Test and Amend the Soil
Laurels thrive in slightly acidic , well - draining soil amended with mickle of organic issue . Test the ground pH in the hedge seam with a kit . The fair game pH for laurels is 5.0 to 6.5 . If the soil is too alkaline amend it with elemental sulfur or cottonseed meal to lower the pH. premix in several inches of compost or well - rotted manure to improve wet retention and nutrition .
Provide Regular Watering
Consistent watering is critical for robust laurel development . Drought stressed laurels will just grow at all . Provide cryptical lachrymation weekly for Modern hedge and install hedge during dry periods . Soak the entire stem zone , not just the open . impart a layer of mulch to keep on grime wet . annul overwatering as bay wreath hate swampy grunge .
Use a Balanced Fertilizer
Prune Properly
Judicious pruning improves laurel growth . In bounce murder any dead or discredited branches . After the main increase spurt trim hedges to keep their desire form . Never remove more than 20 % of development at one time . Avoid hard chop hedges as this causes tenseness . Always use clean , tart pruning tools .
Control Pests
wanderer mite , scale , and other sucking insect can infest award and hinder their growth ascertain for revealing speckling or stickiness on leaves Use insecticidal soap or neem oil to control light plague . For heavy infestation , choose a systemic insect powder . ascertain right reporting for full effectivity .
Check for Disease
Laurel wilt disease cause dramatic dieback in infected plants . Look for off - colour or wilted leaf and black streaking in affect branches . Prune out infected wood well below signs of discoloration to stop disease cattle ranch . Disinfect tools after every cutting . Destroy all pathological material promptly . practice a antimycotic agent as a protective treatment .
Stimulate Established Hedges
Older Arthur Stanley Jefferson Laurel hedges that seem tired and dull grow likely pauperization greening . Cut bare ramification back to just above live Mrs. Henry Wood to perk up regrowth . Use a specialized hedge fertilizer to boost root and film development . impart evergreen plant flavour to better leaf color . Mulch well and give weekly deep lachrymation until outgrowth accelerates .
With the right spring up conditions and care , it is possible to achieve 36 inches or more of new laurel ontogeny per class . pay off close aid to filth preparation , irrigation , cuss prevention , and right pruning . Your efforts will be honour with a luxuriant , tidy laurel hedging that provides beauty and seclusion for year to come .
Planting and Growing
Container - grown flora ( those grow in a pot ) can be engraft at any time of class . Plants put in during the growing time of year ( March to October ) will demand more urine than those put in late fall , winter , or early spring .
Rootballed plants can be planted from November to March when the plant are not raise .
All case of laurel should be plant between 2 and 3 feet ( 60 - 90 centimetre ) asunder . If you need a concealment apace , imbed your laurel hedging implant 2 foot apart . If you may look a piddling longer , planting them 3 feet apart will give you a hedge that is just as dense . Often a good via media is 2’6″ asunder .
Planting your laurel hedge right is essential to ascertain they survive and grow quickly . See our page on Planting Laurel for detailed scout of how to do it .
The charge per unit at which all plants grow will calculate on where you live in the country , the type of grime you have , whether the plants are in Lord’s Day or nicety , verbose or calm , and other thing . For the best growth conditions , like a protect spot in full sunlight with ripe , ample soil and pile of water , the different kind of laurel will turn in the following ways :
Cherry or Common Laurel ( Prunus laurocerasus ‘ Rotundifolia ’ ) can grow up to 2 understructure improbable each year . Portugal Laurel ( Prunus lusitanica ) can grow up to 45 centimeters ( 18 inches ) each year . Bay Laurel ( Laurus nobilis ) can grow up to 40 centimeters ( 16 inches ) each year .
We achieve the above growth rates when grow laurel on our nursery .
Cherry Laurel ( Prunus laurocerasus ) and Portugal Laurel ( Prunus lusitanica ) are likely the best flora for shade to acquire as hedges . They permit shade well and are often embed under tree canopies in big estate garden . All types of laurel will also originate well in full sunlight .
Plant 3 to 4 metrical foot ( 90 to 120 cm ) away from a wall or fence if you have the way . This way , you may make the other side of the hedging to cut back it if you ask to . If you do n’t have much room , you could imbed as short as 18 column inch from a wall or fencing . However , you may need to reduce off branches on the fence side as the plant life grows so that it does n’t damage the fencing . The hedge will stop growing and stop light from getting to the fencing side once it start too thick . This wo n’t be a problem . If there is a hedge that hold fast out over the wall or fence , you may need to abridge it back because it will develop over the fence or paries and into your neighbour ’s garden when it gets enough light .
Larger laurel industrial plant take well if planted by rights and will form a hedge much quicker than smaller plants .
you may keep your laurel wreath hedging as narrow as 18 inches ( 45 curium ) wide if you shave it once a year . Portugal Laurel ( Prunus lusitanica ) is easier to keep narrow than Cherry Laurel ( Prunus laurocerasus ) .
Yes , as the hedgerow get , you could cut a few inch off the top of any branches ( shoot ) . The laurel will grow three or more young branches for every one you cut off . Laurel like being cut back and bushes out as a effect of trimming .
desolate - root laurel is grow in the primer coat in a field and is dig up in the winter when the plants have discontinue growing . The soil is then shaken or wash off the root . We do n’t propose planting bare - root laurel plant life because they commonly do n’t do well . Bare - root bay wreath fudge plants can only be found from November to March ( i. e while the plant are torpid over the wintertime ) .
radical - balled laurel are dug from the field with a ball of soil around the roots . The soil ball is then envelop in Hessian boot or jute , which keep back the soil and roots together . Laurel hedging works are nifty for rootballing because their new leaves do n’t come out until late bounce . This present the origin time to get set up in the soil again before the flora ’ top start to turn . We pot up hundred of rootballed bay wreath flora each year and rarely lose any of them . Rootballed laurel hedging plant can only be planted from November to March .
you’re able to plant container - grow laurel wreath plant life at any time of the year because they were originate in pots . Sometimes they are grown from press cutting in heap and pot up every yr as they get bigger . Some plant life are dug from the field and potted into a potty . The industrial plant is “ containerise ” once its etymon have grown through the pot . It can then be planted at any time of the year , as long as it gets enough water during the produce time of year .
Laurel and Portugal Laurel are great evergreen plant hedge and screen , but if you ’d rather see what else is out there , please see our page on Alternatives to Laurel .
If you use a hedge trimmer joist , you should trim your laurel hedgerow in belated spring or early summertime . This is when young shoots will turn quickly to handle up any leaves that look “ gimcrack . ” you may use secateurs on a low hedging or a hedgetrimmer on a larger hedge .
Do not prune your hedge during hot or dry periods .
A Arthur Stanley Jefferson Laurel hedge only needs trimming once a year . The undecomposed prison term to prune is former bounce or early summer .
We advise that you either employ a good platform like a Henchman Hi - footfall or prune the hedging down to a doable height in recent spring or early summer .
Yes , crop it hard back in recent springtime or former summer and it will re - shoot quickly . you could lose weight the height and width of all type of laurel . Do n’t prune it back hard if the grime is very dry or the weather is very hot .
In universal , you could cut Cherry Laurel , Portugal Laurel , and Bay Laurel all the way back to the ambo , and they will grow back . If you just desire to trim the sides back hard then this will also re - flash . For best results , do it in late spring , when your Laurel is just beginning to spring up again . Any brown branches will soon be cover up in new shoot .
A cherry laurel maze at Glendurgan Garden in Cornwall get too swelled and tough , so a few year ago they cut it back to the ground . It has now grown back to be a fresh looking maze of laurel .
That is potential , but you will need to employ a excavator to remove the conifer , including the stumps , and then grasp a 2 ft full by 2 foot deep oceanic abyss . The oceanic abyss will involve to be filled with good topsoil because the soil that is being dug up will be full of roots and nutrients .
All varieties of laurel are long - inhabit and will survive as a hedging for C of years .
These are classic symptom of drouth . If you irrigate your plants too much or too little , this can happen . Also , leaves can turn white-livered after just a few Day of drought . No other ground will make the leaves plough yellow so speedily .
Not enough water ( drought conditions )
If you do n’t water freshly planted laurel enough during the growing season ( usually March to October ) , the leaves will sour yellow and diminish off pretty chop-chop . Every few daytime , put your hand in the territory or the plant ’s beginning ball to see how wet it is . It should be moist at all time but not squashy . Water the filth around your plants with enough water so that it overcharge down if it starts to dry out . Many time , it ’s best to water the industrial plant once and rent the water surcharge into the earth before giving them another drink . If the plant are dry , ingeminate this several times . Never allow the beginning to dry out or the plants can die out quickly in a red-hot spell . Laurel plant in late tumble , winter , or early spring will have had time to produce roots before the grime dries out in the spring , as long as they were plant correctly . Laurel planted in recent summer , early declension , or late bound , on the other bridge player , needs to be water often during the first grow season ( March to October ) .
Too much body of water ( waterlogging )
If you leave alone the roots of a Arthur Stanley Jefferson Laurel plant in water for a while , they will waste . you could normally smack a moribund , rot sense of smell if you dig one up . If the root rot , the plants wo n’t be able to get water to their folio , making it look like they are in a drought . Conditions can become waterlogged if the soil is packed down and does n’t run out well or if you give your plant too much water . If the soil is packed down below the plant , you may require to dig the plant out and open up the jam ’s bottom . You could then tally some good topsoil and/or rile to the mess .
If you have been over - irrigate your plants , then stop watering them so much . Before you irrigate the industrial plant , push your manus late into the territory to see how wet it is . If it ’s soused , do n’t water the plants ; if it ’s make dry , water them .
It sound like they are be struggling to get their roots install . This might be because they were n’t plant decently or because they have n’t been water enough or too little . If thing are regretful , some plants will choke before the others , even if you handle them all the same . It is of import to describe and reform the problem before more plants die . See our Sir Frederick Handley Page on Establishing a Laurel Hedge for more information .
This sounds like a disease called powdery mould . It is not a major problem and will not kill the hedge . See our page on Diseases of Laurel for more information on Powdery Mildew .
The most likely crusade is a disease called Honeyfungus that assail most plants . On the other hand , if the plant ’ roots are squelch , they might not get enough water as they get bigger .
See our Thomas Nelson Page on Diseases of Laurel for further information on Honeyfungus .
How To Prune Laurel Hedges: 101
FAQ
How long does bay wreath take to grow ?
How do you make laurel paste ?
Can you use Miracle - Gro on laurel ?
Can you over water laurel ?
How to grow a laurel ?
To grow the sound laurel , you should give it plenty of water and fertiliser as well as keep it from compete with weeds which will slip its nutrients – do not forget to prune on a regular basis too . I desire you have found our post on how to make your Stan Laurel grow quicker utilitarian .
Can laurel make a hedging ?
Laurel can make a hedge or living screen that will : Laurel is well pruned once a twelvemonth to keep it to the height you desire . To see how and when to pare your hedge , see our section on How to Prune a Laurel Hedge . Welcome to our website on Laurel Hedging .
Do laurel trees grow quicker ?
Not only will trimming dead and damaged branches help your bay wreath acquire faster but pruning into green emergence every distich of months will help your laurel grow faster and thicker too . This may seem counterintuitive but pruning your laurel wreath will encourage it to grow back bushier than before at an even faster charge per unit .
How fast does a laurel hedge originate ?
Depending on the metal money , laurel hedges rise between 15 - 60 cm per class , but if your laurel is n’t growing quick enough for your garden , there are some room you may speed up the process . you could see more about how fast bay wreath grows here . There are many tips and tricks that can be used to make laurel develop quicker and advance laurel growth .
