples' gardens with lovely dark green glossy leaves ...grrrr.
Like you I wonder should I have put in the ordinary Laurel.

henke

Yeah to add some of the plants that have died were going well a year later and then got it worse and worse. Hedge is very straggly. I am wondering how the laurel performs in comparison.

standardg60

I would guess that your plants were imported. They never really acclimatise to growing here.

If you're going to replace the hedge ensure the plants are Irish grown, either species should be fine then.

magicbastarder

would you consider something like beech or hornbeam, if the privacy aspect is important?

(i hate laurel)

standardg60

standardg60 wrote: »

I would guess that your plants were imported.

That never even occurred to me, I suppose it's a possibility.
The place I bought them (in pots) has fields surrounding it where they grow young nursery plants, but maybe they import plants as well.

magicbastarder

magicbastarder wrote: »

would you consider something like beech or hornbeam, if the privacy aspect is important?

(i hate laurel)

Beech and Hornbeam although lovely are a lot slower, I needed something to fill a gap where we took out a few leylandiis so I didn't want to waiting for years to get back my privacy.

standardg60

inthehat wrote: »

That never even occurred to me, I suppose it's a possibility.
The place I bought them (in pots) has fields surrounding it where they grow young nursery plants, but maybe they import plants as well.

Imported plants may not be relevant in your case.
If you post a pic i'll be able to advise further.

henke

I bought mine in a reputable large garden centre. They were in pots too. Would it be typical for them to be imported? I remember at the time we were advised they were as hardy as laurel with less maintenance needed? How tough is hornbeam in comparison to laurel?

If it grows well I would put up with it been slower as long as it fills out ok and looks relatively neat, even if the height takes a while.

aw

inthehat wrote: »

I put down Portugeuse Laurel about 18 months ago, they were about 4ft high when I planted them and they did well for the first year. But since last Summer they're not looking well at all. A lot of yellowing leaves with brown tips and black spots. They're putting out plenty of new growth but I'm wondering if that too will do badly as it opens out. Google says not to let ithe soil around it get too dry or too wet, and I don't think it's either. I watered it well during long dry spells and watered it today as April has been so dry but I'm careful that it's not waterlogged. I see it growing in other peoples' gardens with lovely dark green glossy leaves ...grrrr.
Like you I wonder should I have put in the ordinary Laurel.

Just wondering have you fed them?
Didn't see that mentioned.
A good feed this week might do them the world of good this season, resolve yellowing issues and green them up.

I gave them a good sprinkling of Growmore NPK 7.7.7. a few weeks ago.


https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=550545&stc=1&d=1618734838


Hope that pic opens...

looksee

My suggestion would be that it looks stressed. Why that would be is another matter.

Potted plants are not always the best solution in every situation. If the plants are pot bound - when you remove the pot the plant is a pot shaped mass of fine fibrous roots - then when you plant it the roots may not spread into the surrounding soil. Its more complex, imo, than planting bare root. The fibrous roots need to be broken apart - simply by tearing at the outside mat, some similar material, compost for example, put into the planting hole, the whole lot well watered in then covered over and firmed.

If you pick up a pot in the garden centre and there is a mass of fibrous roots coming out of the holes in the bottom, it has been in the pot too long. An odd main root is fine, it just indicates its time to move it out of the pot.

When the roots will not leave the root ball then there is a good chance it will not make a good plant. If a very sickly or dead plant is dug up you can often see that the root ball is still intact and the roots have not ventured out. The same happens with those dratted tiny fibre pots, especially pelargonums, you can pick the plant out of the pot and just the little fibre pot comes out, the root system has never got beyond it.

This may not be the problem with your plants but I am throwing it out there just as my opinion.

Thanks Looksee....if that's the case I suppose there is not a lot I can do at this stage. They weren't potbound when I bought them (I did check) but in hindsight I don't remember teasing out the roots. They were quite heavy and I remember just concentrating on getting them into the ground without disturbing them too much. I'll continue to water and occasionally feed them, see how they look in the Autumn and decide then if there's any point in sticking with them.

henke

My plants were just the same and some are similar and some have deteriorated worse. Any thoughts on how laurel / hornbeam compare? I think a lot of my current ones are beyond correction.

looksee

My son grew an Elaeagnus hedge on a very exposed seaside site, mainly as a shelter. It has made a beautiful hedge, evergreen, well clothed, very attractive to flying insects, clips well and is excellent in all respects. They did put up a windproofing fabric on a fairly sturdy fence initially till it got going, but it has made a magnificent hedge in about 3 to 4 years.

standardg60

inthehat wrote: »

I gave them a good sprinkling of Growmore NPK 7.7.7. a few weeks ago.


https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=550545&stc=1&d=1618734838


Hope that pic opens...

That doesn't look too bad to me to be honest.
The only thing i would do at the moment is clip them into a cone shape to encourage dense growth.
I'd say they'll look a lot better come summer.

standardg60

standardg60 wrote: »

That doesn't look too bad to me to be honest.
The only thing i would do at the moment is clip them into a cone shape to encourage dense growth.
I'd say they'll look a lot better come summer.

Good to hear that....I'll give them a trim and hope for the best.

Thanks everyone for your advice.

happyplants

I had portugese laurel planted professionally in a 30 foot hedge in 2017. I was very unimpressed for a long-time. Some of them took like wild-fire and several other died off and several were weedy. After some learning and so on, I came to the view that the dying ones were just planted way too deep and when I dug them up, you could see just how deep they had gone in compared to the thriving.

However, my ones that went south looked way worse than your pic. Like, I'm talking full yellow to bare branch.

The turning point really was carefully taking off about 2 inches of soil and replacing it with a mix of better soil and organic matter. The reason I took it off first was that I didn't want to raise the area. I replaced a few and planted them quite proud. I cut everything down about 25%, even the newly planted ones.

I tend to prune again late in the summer which seems to encourage the blossom.

The whole thing is flourishing now, but its been *constant* maintenance and a landscaper mentioned to me that he was seeing lot of them yellowing around the place.

Against that, a developer beside me has just planted a long laurel hedge and it looks like its dying already!

Breakingbad123

Hedge doesn't look too bad to me .any brown ones will fall off and new growth will replace.give it time would be my first reaction.i have around 200 of them in my garden that started out the same.sn insecticide spray on the leaves wouldn't go amiss but I'd say leave it a year or two.

Are they planted too close together or too close to a wall or fence? Do you have cats or dogs urinating on them?

Mine are doing really well. I feed the base of the plant with chicken manure pellets twice a year and give it a liquid seaweed feed regularly during the growing season. Wait until late May or early June to cut back a good chunk of the new growth and it will help it thicken and get much stronger.

inthehat

inthehat wrote: »

Good to hear that....I'll give them a trim and hope for the best.

Thanks everyone for your advice.

In my experience, you are better waiting for at least another month before cutting them back. Late May or early June.

standardg60

Deleted User wrote: »

In my experience, you are better waiting for at least another month before cutting them back. Late May or early June.

What experience is that?
Now is the time for formative pruning.

standardg60

standardg60 wrote: »

What experience is that?
Now is the time for formative pruning.

I've grown a Portuguese Laurel Hedge for the last five years and have found by far the best time to prune them is in late May or early June before flowering.

happyplants

standardg60 wrote: »

What experience is that?
Now is the time for formative pruning.

I'd always understood later for these. Once the juvenille growth of the season establishes. Like, mine right are now are full of new establishing growth. I don't think it would assist to cut them off right now in their process.


Anyway, to each their own.



Hylands nursery website has;

"Once the Portuguese laurel hedge is established you can trim it once a year around mid to late summer."

And I remember, I'll link it here, the Monty Don piece about these

"And, if you do not prune it until after midsummer, it develops flowers that have a strangely accidental quality somewhere between bunting and fluff. Their scent hints at the laurel's ancestry, because they have a hint of hawthorn, to which they are rather incredibly a cousin, both being members of the rose family."

standardg60

happyplants wrote: »

I'd always understood later for these. Once the juvenille growth of the season establishes. Like, mine right are now are full of new establishing growth. I don't think it would assist to cut them off right now in their process.


Anyway, to each their own.



Hylands nursery website has;

"Once the Portuguese laurel hedge is established you can trim it once a year around mid to late summer."

And I remember, I'll link it here, the Monty Don piece about these

"And, if you do not prune it until after midsummer, it develops flowers that have a strangely accidental quality somewhere between bunting and fluff. Their scent hints at the laurel's ancestry, because they have a hint of hawthorn, to which they are rather incredibly a cousin, both being members of the rose family."

It's not established!

standardg60

standardg60 wrote: »

It's not established!

I've tried both and the later pruning worked far better for me. Might be worth a shot for the OP if he's having issues.

Later pruning recommended by my local nursery and the professional gardener who put them in for me and loads of resources online. It responds very well to a hard prune and I find it far too early to do that now with frost still around.

Anyway, it's hardly worth getting excited about.

henke

Hi, op here. I'll post up some pics of mine tomorrow. As I said I planted mine in 2017. I replaced two with 4 foot plants last year and they too now are struggling. I did take a layer of soil off last year and put down a mix of compost and farmyard manure.

standardg60

Deleted User wrote: »

I've tried both and the later pruning worked far better for me. Might be worth a shot for the OP if he's having issues.

Later pruning recommended by my local nursery and the professional gardener who put them in for me and loads of resources online. It responds very well to a hard prune and I find it far too early to do that now with frost still around.

Anyway, it's hardly worth getting excited about.

Again, i was responding directly to the poster. Do you have a protective boundary wall surrounding your plants?
With plants it's not feasible to apply a 'one fits all' approach, what works for you doesn't work for all.
As an example the other recent poster has an established lusitanica hedge (pics posted in another thread) whom i wouldn't have given the same advice to at all, but were happy to advise based on Dr. Google.
I gave my advice based on personal experience of the actual pic posted, if the poster chooses to ignore it that's fine, but others wading in based on different experiences/internet searches annoys me.

standardg60

henke wrote: »

Hi, op here. I'll post up some pics of mine tomorrow. As I said I planted mine in 2017. I replaced two with 4 foot plants last year and they too now are struggling. I did take a layer of soil off last year and put down a mix of compost and farmyard manure.

Be happy to take a look.

happyplants

standardg60 wrote: »

It's not established!

Good point! Appreciate your annoyance, but getting past that at least this thread now is an established resource making your point and making it well! A real Hegelian dialectic in action.


I suppose I'd fallen into the error of just trying to back up the general posts about later pruning, but of course I missed the major point.


Sorry you got annoyed.



HP

I'm appreciative of all the advice here, I know opinions will vary but I'll take your suggestions on board and I'll update here in a month or two, hopefully with photos of a thriving hedge!