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Dying privet hedge

newgreenscapenewgreenscape Posts: 7
in Problem solving
hi there
i moved into a new house which has a lovely hedge in the driveway. However over the past year it is dying back. See pics . I’ve read about honey fungus but not sure if it is. There is still some new growth on effected stems. As you can see from the shot from above. The leaves of dying bits seem to go yellow and pale then drop off. The effected stems dye sand are easily broken with peeling bark. I would be grateful for any thoughts on how I treat it.

thank you and look forward to hearing from you.


Posts

  • Fran IOMFran IOM Posts: 2,872
    Can anyone help @newgreenscape?
  • Guernsey Donkey2Guernsey Donkey2 Posts: 6,713
    Hi newgreenscape - I have just read your input and although no expert I can tell you of our experience with honey fungus and privet.  We have masses of privet hedging around our garden, which is probably near to 100 years old.  Some has died back and on inspection and digging some of it out we discovered honey fungus was killing the privet hedge.  We had the soil tested to confirm that honey fungus was the problem.  We were told to treat the soil which we did (no longer available), wait 3 years and then we could replant - which we did and had no problems with the replacement privet. Honey fungus smells of rotting wood, but I would advise that you take a sample to a good garden shop/centre and they will be able to advise you or tell you where you can have it analyzed.
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,384
    Just a thought - is that garage roof sloping towards the hedge?  Difficult to tell from the angle.  I can't see any guttering so wondering it it could be run-off from that going into the small root area and causing waterlogging.  That can lead to Phytophthora which can take hold in any poorly drained soil:
    https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=542

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
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