What is wrong with these bay laurel bushes and how can I help them?

kery12000

last year

Spring has just begun after a cold winter. We have noticed that many of the leaves on the laurel bushes are half brown. We are watering them now. We have had a rain in the last week, too.

What do you think is wrong? Is there anything special we should do?

Please look at the two photographs.

Featured Answer

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

last year

Rain is not always sufficient for container grown plants, even in winter. If your Laurels got cold and were also dry at the roots that could make them worse. Not that you asked, but to be perfectly, brutally, honest I'm not sure the this species is worth the effort of growing in a container. If I was going to plant something with a similar evergreen leaf in a pot I'd probably go with a rhododendron or camellia. Then at least you'd get attractive flowers. Laurels are really not that interesting. They're very tough, mundane shrubs best fitted to a hedge, supermarket carpark or school playground imo.

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Comments (8)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
last year
I would suspect cold damage. Where are you located?
kery12000 thanked gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
last year
Just an FYI they are not Bay Laurels, Laurus nobilis, but Laurels, Prunus laurocerasus.
kery12000 thanked floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
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Thank you guys so much for the compliments! I am very proud of how she turned out this year. I had some learning blues last year and she had holes all throughout her leaves from pests. I trimmed her down and she had a nice comeback before the season was over. She seems to be a tough one. This year, I was better prepared and she has started off great. I noticed some aphids, but got them under control quickly with soapy water (Dawn) spritzed on her for a couple days. I have not used any fertilizer recently. The only thing I've done is sprinkled some Blood meal over the soil in this flower bed section before laying down new mulch. I followed the directions on the bag and I did this about 6-7 weeks. Do you think this may be the reason?? Ingrid, I wish I could move her but I live in a townhouse community and this is the flower bed we are given and we are not allowed to plant things outside of our small assigned flower bed area attached to townhouse. :-( I gave her a nice drink of water today after I read about the salt thing. Should I do this daily? I will be gone for the weekend and there will be no rain. I have some day lilies that I think will bloom this year off to the right. They should be yellow with a red/orange center. So far, they seem very sturdy and have not been effected negatively by the blood meal. I forgot to mention that she gets full sun for most of the day until about 4-5pm where she starts to have some shade. Not sure if that is relevant info tot his problem.
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tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
last year
last modified: last year
Agree with Gardengal - frost/ chill injury. Some might think 'sunburn', but that is usually made manifest more in the center of the leaf because the thinner leaf margins give up heat more readily then the thicker/middle part of the leaf, and heat speeds up the chemical reaction that causes sunburn; however, thin leaf tips/margins are also the first and most likely part of the leaf to freeze.

Not to worry - your plant will straighten itself out.

Al
kery12000 thanked tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
last year
you water when a plant needs water..not on some random schedule..

if its been raining.. i dont understand why they need water..

i agree with cold damage.. crikey.. its april 1st.. i cant imagine just about anywhere in the US that is in drought and high heat in april ... its cold to mild and the sun is low in the sky.. tissue just shouldnt be burning for lack of water ...

taske a tablespoon or hand trowel and dig 3 to 6 inches down inthe pot.. AND FIND OUT IF THE POT NEEDS WATER... and then water or dont based on facts ... no guessing ...

ken
kery12000 thanked ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
last year
btw.....your lawn hasnt even started growing.. so i now know how cold it is at night wherever you are.. i just cant believe a pot would need water.. when the nights are so cold the grass isnt growing yet ...

this is a shrub.. and there is a shrub forum for future reference ...

when the plant shows some sign of new spring growth. you can snip off the old brown leaves.. if you dont want to wait for them to fall off in a few months.. not the stems.. just snip off the bad leaves ...

ken
kery12000 thanked ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
kery12000
Original Author
last year
Thanks everyone. We are in Hungary. It was a cold winter, but not much snow. It does get below freezing on some nights, even recently. A lot of wind comes through on this part of the garden.

The last month, maybe two, there hadn't been any rain. The shrubs ( Prunus laurocerasus ) looked so bad that I thought water might be needed. It only rained after we started a water schedule.

I'm glad to hear that probably there is no problem. We'll just wait, and perhaps snip some of the leaves later for aesthetic reasons if they don't fall off, and have a regular water schedule, adjusting it depending on conditions.
kery12000
Original Author
last year
last modified: last year
Thanks for your answer floral_uk. For some reason, the honesty of your answer made me chuckle. :-) You have some good points there.

What is wrong with these bay laurel bushes and how can I help them?

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

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gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

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What is wrong with these bay laurel bushes and how can I help them?

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

Comments (8)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

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tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

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