What's wrong with Portuguese laurel hedge

henke

http://imgur.com/a/z20TdAn

Planted two years ago. I know the ground is not great and the soil is probably not the best. Any idea what is up with plant and why the spot of dead leaves? Is the plant dying? Anything I can do to help the hedge?

Thanks.

celticbhoy27

henke wrote: »

http://imgur.com/a/z20TdAn

Planted two years ago. I know the ground is not great and the soil is probably not the best. Any idea what is up with plant and why the spot of dead leaves? Is the plant dying? Anything I can do to help the hedge?

Thanks.

It's in decent shape for the conditions it's in. There's far too much competition from weeds and grass for nutrients. Clear out all the crap from the base of the hedge and it'll be fine. Give it a feed next spring and it'll bounce right back

henke

celticbhoy27 wrote: »

It's in decent shape for the conditions it's in. There's far too much competition from weeds and grass for nutrients. Clear out all the crap from the base of the hedge and it'll be fine. Give it a feed next spring and it'll bounce right back

Good to know. Thanks. Yeah I have been regularly clearing grass and weeds and will do now next dry day I get. With hindsight I probably should have used mulch when planting.

staples7

henke wrote: »

Good to know. Thanks. Yeah I have been regularly clearing grass and weeds and will do now next dry day I get. With hindsight I probably should have used mulch when planting.

I have a similar size Portuguese laurel hedge. I’ve seen this from time to time where all leaves in one spot go black and fall off and I bet it’s a cracked branch of you look carefully?

looksee

As well as clearing the weeds, cut out the dead stuff - go back to healthy wood. Then - I don't know about Portugese Laurel, I have never grown a hedge of it - but my gut feeling would be to start shaping it or you will end up with a very straggly hedge. Otherwise it looks fairly ok.

henke

looksee wrote: »

As well as clearing the weeds, cut out the dead stuff - go back to healthy wood. Then - I don't know about Portugese Laurel, I have never grown a hedge of it - but my gut feeling would be to start shaping it or you will end up with a very straggly hedge. Otherwise it looks fairly ok.

Ok will do. Thanks. Any advice on shaping it? Should I cut the top so it fills out? Don't know if it's correct but does cutting the main stem inhibit growing upwards.

earlytobed

I have a Portuguese Laurel hedge, its about 6 years down now.
To shape it, i trimmed the sides a bit to keep it the desired width as it grew and started trimming the top when it reached the height I wanted. Its grand now.

Lumen

The theory of pruning is that tip growth generates an enzyme that holds back side stem growth.

This means that if you prune the tip of a branch, that branch will get more branchy, i.e. bushier.

So side pruning thickens the side, and top pruning....well that's where I get confused. Several sources say to let the leader grow until you reach final desired height, then keep it pruned so that the top part will fill out.

I think the reason this works at the top but not further down is that plants tend to get thin at the bottom, where there's less sunlight. Why would it bother putting out branches and leaves in the shade? This is also why you're supposed to maintain a batter on a hedge, to let the light hit the lower foliage.

magicbastarder

Lumen wrote: »

The theory of pruning is that tip growth generates an enzyme that holds back side stem growth.

there's a book called 'seed to seed' by a chap called nicholas harberd - well worth a read on this and other aspects of plant growth (such as how plants know which way is up, etc.) not sure if it's still in print though.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/mar/25/featuresreviews.guardianreview6

henke

earlytobed wrote: »

I have a Portuguese Laurel hedge, its about 6 years down now.
To shape it, i trimmed the sides a bit to keep it the desired width as it grew and started trimming the top when it reached the height I wanted. Its grand now.

Lumen wrote: »

The theory of pruning is that tip growth generates an enzyme that holds back side stem growth.

This means that if you prune the tip of a branch, that branch will get more branchy, i.e. bushier.

So side pruning thickens the side, and top pruning....well that's where I get confused. Several sources say to let the leader grow until you reach final desired height, then keep it pruned so that the top part will fill out.

I think the reason this works at the top but not further down is that plants tend to get thin at the bottom, where there's less sunlight. Why would it bother putting out branches and leaves in the shade? This is also why you're supposed to maintain a batter on a hedge, to let the light hit the lower foliage.

Mine is not close to desired height nor near its width yet so I take it from this to trim some branches on the sided and let the main stem in the centre as is and carry on up.

Lumen

henke wrote: »

Mine is not close to desired height nor near its width yet so I take it from this to trim some branches on the sided and let the main stem in the centre as is and carry on up.

I'm not actually sure there's a problem to be solved here, pruning-wise. The plants are fairly close together so will have no problem closing up and don't look "leggy" or "straggly" to me. There's decent density down to ground level.