You dont indicate what time of year the laurel was planted.
Has it had a full growing season and still one side looks sick. were both hedges from the same source?
Were the plants potted specimens or bare root/ root ball?
Did you irrigate both hedges well in their first year? Is the soil the same in both areas?
Once you get laurel going it is hard to stop but can be trouble in the early stages if allowed to suffer a lack of water-important when you remember laurel is an evergreen so will loose moisture all year round.
Is the sick headge anywhere near a road which gets gritted?
All things to think of.

Thanks very much for the reply --I kind of did an experiement based on your advice/questions, but first to answer your points:

1. They were planted March/April last year (2004).
2. It had a full growing season last year, each plant was around 2-3ft tall).
3. They were all purchased from the same source, all in one go.
4. They were plant potted.
5. I watered them a lot for the first week or two, but then not at all (both sides treated the same).
6. The 'sick' laurel are all on one side, some grouped but some separated by semi-good laurel, and the soil is the same all the way along that one side.
7. The 'sick' side is not near a road or anything like that, infact the 'sick side' has some laurel that are as healthy as the good side (the sick ones are kind of grouped, but split up by semi-good growing laurel). The only difference is the sick side is in the sun most of the day (combine this fact to my 'experiment' below) whereas the other side is in shade _all_ day.
8. I mixed manure into both sides of soil and gave it a couple of weeks to rot further.
9. The 'sick' side had really rich soil (what I would call semi-clay: like farmers soil!), the good side was basically sand and some weird cement looking stuff (i'd almost describe it as big thin pieces of lime stone, but I don't think it was - our house was a new build so I found all sorts under there, I tried my best to mix soil from one side to the other and removed the builders shoes, hats etc :-)

So the 'experiment' or rather 'my findings!!

Sunday was nice gardening weather so before I went out and spent loads of money on treatment I decided to thoroughly water the infected (and good) laurel with Miracle Gro.

One consistent thing I noticed with the sick laurel is that the water drained away from them, probably due to the uneven surface (I did my best at the time of planting).

So, I think you are right in that they simply haven't had enough water.

I know it sound funny to say it, but since watering them sunday and with the nice weather the semi-good laurel on the sick side seem to have really picked up, unfortunately the sick ones don't really seemed to have done anything (I know it's early) although they do have buds albeit very light green/yellow ones.

I know it's a long shot but if you or anyone can offer a glimmer of hope I would be very appreciative.

Cheers
ben.

I would like to say I am shocked you didnt water your Laurel after the first 2 weeks but having delt with the general public for a number of years I am not shocked. I always tell customers to water plants for the first YEAR while they establish. But it is important you dont OVER WATER.
When you state the plants were potted here is another question for you. Were they pot GROWN or freshly potted-if freshly potted they may have been rootballed or bare root potted at an earlier date.
Do you see any notching on the leaves-just thinking from a weevil point of view-reduced roots by the weevils would also impact growth.

Hi Plantzzman,

Thanks for the help.

Okay, again to quickly answer the questions:

1. I think the Laurel must have been grown in the pots, or at least put in them a good time before we got them, the roots were well established and starting to shape to the pot, although I wouldn't say they were too badly 'pot-bound'.

2. I've not seen any notching no. They look pretty normal other than the yellow leaves and the bark is a lot lighter than the healthy ones (almost silver).

I think I only watered them for the first 2 weeks as for some reason I thought it would go and find the water after that time.

I've always been told if you water plants too much when plated their top roots develop and they become reliant upon you watering them. Ooops! A lesson learnt!

I think I might have watered them for a month afterwards thinking now. Once a week. I didn't use Miracle Gro at the time because I had put a shed load of manure in the soil and had read not to combine the two, especially so early on.

I've always kind of had the attitude 'the plant wants to live' if it dies I'll buy a new one - this is all well and good until you see them failing, especially when it's part of a hedge! Another lesson learnt :-)

I am going to water the sick Laurel every week, with a good amount of water (I have a 9 litre can, so each will get an entire can once a week). Every two weeks I will add Miracle Gro. I will do this for the entire summer and monitor them closely.

Does that sound like a good idea?

Thanks again plantzzman, really appreciate your help. It's a shame the garden centre didn't advice me on watering, I do find garden centres these days very non-personal.

cheers
ben
ps: Not being a fan of clouding issues by asking another question in a thread I hate to do this, but it's one other area where I am pretty desperate

Leaf folders!
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We have Laurel in the 'porch' area of our house (no door) - the Laurel have grown like crazy in there, to prove your point this will be because I water tham regularly as they are under cover. The problem we have is that these horrible leaf folder caterpillar are destroying the leaves - they're nasty little blighters, as soon as you disturb them they leg-it! My only defence is some bug spray (says it kills caterpillers) but that doesn't make any difference - so my solution is to squash the leaves that they hide in. I'm slowly learning why gardeners get so annoyed by pests as they really can destroy all your hard work and patience. Do you have any suggestions on what to use (luckily they have not infected the back garden YET!)