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Yellowing Portuguese laurel

DerbyshireGardenerDerbyshireGardener Posts: 12
in Problem solving
Hello, we recently planted a row of standard Portuguese laurel back in April and the lower/inner leaves are quickly turning yellow and dropping.

Half the trees dropped their leaves in summer and now the other half are doing the same. They still look fairly healthy but the yellowing seems a bit excessive. 

The soil is clay so we dug our large holes and added plenty of tree compost. They have not been fed since reading mixed things about feeding new trees during the first year. They have been kept well watered and covered in mulch so moisture shouldn’t be the issue.

I am hoping this is just part of the establishing process but want to act early if there is something causing this.

Any advice would be appreciated.

thanks

Posts

  • amancalledgeorgeamancalledgeorge Posts: 2,736
    You may want to add a few pictures to give us all an idea. 
    To Plant a Garden is to Believe in Tomorrow
  • robairdmacraignilrobairdmacraignil Posts: 782
    A few yellow leaves and old leaves being dropped is not unusual even on evergreen hedge plants and can be just the plant taking nutrients out of its older leaves to help it grow new ones.
    https://www.youtube.com/user/sustainableveg/videos
  • DerbyshireGardenerDerbyshireGardener Posts: 12
    Hi, thanks for your replies. I’ve attached some photos of the trees. The new growth would seem unaffected.

    I am tempted to dig one up to investigate but this really would be a last resort. It is now worst on the fuller ones that flowered more and had more berries back in May/June, so maybe they are just trying to recover some energy?
  • DerbyshireGardenerDerbyshireGardener Posts: 12

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I've just realised my post didn't post, and just saved a draft.
    I thought it would be because it was large specimens.  Always hard to establish. :)
    It's inevitable they'll drop foliage. The slate makes it hard for you to check the soil too. Make sure they aren't going short of water until you have good, regular rain through autumn/winter. It's easy to assume they're getting enough, but they're against a fence, and the top growth can prevent rain penetrating.
    I don't think there's too much wrong though. You've done well keeping them healthy so far :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • DerbyshireGardenerDerbyshireGardener Posts: 12
    Hi, thank you. Yes I was tempted to use bark incase of any issues but sourced some better quality membrane to help watering/feeding.

    They are definitely getting plenty of water. Our drainage is pretty poor due to the underlying clay so hoping the roots aren’t sat in it. I thought with it being the older leaves in last 1-2weeks it could just be a seasonal drop. 

    When if ever should they be cut back? And with them being a standard can they be cut back as hard as recommended for the regular hedging plants?






  • robairdmacraignilrobairdmacraignil Posts: 782
    Look fairly natural to me that the trees in the photos are just taking nutrient out of the leaves that are less useful to help new growth. The best time to trim hedge plants is usually said to be in the spring when new growth is at its fastest so any gaps produced by the pruning are filled in quickly. Evergreen standards could be trimmed at the same time but by how much just depends on how big you want to let them grow. If you want to maintain them to look like trees you may have to cut off growth lower down the trunk as they might just turn into shrubs if these extra stems are allowed develop. With trees in my own garden I just rub off new buds that form too low down on the trunk before they even sprout into new stems that would take from the shape of the tree. I am fairly restrained in pruning new planted shrubs but some recommend a fairly severe haircut from the start to encourage more bushy plants. If they were my standard laurel trees I'd only take off the odd branch that is going off in an awkward direction initially but they are usually so vigorous that a variety of treatments work fine.
    https://www.youtube.com/user/sustainableveg/videos
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Did you break up the underlying clay and get the soil a bit more suitable?
    If not, that could cause a problem later on.
    Young trees/whips can usually make their way through and become accustomed to conditions more readily than mature trees. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • DerbyshireGardenerDerbyshireGardener Posts: 12
    The clay underneath the topsoil was fairly solid yellow stuff. I roughed up the edge of the holes with a fork but couldn’t do much more. The holes we dug were around three times the width of the pot (60-70cm) and a little deeper than required. We backfilled with a mixture of the soil and kept the trunk flare high. It is a new build garden so the preparation was not the best by the builders.


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