How to Make Laurel Grow Faster

Emma Loker Headshot - DIY Garden
Written by: - Gardening Expert
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how to make laurel grow faster

Laurel is a great choice for hedging and adding privacy to your garden.

It’s fast-growing, adding 15-60cm of growth every year, and has luscious green leaves, making it a sight to behold. 

But is your Laurel looking a bit sorry for itself? Is it turning pale and barely growing? This is a sign that something’s wrong. 

This article will coach you through how to make Laurel grow faster.

Follow this straightforward 5-step guide to ensure your Laurel maintains its lovely liveliness and rapid growth. 

How to Make Laurel Grow Faster

1. Use a Fertiliser

newly-planted-laurel-hedge

If in doubt, fertilise. Fertilisers pack a punch of nutritional goodness that your Laurel will most certainly benefit from. But choose the right fertiliser! 

Fertilising When Planting

When planting your Laurel, add in Rootgrow mycorrhizal fungi. Mycorrhizal fungi form a symbiotic relationship with Laurel, so they’ll look after your plant from the outset. 

Fertilising Young Laurels

Mix Bonemeal into the soil for young shrubs, bearing in mind 1 kilo (1000 grams) will be sufficient for 15 metres of Laurel hedging.  

Fertilising Mature Laurels

Growmore is a well-balanced fertiliser that contains nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in abundance. Add this to a mature Laurel when mulching. Then, watch it flourish before your very eyes! 

If your mature Laurel looks a little worse for wear, try a specialist fertiliser such as After-plant Evergreen or Seaweed Bio-stimulant. These will stimulate new growth both under and above ground!

2. Keep Watering Them

You and I both know that plants need water. Laurels don’t do well when underwatered. In fact, lack of water could be what’s causing its slow growth.

If your garden suffers from dry or sandy soil, you’ll need to water your Laurel often – around every 2 days. For water-retentive soil, give it a good sprinkling every 4 days. If your soil is super water-retentive and placed in a shady spot, watering every 6 days will do just fine. 

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3. Integrate layers of Compost

Laurel isn’t fussy – it grows well in most soil types. But what it doesn’t like is super sandy or heavy soil. To snazz up your soil, integrate some layers of compost. This will be jam-packed with nutrients, giving your Laurel plant the best chance to thrive.  

The problem comes if your Laurel is mature and well-established. The last thing you want to do is mess around with it and damage the roots. Instead, work on your soil over a long period, adding compost every now and then. This will give the soil, and your Laurel, a boost. 

4. Keep weeds at bay

Weeds are a plant’s worst nightmare – they steal nutrients and hijack water, making them unavailable to your beloved plants. An abundance of weeds around the base of your Laurel could be preventing it from reaching its full potential. 

So get your gloves on and start weeding! And remember to remove the whole root network, not just the leaves; otherwise, it’ll come back with a vengeance.

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5. Prune Your Laurel Back

The final step is to prune it back. Now, this may seem counterproductive – surely, if it hasn’t grown much, you want to keep everything you can?

Actually, trimming unwanted branches can rejuvenate your Laurel. Dead and damaged branches will be using up your plant’s precious resources, so it’s time for them to go! And prune the greenery every 2 months or so. This will encourage new growth, making your Laurel bigger than ever!

Final Word

If your Laurel’s needing a little loving, your first port of call is fertiliser. But consider whether your plant’s young or old because this will influence the fertiliser you need! If that doesn’t work, try more frequent watering. 

Snazzing up the soil can give your Laurel a new lease of life. But steer clear of this step if it’s a mature Laurel! Instead, try weeding around the base. This will free up water and nutrients, giving your Laurel everything it needs. 

And last but not least, give it a trim! Pruning can bring on new growth, leading to a thicker, healthier Laurel shrub.

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