
What is the best feed for a laurel hedge?
The most suitable feed depends on which stage the hedge is at. When you are planting a new Laurel hedge we always recommend using bone meal, this is a natural organic fertiliser that should be well mixed with the soil. One kilo of bone meal will be sufficient for a 15 metres of hedge planting.
How often should I Feed my mountain laurel?
When you are feeding a mountain laurel, remember to feed the plants sparingly. Be sure not to let the mountain laurel fertilizer touch the foliage or stems. While some gardeners also use liquid fertilizer every six weeks during growing season, it isn’t really necessary.
What is the best fertilizer for laurels?
Laurels need plenty of light to put on dense growth, which is especially true when they receive fertilizer because too little light and an abundance of nutrients could contribute to leggy, weak growth and a spindly appearance. Compost makes a suitable alternative fertilizer for laurels because it will release nutrients slowly year-round.
How do you take care of a laurel tree?
Check the pH level of the soil near the laurel twice per year by inserting a soil pH tester probe into the ground. If the pH level is higher than 6.0, it is not acidic enough. In these cases, apply a granular fertilizer formulated for azaleas or rhododendrons to adjust the soil pH.

How do I encourage laurel growth?
One of the best ways to keep your hedge healthy and strong is by trimming off branches that are damaged or dead. Not only will trimming dead and damaged branches help your laurel grow faster but pruning into green growth every couple of months will help your laurel grow faster and thicker too.
Should you fertilize laurel?
Fertilizing once a year will help keep cherry laurel foliage green and lush, and also maintain prolific white, fragrant blooms. Cherry laurel feeding can be done with fertilizers formulated for ornamental trees or evergreen fertilizer.
Why are my laurel leaves turning yellow?
The leaves of my newly planted laurel and turning yellow and falling off. What is the problem? These are classic symptoms of drought. This can be caused by over or under-watering your plants and even a few days of drought can cause leaves to turn yellow.
How do you keep laurels healthy?
Once you've planted your laurel hedging plants, you need to make sure they get enough water to keep them alive and growing well. Usually plants only need watering from March to October. During the winter months, they use less water and normally get enough from the rain.
What is the best fertilizer for laurels?
BonemealUse a Fertiliser Established laurels grow better with the help of balanced fertilisers such as Rootgrow fertiliser, whereas new laurels struggling to establish and grow prefer a natural, organic fertiliser such as Bonemeal.
What's the best thing to feed laurel hedges?
When you are planting a new Laurel hedge we always recommend using bone meal, this is a natural organic fertiliser that should be well mixed with the soil. One kilo of bone meal will be sufficient for a 15 metres of hedge planting.
How do you treat yellowing laurels?
Low nitrogen will bring on a uniform yellowing of your bay laurel's leaves, beginning with the older lower leaves and moving up the tree. You can fix this by feeding it with some good organic compost or with a dose of nitrogen-rich fertilizer. Be sure to follow directions when using fertilizer.
Should you cut off yellow leaves?
If you have a few yellow leaves that look unappealing and bother you, it's okay to snip them off. But it isn't necessary. If you have a lot of yellow leaves, you're better off finding the problem and fixing it – such as overwatering or not enough sunlight.
Can a yellow leaf turn green again?
Chlorophyll gives a leaf its green color. When the leaf loses its chlorophyll, the plant abandons it and begins to absorb leftover nutrients from the leaf. That's why once the leaf turns yellow, you generally can't make it turn back green again.
When should I fertilize my laurel hedge?
If the ground is good, no feeding is needed, but feeding with any general fertilizer, including 10-10-20, will boost growth, and can be applied in March. Apply 25g per metre of hedge on each side, and be sure to control weeds within 50cm of the hedge.
Why are the leaves on my laurels going brown?
Frost damage Young Cherry Laurel plants are most commonly affected. Frost damage during the winter months can cause brown patches on established Laurels of all types and is usually at its worst when there is a very cold wind with no protective cover of snow to protect the winter foliage.
What is wrong with my laurel leaves?
Cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) is generally considered a tough evergreen but its leaves can be affected by diseases such as powdery mildew, leaf spot fungi and bacterial shothole. Affected plants or hedges look unsightly.
What is the best fertilizer for a laurel tree?
Compost makes a suitable alternative fertilizer for laurels because it will release nutrients slowly year-round. Well-rotted manure or organic compost made from vegetable matter works well, particularly if it contains worm casings. Using compost as fertilizer will help reduce the need for watering by holding moisture in the soil, and it will help keep down weeds that might steal nutrients from young laurel trees. Using compost as fertilizer is also less likely to cause leaf burn than chemical fertilizer, but it can still cause issues if it is improperly applied.
Why do laurel trees need light?
Laurels need plenty of light to put on dense growth, which is especially true when they receive fertilizer because too little light and an abundance of nutrients could contribute to leggy, weak growth and a spindly appearance. Get the Best Mortgage Rate for You | SmartAsset.com. Loading.
Do laurel shrubs need fertilizer?
Slow-growing evergreen shrubs, such as laurels (Laurus nobilis), need very little supplemental feeding to grow, although choosing the best fertilizer for laurels and applying it in the correct amount is still vital to keeping them healthy. They grow best within U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 8b to 10a, ...
Can you overwater a mountain laurel?
Without proper draina ge, laurel and mountain laurel are susceptible to overwatering. If your soil pH is optimal and you are fertilizing annually but your laurel is not thriving, overwatering may be the culprit.
Can you use compost as fertilizer?
Using compost as fertilizer is also less likely to cause leaf burn than chemical fertilizer, but it can still cause issues if it is improperly applied. In autumn, spread compost beneath the laurel trees. Spread the compost under the entire canopy of the tree so the root zone is covered.
What are mountain laurel leaves?
Mountain laurels are broad-leafed evergreens that grow in the wild as multi-stemmed shrubs. The leaves, like holly leaves, are shiny and dark. And the branches of mature laurels are delightfully gnarled.
Where do mountain laurel plants grow?
Mountain laurel ( Kalmia latifolia) is a lush evergreen shrub with stunning flowers. It’s native to the eastern half of the country and, as a native, is an easy-care plant to invite into your yard in mild regions. Although these are native shrubs, some gardeners feel that they grow better if you fertilize them. If you’d like to know how to fertilize mountain laurels or what to use for mountain laurel fertilizer, read on.
Do you feed mountain laurel?
Is feeding a mountain laurel essential to its growth? Although the species grows just fine in the wild without care, fertilizing mountain laurel cultivars may promote thicker growth and healthier leaves. But you must not feed these plants too often or too much.
How Much Fertilizer Do Cherry Laurels Need?
Determining how much fertilizer cherry laurels need can seem tricky. However, using a granular slow release fertilizer when fertilizing cherry laurels can reduce stress on you as the grower and also reduce stress to the plant from over fertilizing.
What is a cherry laurel?
Image by MiaZeus. Cherry laurels are flowering evergreen shrubs or small trees , which are commonly used in the landscape as hedges, privacy screens or windbreaks. In order for cherry laurel to perform well in the landscape, it does require maintenance such as regular pruning and fertilizing.
Do cherry laurel plants need salt spray?
Cherry laurels have many benefits in the landscape. They tolerate full sun to shade, drought, and salt spray. Cherry laurel plants are also resistant to many common pests and diseases. However, they are not so tolerant of over fertilization.
How much water do laurels need?
Laurels are voracious drinkers and need a lot of water! A laurel can drink up to 1.5 litres of water per day and throughout the spring and summer months, they will need to be well watered.
Why do laurel plants need nutrients?
Like most plants, laurel will need to absorb nutrients in order for it to grow as vigorously as possible.
What is Laurel?
Laurel is the name of a shrub in the family of plants called Lauraceae. The most common type is known as “sweet bay” or “bay laurel”, and it is considered a symbol of victory.
How Fast does a Laurel Grow?
What is the best way to determine how fast a Laurel hedge will grow? It may sound like an easy question, but there are many different factors that can influence the growth rate.
How to grow a laurel faster?
Having a regular watering schedule during the drier months will certainly help your laurel grow faster.
What is the best soil for a laurel tree?
Laurels require rich, moist soil that is full of nutrients. Planting the tree in a place where it will be sheltered from strong winds is also important to its chances of survival.
Why is my laurel not growing?
One reason that your laurel may not be growing as fast as possible is that it may be competing with other plants and weeds etc.
What are the different types of laurel?
There are different varieties of Laurel plants including the Common (aka Cherry) Laurel (Prunus laurocerasus), Portugal Laurel (Prunus lusitanica) and Bay Laurel (Laurus nobilis) – see our section on Types of Laurel Hedging for more information.
How big do laurel plants grow?
There are Laurel hedging plants that stay small or grow up to 20ft (7m); Laurels with dark green, bright green or variegated leaves; Laurel with large leaves and Laurel with small leaves.
Can laurel grow in full sun?
Laurel will grow in most soils in full sun or heavy shade, in fact you quite often see it planted under tree canopies in National Trust and other estates and kept trimmed to a low height to keep down the brambles and bracken. There are different varieties of Laurel plants including the Common (aka Cherry) Laurel (Prunus laurocerasus), ...
Is a laurel a good hedge?
The Benefits of Laurel Hedging. Laurel is quick-growing and evergreen. If you don’t want a conifer hedge, then Laurel is the next quickest growing evergreen shrub that will form a good garden hedge. Laurel can be trimmed or pruned to the height you require and, if it grows too big, it can be cut back as hard as you like – right back to ...
