How often to water cherry laurel

The interval

A cherry laurel hedge is watered hard for two years and hardly at all afterwards. Count on a deep watering about every 5 days through the growing season when there has been no rain, and about every 30 days in winter only if the ground is dry. Growing season means the warm, bright months from spring to early autumn, roughly March to September in the northern hemisphere and September to March in the southern. The Royal Horticultural Society advises watering newly planted hedges regularly for the first two years and says established hedges should not need extra water.

Check the soil, not the date. Push a trowel blade or a finger 8 to 10 cm down beside the plants. If the soil there is dry and crumbly, water, and if it is cool and holds together, wait. A young plant in a large container can be lifted at one side, since a dry container is far lighter than a wet one. A first-summer hedge should never be left to fend for itself in a dry spell.

Water slowly and deeply at the base. Run a hose on a trickle at each plant, or fill a basin of soil around the stem and let it sink in, and then leave the hedge until the soil has dried again. The RHS recommends a generous mulch at least 5 cm thick around new hedge plants, kept clear of the stems.

Too much water, or poorly drained soil, leaves the roots without air, and NC State Extension lists root rot among its problems. Too little shows as drooping in a young plant. NC State Extension describes the established plant as tolerant of alkaline soils, dry and poor soils, so a dry spell harms a settled hedge far less than a wet winter does.

What is particular to this plant is its poison and its shot-hole. The leaves and seeds contain cyanogenic glycosides, and NC State Extension says they are particularly toxic while wilting, so clippings are not something to leave where an animal can reach them. Shot-hole disease finds soft late growth, which is why feeding is kept light.

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Watering through a southern winter

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