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Help needed please with laurel hedge issues...

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  • dan9dan9 Posts: 8

    Every cut made me wince initially....but after a few plants I just got on with it.  The photos might not show it but they did get lower the more I did.  Yes I do have long legs image  

    This heavy rain this morning is a bonus.  Should help the feed down into the soil.

    I'll keep this thread updated.  Hopefully the OP does the same with his hedge.

    Thanks

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,138

    That's it - you really only have to be brave when cutting back the first one - the rest you have to do so it doesn't look silly! image

    Looking forward to the updates image


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





  • Id like to get rid of my laurel but the roots are far too big to do so without a huge amount of work. It grows too thick and fast for me.  And you lot want it to be faster! imageimageimage

  • Dan9:   "Hopefully the OP does the same with his hedge."

     

    I cut mine back to about half, 6 months ago. Getting some growth now.... although the new growth is swarming with little black flies and wasps which I hadn't banked on!

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  • dan9dan9 Posts: 8

    Looking great.  Very encouraging after looking back at your initial photos.  Has it really been 6 months?  4 months max i'd say.  So that's even more encouraging.

  • dan9dan9 Posts: 8

    Updates from me. :)

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    How you doing befuddled?

    Last edited: 22 May 2016 14:54:58

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190

    Coming on lovely Dan. If they were mine  I would have those long bits down by half this year, they will then shoot out right fron the base, they will grow loads this year they look as they are becoming well established, and then that will probably do. 

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • dan9dan9 Posts: 8

    Thank you Lyn.  I did give them a chop last week when I weeded the ground before putting the gravel down.  Before the gravel I did another feed and a layer of mulch.

    So you think another chop now would be good or during the summer?

    Thanks

    Dan

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190

    I would do it now Dan then they've got all summer to catch up, and boy, they certainly will, you will love that hedge by the Autumn.

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • befuddledbefuddled Posts: 34

    Hello

    The OP here. I just thought I'd pop back with an update a year on.

    The laurels did nothing in the first year at all really. I pruned them hard in April this spring with some blood fish and bone, which was obviously too early as they turned brown until end of May when they started to go mad. In the last 6 weeks the growth has been very good. They've grown very bushy outwards rather than upwards really, but it's promising.

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    Need some height now. I'm wondering if there might be an issue, because in the last 2 weeks the growth has all but stopped, and the very new leaves at the end of each new shoot have shrivelled and gone holey. Pic below. I wouldn't say they've been over or under watered with the weather we've had. And because of the slope some get much more water than others as it all runs down the taram under the slate and puddles at the bottom (those seem the bushiest). The shrivelling is consistent across every new stem on every plant. Is there anything else they need, or is this a sign of something?

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    And the last question, is it beneficial to prune twice in a year, or should I just leave them alone now?

    Thanks.

    Worlds-worst-gardener.

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