Trees

Portuguese Laurel; I prefer this to the more common Cherry Laurel. It has smaller dark green leaves and has a dense growth habit and has scented white flowers in April/May, left unpruned it makes a lovely pyramid shaped tree. It isn't as vigorous as the Cherry Laurel either.....:thumb:

I'm not sure you are allowed to use neem oil Dave:DJust googling and Provado seems to be the No1 favourite.I guess we will be confined to this until it becomes totally useless.I've got some Westland "plant rescue" stuff, but not sure on the exact chemical, I find they like to keep it a...

Thanks for the advice guys. It's shooting from the lower trunk so I'll cut down as suggested and leave it in the sun.Cheers Chicken

Hi reallynotsure - I posted a reply in the 'Trees' section for you. Hope it's of some help.Matthew

In the right place I think they are wonderful; especially when in flower and the berries are much loved by birds. I have several in our hawthorn hedge and always cut round the flowers when trimming the hedge..However they do pop up in all sorts of places from seed; I had one growing in a...

Hi, I'm just wondering what the actual pest is that might be attacking your apples, but codling moth is the usual maggot problem. These might work if you get them going ASAP. Buy Agralan Codling Moth Pheromone Traps

I'm not a chemist or expert on fungicides but as I understand it the spay contains copper sulphate, I think.When diluted or mixed to the correct dilution it kills fungus and fungal spores but does not harm plants, other than fungi.There are a few plants that can be affected by copper sprays...

Thanks so much for all this really useful advice Matthew, and sorry for the delay in responding! I have the bank holiday to work on the tree and will reply to the thread with any results.Thanks again! Chris.

Update - my sad looking bay (described in posts #7 & 9 over page) now has new shoots opening/bursting out all over it, including places where there haven't been any for years! Only the very lowest set of branches are showing no sign of life - yet, but it's looking as if it's actually going to...

If only my labourers were like that.

Hi Darkside, June drop is natures way of thinning out the fruit, the apple will produce more flowers than it can support in case some don't get polinated. In june it will drop the excess ones to give the rest a chance to develop.

Yes cut down do in two stages one waist height , then do the final cut at the base clear, (Dont do a timber ) as it may pull out all the growth at the base, have a good clear out of all that grass and mulch around the plant and put a steak/cane in to train it up. Its letting you have a second...

Ah ... OMG! OK I better rethink the conifer then. God knows where it is going to go. Thanks.

Thanks people ... It is what I thought.

Hi ScrungeeYour plan sounds well thought out, but I would probably opt to move it when it's less actively growing, such as in the winter when drought and possible damage may not be so much of an issue.Matthew

If you can see evidence of cocoon building material it is likely to be caterpillars, although aphids can also cause leaf curl. There was story on the news yesterday about an infestation of caterpillars on some cherry trees in Bradford ~ BBC News - Ermine moth larvae infest Bradford park ~ that...

It looks more like a combination of snail damage and scorch to me. Neither is life threatening, so don`t worry too much.

Ah ha, I thought you might be out west.Not common large Rhodos in my area, but they like damper places.Many can get tree like, but we tend to only get large shrubs around here.

If you're lucky you might be able to find a dwarf cherry; I have one that I bought 10 years ago at about 10" in height, its still in a very small pot (about 30cm) and has only grown to about 18" in that time. This year in particular it was absolutely covered in flower

Images of the trees and my new plot are in my album "Lads garden."