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Laurel wilting

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  • fairkyfairky Posts: 25

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    They look bone dry to me. 
    How often are you watering them, and with how much water?
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • fairkyfairky Posts: 25

  • fairkyfairky Posts: 25

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Many of them look dried out - and probably affected by wind in the later pix.
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • fairkyfairky Posts: 25
    I water them once or twice a week usually a full watering can. I’m afraid of watering them too much 
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    It's quite hard to overwater them, unless there's something wrong with the drainage of the soil they're in. Both types of laurel can cope with any amount of rain that falls on them. 
    I presume you mean each one gets a full can, and in at the base?
    The ones next to the building will be drier anyway - the walls cause a rain shadow, so unless there's loads of rain coming in at them regularly, they'll always be drier than those further out. 
    Cutting them back a bit will help though. If they were planted recently, they'll need well watered until next winter. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • fairkyfairky Posts: 25
    I planted them in early March. I added chicken manure recently so your advice is to water them? Would I be better using a soak hose and leave it on them for a few hours a day?
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    No - a good can or bucket full is better, several times a week. You want to encourage roots to get down into the soil so that they can cope with varying weather situations.
    Hoses aren't always ideal as the water can run off too easily. You'd have to stand with a hose directed at the roots and make sure it went into the soil properly. 
    Don't keep feeding them - a good thick mulch of bark or similar after they're well soaked is far more beneficial.  
    I'd still cut them back too. They'll then be encouraged to bush out well. Big specimens are never easy to establish, especially planting at that time of year. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • mikeessex said:
    Good morning Colleen, I'm glad to say that it did work. I'll post a picture a little later when I get outside. I had been over watering some plants which was causing the damage.

    It's a hard balance as when they wilt you assume they need all the more water, but in this case, less was more...
    I have noticed there is a sizeable climber, possibly honeysuckle growing over the top of the fence, behind your newly planted bushes. There is also a lot of mature foliage from shrubs and trees in other gardens so it is quite possible, with so many other large bushes and shrubs growing near your plants, that they are taking up a lot of the moisture in the area generally.
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