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Hedge not looking well

Hannah3Hannah3 Posts: 3
in Problem solving

Hi there,

We recently noticed our hedge is not looking very well at all. Its leaves are full of holes and some parts throughout are going brown and dying. We gave it quite a big trim a month ago and it hasn't been growing back since. Not sure if it's diseased, dying or what is going on. Does anyone have any ideas?

Here are some pictures of the hedge:

image

 

image

 PS: We're in Glasgow, if that makes any difference.

Posts

  • Joe_the_GardenerJoe_the_Gardener Posts: 876

    It looks like privet and it's just had a bit of a shock, particularly if you've had the dry weather up there too. There appear to be new leaves coming. It's a hell of a job to kill it, so don't worry.

  • FleurisaFleurisa Posts: 779

    It looks like you have leaf cutter bees

  • Hannah3Hannah3 Posts: 3

    Hello everyone,

    Thanks very much for your helpful answers! It has been quite dry up here, so hopefully yes, it's nothing too serious and will look into leaf cutter bees and vine weevil!

     

    Many thanks,

    Hannah

  • WelshonionWelshonion Posts: 3,114
    It's pretty impossible to kill privet. If it is leaf cutter bees, you can ignore them as they don't kill the plant.
  • Hannah3Hannah3 Posts: 3

    Thanks very much - that's a relief!

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117

    As the others have said Hannah, it's pretty hard to kill privet. Good housekeeping helps - clear away anything you remove. Vine weevil on an established privet is fairly unlikely. The lack of water after pruning is more likely to be the cause of the 'browning'  problem. Privet's like grass - a good spell of rain will help it spring back to life. It normally grows like mad up here with all the rain we usually get !  image

     

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,134

    The leaf damage looks like the work of leaf cutter bees to me.  image

    The vine weevils would have to be enormous to take out chunks of leaf that size. 


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,134

    You obviously breed your vine weevils much bigger and tougher up north than we southern softies Bb image


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117

    Oh we do Dove - they're like moles here...image

    The adult damage is still unlikely to seriously affect an established privet, which is what I meant in my previous post, so I wouldn't be too worried. The grubs - which do the real damage - aren't necessarily feeding on the privet anyway. I've got a lot of adult v. weevil holes on a big rhodie , but the grubs must be eating someone else's plants image

    Have you noticed any damage to other plants in your garden Hannah? Vine weevil's more common in plants in containers. 

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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