Portuguese laurel under stress

Hi,

In mid Jan I bought a relatively mature Portuguese Laurel (7 year old, around 2m tall) as a rootball specimen. I knew that buying a big specimen makes it more difficult to establish, but I decided to take my chances.

Naturally there was some stress due to it being taken from the field it was growing in, losing root mass in the process, and then being planted. But I noticed that rather than recovering, it is looking worse, especially lately.



The top part looks quite sad:


And here is a closeup of the worst area:



It must be a watering issue and I suspect that it's under watering. (I had read that they really hate wet conditions and considering how much rainfall we had until recently, I was watering infrequently).

I have just upped the watering significantly but I'm concerned that if I am wrong and the issue is that the soil was too wet from all the rainfall, I might just kill it completely.

To me, the soil around the rootball doesn't feel too wet, but not bone dry either.

Do you have any recommendations?

Thank you.

P.S. The photos were taken after watering, that's why the soil looks saturated.

 

Hmm, very disappointing for you @CostasK. The symptoms suggest dehydration to me. The top of the plant above the fence is worse due to more exposure to wind and therefore increased evaporation. Was the rootball well hydrated when you received the plant? I usually soak all new plants in their pots in a bucket or dustbin of water for an hour or so before planting. Removing your plant and doing this now may be the best way of hydrating it, or continually soaking the surrounding soil for a day or two and then regularly watering it. Diluted seaweed extract can also help with stress and transplant shock. In my dry soil, I have always found Portuguese laurels to be problematic. A large plant like yours will need lots of water while the roots are establishing. Damp soil, but not waterlogged soil. Good luck with your TLC.

 

Thank you very much @Plantminded

I admit that I did not soak it before planting, I just watered it well when I put it in the ground.

I did consider taking it out and putting it in in a large bucket of water. When I looked it up online, it was said that there's a risk with that - it might break some of the finer roots while the tree is already under stress. On the other hand, when I feel the soil around the rootball, it feels quite compacted. And when I put water directly on the rootball, it takes a while for the water level to go down. So doing that might help & it might be worth it overall.

 

Were roots in pot easy to untangle, or was it very rootbound when planted out? If roots remain in a tight ball, it's difficult to wet them, and very often they can't start growing into a soil around.

 

Hi @Alisa

It was a rootball plant rather than container grown and my understanding of that is that some of the roots are cut during the process of lifting them from the ground, but in theory there shouldn't be an issue with being root bound I think. Having said that, I did think that the soil felt firm and also for a sizeable tree it wasn't a big rootball.

 

I decided to go for it, during my lunch break. It came out very easily.





The soil doesn't feel dry like I thought it would. I have been watering for the past couple of days though.

 

Not soaking before planting is the problem I think @CostasK. I would take it up and soak it, lifting it carefully. There won't be that many fine roots yet as I don't think it's been in very long. When you replant, dust the planting hole with some mycorrhizal fungi. You may need to reduce the height of the plant at some time if the pull from the foliage is too much for the small tight rootball.

 

Having seen your last post now, the soil does look very dry to me.

 

Thanks @Plantminded I think the colour of the soil in the photo makes it seem that way, but it doesn't feel dry. I will water the planting hole thoroughly before putting it back. I certainly should have soaked it, you are right. Soaking it also get rid of some of the compacted soil, I can already see the roots much better now. I just hope it's not too late for it.

 

If it’s any consolation @CostasK, I made the same mistake a few years ago with a speciality Eucalyptus which I bought to hide my neighbour’s home office/shed. It sulked and lost its leaves rapidly. I replaced it with bamboo. I think you may have caught your Portuguese laurel before that stage .

 

Thank you very much @Plantminded, much appreciated. I do feel a bit guilty for the poor tree. It's the first "rootball" plant I have bought and I assumed that watering it thoroughly in the planting hole would have been enough. I should have done my homework beforehand.

When it was soaking today, I got rid of some of the compacted soil around the rootball and teased out more roots. It was so dense! And then it stuck to the bottom of the bucket. I do think this compaction was part of the problem.



If the Portuguese Laurel doesn't make it, I plan to go for my original backup plan, which is to move this Amelanchier to that spot. It's deciduous but there is now a star jasmine growing next to the spot, so there will be some Winter interest.



(I do need to get some Patio Magic for the fence when it gets a bit warmer )