Why are my laurels dying?

[gardeningloser]

Hello,

I took advice on hardy and fast growing hedging from here and recently bought 12 bare root 1m Laurel bushes which were sent to me online.

They were planted about 8 weeks ago. Looked healthy when they arrived. They've been Miracle Grow'd several times, watered frequently (at least 4/5 times a week). They're planted in shade mostly but her a little bit of sun.

They're dying! One the leaves have gone all dry and brown but the stems are still green so hoping it's not totally dead. Others have yellow leaves, brown leaves, look really droopy etc.

What have I done to them? I thought they were supposed to be pretty much unkillable! Can I save them?

Pics attached. Some healthy, some very much not!!

Thank you, more experienced gardeners from an almost total novice!

Stupid app won't let me upload any more pics for some reason, I will later if I can. That's the worst one!

Blimey. Laurel are pretty bombproof generally. Were they bare root or potted? If bare root did you soak them before they went in? If potted did they look well rooted in the pots? How did you plant them? What in and how deep?

Hold off on the miracle grow (how are you applying that?), and I know it's been dry but a couple of really good soaks a week should be more than enough.

It may be that they are just sulking after their move - if they had their roots cut at some stage then they won't be able to support their leaves and will ditch them but will grow them back later on.

More photos will help. It may be that all they want is to be cut back a bit to take the stress off them; they can get their roots down this autumn winter and leap back into life later on.

Not sure but the most common problem is over watering. 4/5 times a week is a lot. Cut to 2/3 max. Also, fertilising several times in 8 weeks seems like a lot. Too much fertiliser can burn the roots. Not suggesting this is what's happening here but worth considering all possibilities.

I wish mine would. Our estate was built on what was once the garden of a large Victorian house, hence laurels in abundance. They do their best to take over my garden.

If you do end up replacing them I would put a bit more distance between the plant & fence the stems on laurels can get quite thick.

What is the quality of the soil you put them in ? Did you dig in plenty of organic matter / mix with compost etc ? If they plants were root bound did you loosen them up a bit ?

Argh every time I try to post another photo the post fails. That's the worst one, but I have yellowing/ brown leaves on others too. They're looking very sorry for themselves!

They were bare roots, I didn't soak them first but I did fill the hole with water before I plonked them in and filled the holes. I've no idea about the quality of the soil generally, it's just my garden mud, with a bit of Aldi multi purpose compost mixed in with what I put back to fill the hole. It's quite clay-y around here.

The miracle grow I have been mixing with water in the watering can.

I wonder if you are killing them witb kindness OP?

Roots need oxygen as much as water.
Nothing needs feeding that much apart from perhaps tomatoes once they are in full fruit.

Laurels have really strong leaves that means they don't need much watering.

I'd be tempted to leave them be. Cut off the dead leaves and shorten stems a bit. Only water if they get properly dry and allow them to have time to breathe in between.

If the soil is really clay and claggy, they may effectively be sitting in a bowl of water at the moment, which you keep topping up, and unless they are bog plants no plants like that.

I am no expert but have planted a couple of hedges recently. I don’t think I’ve seen laurel available as bare root so wonder if they don’t do as well. Also it’s the wrong time for bare root now as they are growing not dormant.

The instructions we followed specifically said no fertiliser but mix in plenty of well rotted manure or compost, bone meal and use root grow.

Can you go back to the place you bought them from with photos?

Also is that one plant or five cuttings in one hole?

I'd spread them out with at least 40cm between. Laurels grow big.

If it's a goner, you could try New Zealand privet.
We had this planted all round our first house which was a new build and I thought it was lovely because it was a much lighter apple green and the leaves are really glossy. It seemed really bombproof and grew really well. But I would be tempted to go to garden centre and buy some establish plants even though it'll be a bit more expensive.

Website just for the picture -

www.hedgesdirect.co.uk/acatalog/griselinia_littoralis.html

Last year I bought a "bargain" set of 5 clematis for £30 online and basically they have all been eaten by slugs or died because they were just too small. I wish I had spent £30 on one, more established clematis from a decent garden centre last year, and then bought another one this year. Rather than five titchy ones!

Another really great plant for covering a fence is a Clematis Montana, which grows really fast and has lovely white star shaped flowers at this time of year. It will take a year to establish but then it will probably live up to its common name of "mile a minute" clematis!

See if this works…

And the rest! Photos work on the website, but not on the app apparently! Eyeroll.

Ugh, now on the app whenever I view the thread since I uploaded the photos it crashes the whole app. Bloody useless. Anyway, those are my horrible dying laurels! They look dire don’t they!

They’re individual plants @CorsicaDreaming

We have a laurel hedge 8ft high in full sun - it loves it. The hedge then tapers off height wise and it goes into a more shadey area and it's only 4ft high and brown and very spindly like yours. This is an established hedge though, but from having it, I know that it doesn't like shade and thrives much better in full sun. The ground is also very wet in the shade too which it obviously doesn't like either.

So it could well be the position of yours which is causing its issue

Oh flaming heck really @Furball ? I read that truce thrive pretty much anywhere. Facepalm.

It is a bit late in the year for bare root plants, and the general advice is soak them before planting, but my feeling is as above - they'll be fine once they get settled in. Less water, no feed, any branches that are obviously dead in a couple of months just cut right off.

FWIW the neighbours opposite razed their 8' huge thick laurels back to stumps when they rebuilt the retaining wall a few years back, and now they are once again 8' tall and huge and thick.

@gardeningloser - have a read of this here - it says :-

If your soil is poorly drained and becomes waterlogged during wet weather – then Laurels aren’t the best plant for you, they are unlikely to grow successfully in these conditions

www.hopesgrovenurseries.co.uk/knowledge-base/what-type-of-site-and-soil-is-suitable-for-laurel-hedges/

So it doesn't like waterlogged ground which yours could be if you are watering alot. - and confirms my experience of it, I thought it was the shade, but the ground is very wet because of it and hence it's problem.

If it doesn't recover, depending on where you got it from, some offer a refund if the plant is unsuccessful.

l also brought some bare root laurel hedging, the leaves have since changed colour and are dropping off, but l read its usual for the leaves to moult on the bare rooted stock, apparently they should regrow.
I noticed this hasn't happened with the laurel shrubs l brought as root ball, a few weeks earlier.
They are looking much healthier.

Thank you for posting this, looks exactly like our hedge, also bareroot planted a few months ago. No mention about soaking the roots before planting on their website, maybe I should have just known.

Can someone explain how overwatering dries them out ?

I was going to say too much shade as well. Our neighbours gave a laurel hedge around their front drive. The bushes closest to the house (north facing and gets max 3 hours sun a day) are very spindly and dead-looking.

Stop feeding them. As another pp says, you are killing them with kindness. Plants can't use that much fertiliser until they are established and have a good root system.

Did the laurels ever come back to life? I’m having a similar issue with mine? @gardeningloser