Trouble establishing new laurel hedge
KeriM
Posts: 2
I’m having trouble establishing a new laurel hedge at the front of our house. There’s a lot of laurel in the neighbourhood so it shouldn’t be an environmental issue. We’ve tried twice now, planting bareroot specimens approx. 50cm tall in November. I don’t think it’s a problem with the stock though, as we’ve used the same plants in the back garden and they’re doing well, but inevitably there are some differences between the soil and other conditions. We watered both locations with the same frequency. We live in Surrey so it never gets that cold.
1) the hedge at the back is sheltered by a high fence. In the front, there is no shelter. The purpose of the hedge is to provide som privacy from the road. To provide some support, we staked the plants at the front. After the first batch died, we replanted (the following November) and covered the soil with mulch, in case the soil was being dried out by the wind (it can be a little windy on our road). We’ve considered putting up a temporary fence to provide some shelter, do you think this will help?
4) the reason we are planting laurel is partly because our previous hedge, a privet/box mix, was infected by box blight. We replaced with laurel because it’s supposed to be more hardy. When the laurels died, the leaves went yellow and now we have a front garden full of sticks, but it didn’t seem to be the same as the box blight
6) when planting the last lot, we noticed a lot of what look like stag beetle larvae in the soil. Could this be a cause, or an indication of the issue? Should we try testing and/or changing the soil?
9) should we just stop throwing good money after bad? I’d be happy to pay an expert to come and take a look if I could find the right person but we’re getting to the point where we’ll just have to put up a boring old fence instead.
Any suggestions or experience on this topic gratefully received!
1) the hedge at the back is sheltered by a high fence. In the front, there is no shelter. The purpose of the hedge is to provide som privacy from the road. To provide some support, we staked the plants at the front. After the first batch died, we replanted (the following November) and covered the soil with mulch, in case the soil was being dried out by the wind (it can be a little windy on our road). We’ve considered putting up a temporary fence to provide some shelter, do you think this will help?
4) the reason we are planting laurel is partly because our previous hedge, a privet/box mix, was infected by box blight. We replaced with laurel because it’s supposed to be more hardy. When the laurels died, the leaves went yellow and now we have a front garden full of sticks, but it didn’t seem to be the same as the box blight
6) when planting the last lot, we noticed a lot of what look like stag beetle larvae in the soil. Could this be a cause, or an indication of the issue? Should we try testing and/or changing the soil?
9) should we just stop throwing good money after bad? I’d be happy to pay an expert to come and take a look if I could find the right person but we’re getting to the point where we’ll just have to put up a boring old fence instead.
Any suggestions or experience on this topic gratefully received!
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Posts
How big were the grubs? I'm with @steephill, sounds like vine weevil are the more likely culprits.