Dead privet?

Bijdezee

First I have to say that I know little about hedging and especially privet. There is a hedge of it at the front of all the houses here and it had been there for quite some years when we moved in. Last two years it has over wintered fine. This year it looks like this:-


Every one else's us green but ours. There is also a small section that joins with next door's on the other side if the gate and that looks fine. I have tried scratching the bark but it seems brown. 

This hedge lies smack bang next to the pavement and having to remove it would be a nightmare. Please say it will recover 

We have not sprayed it with anything etc and there is no sign of honey fungus around. What do you think?

* on a second scrape, with a Sharpe knife there seems to be green there so that looks like it will return although I think some parts might be dead. I just wonder why, considering that all around are green hedges. We have had to lots of snow anf it froze hard for a bit but i imagine it should be OK with that as others are. *confused*

madpenguin

Privet does lose its leaves some years and not others.
If you have done the bark scrape test and seen it is green it should be OK.
Cutting back could reinvigorate it (not sure when you would do that!).

Bijdezee

Thanks for your reply Privet. I hope it will be OK, watch and wait I suppose. Normally it gets cut in May and August. 

Bijdezee

Oops I meant madpenguin. 

Lizzie27

I do hope your hedge recovers Bifdezee.  It seems privet hedges in the UK are also suffering lately and nobody seems to know why. It cold be some kind of wind borne fungus but in that case why yours and not your neighbours? Very strange.

JennyJ

My privet has a lot fewer leaves than normal at this time of year.  I'm putting it down to the extremely dry summer last year (established privet was not exactly high priority for watering).  The hedges around here that have stayed greener are the ones that are somewhat neglected and overgrown - probably there's a lesson in there somewhere but I like mine clipped quite tightly.  Maybe your neighbours watered their hedges more, or didn't clip as much?

In any case the best course of action for now is wait and see how our hedges do when spring comes.

DampGardenMan

JennyJ said:

My privet has a lot fewer leaves than normal at this time of year.  I'm putting it down to the extremely dry summer last year

Snap! I too was blaming last summer, but if there's a "virus" about ... mind you mine was only a couple of years old so maybe it's just a childish tantrun

JennyJ

Mine was very mature (and very overgrown) when we moved here over 30 years ago.  My guess is it's almost as old as the house (built 1951) so whatever happens it's had a pretty good innings!

Bijdezee

That's a good point JennyJ, I didn't water it and neither did the neighbours water theirs but ours looks much worse which is strange. So yes, time will tell. 

Gardenmaiden

If you've done the scratch and found green under the surface I would leave to see if you get leaves. If this was planted later than other hedges that could explain the lapse of progress.