Knowledgebase

My schip laurels lost of their leaves #890733

Asked December 12, 2024, 8:03 AM EST

Around a month ago, my schip laurels starting losing their leaves from the middle of the bush and now the entire bush.

Montgomery County Maryland

Expert Response

It's hard to tell from the image what is bothering the plants, but more information about the shrubs will help us to narrow-down possible diagnoses.

Are they well-established, having been in the ground several years, or were they planted in the past year or two?
Were they being watered this summer? (Most of the state has been in drought status for much of the growing season.)
When they were planted, were the root balls loosened (if grown in a container) or the burlap and any wire or twine removed from around the root ball (if they were sold as b&b/balled-and-burlapped plants)?
Do deer visit the yard? The tree planted nearby look like it has a significant degree of "buck rub," which is when male deer rub antlers on slender tree trunks to try to scratch the velvet off. (It's hard to predict if that tree will survive...sometimes trees can recover and close-over the wound over the course of a couple years.) Deer don't prefer to eat cherrylaurel (schip laurel being a type of cherrylaurel), but they can browse them if hungry enough. The plant that appears to be an arborvitae on the other side of the fence also looks like it was browsed.
Are any scale visible on the lower bark? You can learn about what to look for on our White Prunicola Scale web page, since that can be a common pest of cherrylaurel, especially when the shrubs are stressed. We don't see any white coating on the bark indicating scale is present, but the photo is taken from enough distance that we can't be sure.

Miri