Hi,

The Laurel hedge plants at each end of the hedge in my garden are 7 feet tall but the ones in the middle are only 4 feet and not very bushy, while some have almost completely died. I've replaced dead plants in the middle section of the hedge with new plants 3 times over 6 years because they all died in succession. The hedge has a watering system so they've definitely had enough water but thinking it could be a drainage problem on the third occasion I added drainage. Doing this helped the new plants for a while and they put on 6 inches of growth in the first year, however this Spring, a year and a half after being planted, three of the new plants died and now the plants either side are not thriving. These older plants were 5ft tall when planted and have only put on a foot of growth in 5 years, they aren't very bushy and on close inspection seem a little sick. They grew a little earlier this year but the new leaves are small while some branches have died. I recently dug a 1.5 ft hole in the garden near the hedge and half filled it with water, it almost completely drained in 3 hours, so the problem doesn't seem to be drainage. The hedge is 13 years old and overall is a nice deep green colour and the plants at either end are doing well, it's just the middle section approximately 16 metres long which isn't. The problem isn't food and they definitely have enough water and drainage doesn't seem to be the cause. Thinking a disease might be responsible, I dug up one of the dead plants and the roots were fine and well developed - I broke a fork trying to get it out!

All of the hedges belonging to my neighbours which face the road are also not doing brilliantly, so it seems it might be something to do with the road. The road however is separated from the hedge by a public footpath and a green verge and new trees planted on the verge by the council are doing alright.

I really need a mature hedge to give me privacy and I am thinking about having mature 2m plants put in which will cost approximately £5000.00. Naturally I want to minimise the chance that these new expensive plants will die and wondered if anyone knew of an expert I could pay to identify the problem and suggest a solution.

Thanks,

GB