Help with Trees/Bushes

Posts

• Silver surfer Posts: 4,719

  September 2020 edited September 2020

  Welcome to the forums.
  
  It is Prunus laurocerasus...common name cherry laurel.
  Often planted as a hedge with the intention of being trimmed/cut to a height you like.
  Left alone it will just keep on growing.
  It looks very healthy.
  
  Will leave others to advise you 
  Personally I hate it and if mine I would remove it.
  
  https://www.google.com/search?q=prunus+laurocerasus&client=firefox-b-d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiT27vEsObrAhU2QUEAHW11BcMQ_AUoAXoECB8QAw&biw=1280&bih=579
  

  Perthshire. SCOTLAND .

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• Borderline Posts: 4,700

  September 2020

  Agree it is Cherry Laurel. A shrub that responds well to pruning to help the whole shrub bush out. You can trim it back a bit or leave it and prune back in late spring next year. They are tough shrubs but all newly planted shrubs need consistent watering in the first 3 years, so if no rain forecast for weeks in summer, you should water the base of each shrub.
  
  
  

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• Thenewgardener Posts: 8

  September 2020

  Thank you for your responses. I will have a go at pruning to help with the density. Do you advise using any plant foods/treating the soil to help with the growth?

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• Thenewgardener Posts: 8

  September 2020

  So will they benefit from being trimmed down on the top? They currently stand about 7-8ft tall, if I maybe cut it down to about 4-5ft that should help it fill out a bit?
  
  Also, a lot of the branches have single leaves shooting off (rather that having shoots of other branches full of more leaves... if that make sense). Will I be looking to cut these entire branches off? Or is that really bad practice?

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• Liriodendron Posts: 8,328

  September 2020

  @Thenewgardener If by "branches with single leaves shooting off" you mean young shoots with pale greenish stems, then no, you don't need to cut the entire branch off.  If as Philippa says you cut those back a bit to a healthy looking bud, next year the branch should produce side shoots which will thicken up your hedge.  They are very vigorous so the distance between plants looks about right.
  
  Late spring is the recommended time for cutting laurel because it grows quickly afterwards to thicken up and hide the cut ends.  However, you're unlikely to do it much harm by reducing its height and tidying it up now.  I'd agree about clearing the grass away from the base of the hedge so you can water it; you can apply a general fertiliser (like fish, blood & bonemeal) in spring when the soil is moist, and then use a mulch to reduce competition from weeds.  Don't feed it now - you don't want soft growth in autumn which will get damaged in the winter.
  
  Are the bushes attached to stakes?  Hedging doesn't really benefit from staking unless very large plants are used (which isn't the best way to establish a good hedge, to be honest).  If those bits of wood are stakes I'd at least make sure the laurels aren't tied to them with anything which will cut into the bark.  If they were mine I'd remove the stakes altogether.
    
  
   

  Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.

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• Thenewgardener Posts: 8

  September 2020

  Hi, yes they are stakes. In that case I will look to remove them if they can be counter productive. Thanks for you comments, I will get out there in the next few days and put this into action. 

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