Forum home› Problem solving
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Privet hedge appears to be dying

SebastiaanSebastiaan Posts: 7
in Problem solving

Hi gardeners,

On some shrubs of the privet hedge, the new leaves have suddenly shrivelled brown and fallen off. The branches look dead, but when I carefully scrape off the bark I see that the inside is still green. Does anyone have an idea what could be going on? And will this work itself out or is there anything I could do?

Posts

  • alfharris8alfharris8 Posts: 513
    Honey Fungus can be a problem but we often loose leaves from Privet here during the colder months due to wind.
  • SebastiaanSebastiaan Posts: 7
    I didn't find any fungus, but did see several vine weevil larvae after some digging. These larvae are now the primary suspects. I'm going to try to wipe them out with nematodes. Let's see if that will work.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    I'm with @alfharris8.
    My money is on honey fungus. Privet is VERY susceptible to it
    Devon.
  • SebastiaanSebastiaan Posts: 7
    Slowly but surely, the leaves seem to be growing back. No idea, what the problem was now, but this is going in the right direction.

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    It may have been animal urine.
    We're plagued round here with bl**dy cats, some of which are not neutered. Foxes are far less problematic in that respect than they are. 
    If it's on the road to recovery, that's good. I doubt it would have been weevil, because it wouldn't have recovered like that if the grubs had terminated the roots, and they're what does the real damage to plants, but as long as it's doing well, that's the main thing.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    Pale and variegated leaves are more susceptible to sun damage.

    A biological cure never wipes anything out.  The two species just co-exist at a different level.  Come to that, garden chemicals only ever wipe things out locally, they soon come back.  Wholesale agricultural use, monculture and change in land us; now that's a different matter.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    My plain green privet had a patch like that a few years ago, but higher up (ours has a low wall in front of it) so not animal pee unless it was a very tall dog. I blamed it on the Virgin cable installers who kept parking their van beside it with the engine running and the exhaust pointing right at that section of hedge. It gradually grew back like yours has and now I can barely tell where the damaged section was.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • SebastiaanSebastiaan Posts: 7
    It remains a mystery. But it's good it's growing back. The only action I took was adding nematodes after discovering vine weevil larvae. No idea if that actually solved the issue. Just glad it doesn't seem to be any form of fungus.
  • SebastiaanSebastiaan Posts: 7
    oh, and I pruned the brown tips of the branches that lost their leaves. Maybe that stimulated new growth. 
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    It might have grown back all on its own, but at least it's looking promising now :) . Privet is pretty resilient (unless you're unlucky enough to get honey fungus in your garden).
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Sign In or Register to comment.