We have bought a house that has a lovely box knott garden. During the months since we moved in some of the box trees have started to turn yellow and now many of them are completely yellow. As yet the leaves are not dropping off.

Picture of the hedges

We were told that it was maybe because the soil was too damp and indeed the box's are planted in soil which has a very tight weedproof membrane and then the blue slate on top. We tried cutting the membrane back about a foot fron the edge so the box were not totally surrounded by membrane but this doesnt seem to have helped.

Interestingly many of the plants are flourishing and odd ones in the middle of yellow ones are green. We have whole sections that are still green and much taller and stronger than the yellow ones.

Does anyone know what else we should try.
We have bought a house that has a lovely box knott garden. During the months since we moved in some of the box trees have started to turn yellow and now many of them are completely yellow. As yet the leaves are not dropping off.

Picture of the hedges

We were told that it was maybe because the soil was too damp and indeed the box's are planted in soil which has a very tight weedproof membrane and then the blue slate on top. We tried cutting the membrane back about a foot fron the edge so the box were not totally surrounded by membrane but this doesnt seem to have helped.

Interestingly many of the plants are flourishing and odd ones in the middle of yellow ones are green. You cant see from this picture but we have whole sections that are still green and much taller and stronger than the yellow ones.

Does anyone know what else we should try.

There is also a picture here if it helps

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/stuartforrest/BoxHedges#

In article ,
says...

We have bought a house that has a lovely box knott garden. During the
months since we moved in some of the box trees have started to turn
yellow and now many of them are completely yellow. As yet the leaves
are not dropping off.

Picture of the hedges

We were told that it was maybe because the soil was too damp and
indeed the box's are planted in soil which has a very tight weedproof
membrane and then the blue slate on top. We tried cutting the membrane
back about a foot fron the edge so the box were not totally surrounded
by membrane but this doesnt seem to have helped.

Interestingly many of the plants are flourishing and odd ones in the
middle of yellow ones are green. We have whole sections that are still
green and much taller and stronger than the yellow ones.

Does anyone know what else we should try.
We have bought a house that has a lovely box knott garden. During the
months since we moved in some of the box trees have started to turn
yellow and now many of them are completely yellow. As yet the leaves
are not dropping off.

Picture of the hedges

We were told that it was maybe because the soil was too damp and
indeed the box's are planted in soil which has a very tight weedproof
membrane and then the blue slate on top. We tried cutting the membrane
back about a foot fron the edge so the box were not totally surrounded
by membrane but this doesnt seem to have helped.

Interestingly many of the plants are flourishing and odd ones in the
middle of yellow ones are green. You cant see from this picture but we
have whole sections that are still green and much taller and stronger
than the yellow ones.

Does anyone know what else we should try.




--
stuartforrest

Try googling for info on Box Blight, If the hedges were previously
healthy and are now suffering I would suspect that. or garden chemicals
(which you will know whether you have used or not, main culprits are
lawn weedkillers) Unless you have had a sudden flooding event I would
have thought that if the hedge has been there more than a year it has
coped with winter wet before and I can not see why it should suddenly
decide to go yellow. Has anything else changed - do you have a male dog?!
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

The message
from stuartforrest contains
these words:

We have bought a house that has a lovely box knott garden. During the
months since we moved in some of the box trees have started to turn
yellow and now many of them are completely yellow. As yet the leaves
are not dropping off.

Picture of the hedges

This isn't a binary newsgroup, so any images are removed from post on servers.

We were told that it was maybe because the soil was too damp and
indeed the box's are planted in soil which has a very tight weedproof
membrane and then the blue slate on top. We tried cutting the membrane
back about a foot fron the edge so the box were not totally surrounded
by membrane but this doesnt seem to have helped.

Earthworms need oxygen just like all other creatures. Soil's probably
gone sour.

Interestingly many of the plants are flourishing and odd ones in the
middle of yellow ones are green. We have whole sections that are still
green and much taller and stronger than the yellow ones.

Ah! That sounds rather like vine weevil attack. Gargle for biological
control, or someone will be along here soon to tell you where to get the
remedy.

Does anyone know what else we should try.

Sequestered iron, perhaps. Murphy do one called, IIRC, 'Sequestrene',
which also contains (again IIRC) magnesium and manganese. Manganese
deficience (often met with in Eastern England) is a contender.

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

Sorry here is a link to the pictures

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/stuartforrest/BoxHedges#

I dont think they have been fine. These are new trees. The garden was replanted last summer I believe and the membrane laid together with the purple slate in the middle.

We always have a flooding event here, its the lake district!!

I did hear on the radio about box blight but they said you would have black spots on the leaves which we dont have. I have not seen any vine weevils either.

Perhaps we should try removing the membrane fully and also the Iron thing.

In message , stuartforrest
wrote

Sorry here is a link to the pictures

http://tinyurl.com/5uw9h6

I dont think they have been fine. These are new trees. The garden was
replanted last summer I believe and the membrane laid together with the
purple slate in the middle.

We always have a flooding event here, its the lake district!!

I did hear on the radio about box blight but they said you would have
black spots on the leaves which we dont have. I have not seen any vine
weevils either.

Perhaps we should try removing the membrane fully and also the Iron
thing.


Possible the clue is in your first post: "During the months since we
moved in"

The garden looks like something from one of the daytime TV makeover
shows where you spend £500 on the garden and an estate agent comes in
and values the house at £25K more. The garden only has to last until
the contracts are signed

The previous owner probably used some chemical method for removing the
jungle that was there before.
--
Alan
news2006 {at} amac {dot} f2s {dot} com

The message
from stuartforrest contains
these words:

I did hear on the radio about box blight but they said you would have
black spots on the leaves which we dont have. I have not seen any vine
weevils either.

You rarely see them. The adults are small, and a matt dark buff colour,
and the grubs eat the roots. You could carefully dig out one of the
worst plants and see if there are any little white grubs amongst the
roots.

Perhaps we should try removing the membrane fully and also the Iron
thing.

Can't hurt, so long as you follow the instructions on the packet.

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

In article ,
says...
In message , stuartforrest
wrote

Sorry here is a link to the pictures

http://tinyurl.com/5uw9h6

I dont think they have been fine. These are new trees. The garden was
replanted last summer I believe and the membrane laid together with the
purple slate in the middle.

We always have a flooding event here, its the lake district!!

I did hear on the radio about box blight but they said you would have
black spots on the leaves which we dont have. I have not seen any vine
weevils either.

Perhaps we should try removing the membrane fully and also the Iron
thing.


Possible the clue is in your first post: "During the months since we
moved in"

The garden looks like something from one of the daytime TV makeover
shows where you spend £500 on the garden and an estate agent comes in
and values the house at £25K more. The garden only has to last until
the contracts are signed

The previous owner probably used some chemical method for removing the
jungle that was there before.

I am not sure I would have chosen box hedging for the lake district in
the first place, that said the membrane is not likely to be the cause of
the problem (although it does make improving the soil more difficult) The
only wild box I know of in the uk grows in the south of england on
chalklands so good drainage. Your problem is not knowing what was there
before, some plants may be planted over something they don't like or as
has been suggested are suffering from residual weedkiller (that should
wash through with time) Could even have been some old diseased trees with
roots still down there.
Should any trees die I would take the opportunity to dig down and see
what was under them. It sounds like something wrong at the roots Could be
so many things. Try the sequestral your soil is quite likely acidic and
thats all it may be and its the cheapest least disruptive solution!
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

In article , Rusty_Hinge
writes

Does anyone know what else we should try.

Sequestered iron, perhaps. Murphy do one called, IIRC, 'Sequestrene',
which also contains (again IIRC) magnesium and manganese. Manganese
deficience (often met with in Eastern England) is a contender.



Rusty I have to agree with an earlier answer which is that it does sound
suspiciously like box blight. Perhaps if the OP googled for pictures to
compare , that might help. If it is box blight I am not sure there's
anything they can do apart from grub it all up and burn the material.
Not sure if blight remains in the soil or is insect carried?

Over the past three years many people have lost hedges of box to this.

I don't think box i particularly averse to an alkaline soil if it was
then it would all be yellow.
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

From the photo there seems to be a lot more brown than green! Our daughter has a low box hedge in E Sussex, with the odd brown in amongst the green. They have a dog who I think is the main suspect. The back of your garden looks very open. Could you have foxes??

I totally agree about the makeover comment. The garden was relaid to sell the house although we had been looking at the house since last November when the hedge was yound and green and bought the house in August where they were still fine. In September we started to notice some of the turning yellow.

We could certainly have foxes as we have dear, owls etc regularly. This is a very countryfied location.

We have another box hedge down the lawn which is about 100 metres long and is very healthy and growing. It is about 50 feet from this knott garden so I know they can exist just fine around here.

They certainly did clear the previous garden and replant it so it is not beyond possible that they used some weedkiller but it didnt have amy effect for over a year as I know the plants suvived since last November so that one sounds a bit less likely I think.

Ok here are some new photos where you can see the plants mostly green on the 1st of September and then some close ups of the leaves now

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/stuartforrest/BoxHedges#