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Portuguese laurel leaves going brown

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  • 04-06-2020 11:31pm
    #1
    JOHN.DREW1983
    Registered Users Posts: 10 ✭


    I planted 15 mature Portuguese laurel last year and have been feeding them since May. There has been good leave growth on most of them but there seems to be a lot of brown coming on the leaves recently.
    Does anyone know what is causing this? I have watered regularly through the recent dry weeks
    Regards,
    John


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    #2
    Stephen93
    Registered Users Posts: 22 ✭Stephen93


    JOHN.DREW1983 wrote: »
    I planted 15 mature Portuguese laurel last year and have been feeding them since May. There has been good leave growth on most of them but there seems to be a lot of brown coming on the leaves recently.
    Does anyone know what is causing this? I have watered regularly through the recent dry weeks
    Regards,
    John

    Hi John,

    You got any pictures of them or the area around them?


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    #3
    JOHN.DREW1983
    Registered Users Posts: 10 ✭JOHN.DREW1983


    Stephen93 wrote: »
    Hi John,

    You got any pictures of them or the area around them?

    See attached thanks


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    #4
    JOHN.DREW1983
    Registered Users Posts: 10 ✭JOHN.DREW1983


    Stephen93 wrote: »
    Hi John,

    You got any pictures of them or the area around them?

    Ok see attached


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    #5
    Stephen93
    Registered Users Posts: 22 ✭Stephen93


    JOHN.DREW1983 wrote: »
    Ok see attached

    Can you take a picture of the whole shrub incl. The area around the base of the shrub.

    Cheers John


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    #6
    JOHN.DREW1983
    Registered Users Posts: 10 ✭JOHN.DREW1983


    Stephen93 wrote: »
    Can you take a picture of the whole shrub incl. The area around the base of the shrub.

    Cheers John

    Thanks


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    #7
    JOHN.DREW1983
    Registered Users Posts: 10 ✭JOHN.DREW1983


    Stephen93 wrote: »
    Can you take a picture of the whole shrub incl. The area around the base of the shrub.

    Cheers John

    See attached


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    #8
    macraignil
    Registered Users Posts: 3,377 ✭✭✭macraignil


    The leaf damage looks to me just like a touch of frost and we had a bad enough frost here in mid May.

    Not sure about the way the laurels are tied to the support stakes. It looks like at least one of these is cutting into the stem and I would check that this is not the case with all of them. There are specific rubber tree ties that do a better job of fixing trees to support stakes without damaging the bark and old tights can be used as well without cutting into the bark.

    Also if you are keeping them as trees you will need to remove the growth that is sprouting out lower down on the stems. I can't see clearly in the photo how deeply they are planted but there looks like there is a line visible near the base of some of them and this may mean they are not planted deeply enough. Make sure there are no roots showing and maybe give them a mulch as well once the ground is wet. Not sure what you mean by feeding them but watering the leaves in full sun can also cause burning on the leaves. I think it can be better for trees to not feed them and let them send their roots further to find the nutrients they need as this will help them anchor in the ground more quickly so you can remove the stakes without them falling over.


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    #9
    Stephen93
    Registered Users Posts: 22 ✭Stephen93


    John,

    Looking at the pictures there they do look in a bad way.

    Did you buy them potted or rootball and what time of year did you buy/plant?

    Judging by them without being at the site,

    .Could be planted too deep

    .Dried out at some stage

    .Soil too wet (heavy soil)

    If I were you I'd check they are not planted too deep. Soil should not be higher on the stem than it was in the pot/rootball when you bought it.

    As someone else said they may have been damaged by frost although the amount of leaf loss is substantial and looks like they suffering anyway.

    Let us know if we can help more


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    #10
    JOHN.DREW1983
    Registered Users Posts: 10 ✭JOHN.DREW1983


    macraignil wrote: »
    The leaf damage looks to me just like a touch of frost and we had a bad enough frost here in mid May.

    Not sure about the way the laurels are tied to the support stakes. It looks like at least one of these is cutting into the stem and I would check that this is not the case with all of them. There are specific rubber tree ties that do a better job of fixing trees to support stakes without damaging the bark and old tights can be used as well without cutting into the bark.

    Also if you are keeping them as trees you will need to remove the growth that is sprouting out lower down on the stems. I can't see clearly in the photo how deeply they are planted but there looks like there is a line visible near the base of some of them and this may mean they are not planted deeply enough. Make sure there are no roots showing and maybe give them a mulch as well once the ground is wet. Not sure what you mean by feeding them but watering the leaves in full sun can also cause burning on the leaves. I think it can be better for trees to not feed them and let them send their roots further to find the nutrients they need as this will help them anchor in the ground more quickly so you can remove the stakes without them falling over.

    Thats good advice, I will get on it. thanks for your help


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    #11
    Pulse1975
    Registered Users Posts: 22 ✭Pulse1975


    Hi,
    I live in a housing estate with a lot of portuguese laurel hedges. After the bad winds end of May, all the tip of the portuguese laurel leaf went brown like that. So its just wind burn imo.


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