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How To Make Laurel Grow Faster

Depending on the species, laurel hedges grow between 15-60cm per year, but if your laurel isn’t growing quick enough for your garden, there are some ways you can speed up the process. You can see more about how fast laurel grows here. There are many tips and tricks that can be used to make laurel grow faster and encourage laurel growth. We’ve detailed some of our advice below.

  • Use a fertiliser
  • Watering regularly
  • Choose the right soil
  • Pruning laurel

Use a Fertiliser

Using fertiliser is a great way to encourage laurel growth. Established laurels grow better with the help of balanced fertilisers such as Rootgrow fertiliser, whereas new laurels struggling to establish and grow prefer a natural, organic fertiliser such as Bonemeal. Read more about the best fertiliser for laurel for more information.

Water your Laurel Regularly

As obvious as it sounds, your laurel may not be growing fast enough due to lack of water. If your laurel shrub is new, you should be regularly watering particularly in its first year of growth. We recommend that in the summer months you water:

  • every 2 days if the soil is very dry and / or sandy.
  • every 4 days if the soil holds water.
  • every 6 days if the soil holds water and is in the shade.

With enough water, your laurel hedge will grow thick and fast all year long.

Choose the Right Soil

Laurel is suitable for most types of soil, but if your ground is particularly heavy or sandy. we’d recommend adding a layer of compost to better the chances of your laurel establishing. Without the right soil, laurel can be slow to grow so you may want to consider this when planting.

Pruning Laurel to Encourage Growth

Over time, the bottom branches of the laurel hedge can become bare, slowing its growth, whilst the top is heavy and thick with foliage. This can cause problems in terms of supporting its own weight.

Remove dead or damaged branches as soon as possible to encourage laurel growth. Sharp pruners or hedge trimmers will make this a lot easier and quicker to do.

To prune laurel to encourage growth, we’d recommend trimming the branches and cutting them back several times a year (depending on how fast it grows) by up to a quarter. This makes the bush come back bushier and thicker than before more rapidly. If you have buds on the branches, cut around a quarter to half of an inch above the bud to encourage growth. Ensure you’re gentle during this process, as a steep cut can be counter-intuitive and damage your laurel.

Hopes Grove Nurseries are the UK’s hedging specialists, particularly when it comes to laurel hedging. We stock several varieties including common laurel hedges, bay laurel, Portuguese laurel, spotted laurel hedging and more.

To speak to us in more detail about how to make laurel grow faster, you can speak to a friendly team member by getting in touch.

More Laurel Hedging Questions