Blackthorn woes

Gardener Extraordinaire

Good afternoon all,

I recently bought 9 Blackthorn shrubs that are 2ft high currently they came in 1-2 litre pots I planted them out in the ground to start some hedge borders for the first time. They all seem to have brown patches on leaves so far they don't have any full green leaves anywhere. I received them at first some of them had branches that were snapped slightly but still connected to the plants .  

I am a very new gardener and was wondering how to fix this problem.

Half of them look quite windswept and worse for wear but just showing signs of brown buds.

the other half same as above but the buds are now new leaves that are completely green.

Any ideas/tips to help them look healthier would be appreciated.

Fairygirl

Difficult to comment really without seeing them. Did you get then somewhere reputable? If so - I'd contact them and send photos.

On the plus side - Blackthorn's pretty tough and hard to kill, so I'd say don't worry unduly. 

Did you prep the ground well before planting and keep them well watered? 

If you have green growth appearing now, that's a good sign. If you can snip off any obviously dead stuff, that will help. 

If they don't survive - we're coming into bare root planting season soon, so you can obtain more very inexpensively. There are lots of good suppliers online. I used Hopes Grove nursery (I'd used them before)  and my blackthorn hedge is coming up for four years old now, and doing very well. 

Gardener Extraordinaire

I am very new to gardening just started properly with great gusto this year!

unfortunately I have had ill health for 11 years now with severe epilepsy. So I am late to the party as I would like to gardening.

i did make a booboo with buying them it's the only plants bought from amazon the rest since I now get through gardeners world offers.

the garden itself is a clean slate never had any formal planting in it before at all ever in the history of the house can you believe! The previous owners used it as landfill so the last month been clearing all that with great gusto!

Ground prepping I researched and when I realised blackthorn is very good in alot of soil ph and is very hardy I was heartened by my dundee weather it's been intense with high humidity and a lot of rainfall. I used multipurpose compost with john innes and mixed in some grit with it to try and deter local cats from going to toilet on them.  I shall have to get out there and snip them when it's not raining heavy then. ?Thanks for the tips!