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Help with Mountain Laurel
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Posted by garden_junkie_carrie 5 (My Page) on Thu, Jan 17, 08 at 21:24
| I have a rock garden to the right of my house that has mountain laurel perfect in a row (there were 3 but the wind got one of them last year). When we moved here, some of the trees, brush had to be cleared from this area. I cleared all the thistles, briars and small, rotted trees from around these laurels and have mulched heavily around them. Of the two remaining, one is leaning really bad. I can see under the roots of it. What can I do other than prop it up? DH made me a fork type support I have it propped on for now and I have mulched again around the roots. Should I fill this in with dirt, dig all around it to try to replant? Help
p.s. This is a pic of an OLD Mountain Laurel in bloom last summer that we saved. I'm worried about the branch to the left breaking under the weight of the new limbs growing on it. It's a little split looking where it joins the main branch. I have mulched around it. Should I prop it up also? Twice a year, I give them all a good acidic drink.
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Help with Mountain Laurel
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| I think you just let nature take it's course here. You can try to prop it up, tie it up, etc., but you have to accept it may fade away anyway. You may see it send up new shoots from the roots as it strives to stay alive. Give the area plenty of chopped leaves or mulch as natural decomposition of these materials is the best thing for them. I can't tell how close the grass is to the area, but you don't want it too close. It represents competition for soil moisture. |
RE: Help with Mountain Laurel
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I wouldn't try to do anything to the one with exposed roots. If it appears healthy and produces flowers, then it is satisfied. Add some leaf mold around it each year and it should be OK.
During the coming Spring, if I had the one pictured, I would place a permanent support under the horizontal portion of the limb, a few feet from the trunk (large rock?) and then bend the outer portion, near where they(there appears to be two) begin to curve upward, down to the soil and stake or pin them in contact with the soil or dig a shallow trench. Cover a few feet of the limbs, (include leaf nodes, when possible, but remove the leaves) with a few inches of soil and lots of leaf mold. Roots should develop at that point and they will begin to support the limbs as separate plants. To advance the rooting process, a small slit can be made in the limb in contact with the soil and held open with toothpicks. Adding a rooting hormone into the wound may help speed the process. It will usually require a year or more for roots to develop.
Good luck with your beauties! :<)
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RE: Help with Mountain Laurel
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| If the leaning Mountain Laurel has multiple trunks, you could try cutting a few, perhaps 1/3, of the trunks back to a height of only a foot or two. This should encourage the remaining stubs to produce new growth. After a year or two, when you are convinced that the procedure will work and result in new growth, cut another 1/3, and repeat again in a year. This should result in a new, smaller, balanced shrub without much risk that you'll lose the whole thing, which could happen if you cut it all back at once. I would mulch over the exposed roots with leaves or leaf mold. The shrub is leaning because it has gotten too tall and unbalanced. Perhaps when you removed the other stuff growing around it you either removed a plant that it was leaning on, or you disturbed the roots and caused it to topple. It is also possible this would have happened even if you had never done anything nearby. In any case, the bush isn't dead and could be saved, I think. |
RE: Help with Mountain Laurel
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| Here in the pinelands fires have swept through repeatedly. They are adapted to it, but it is a problem when people build here. The acres of Mt. Laurel get burned to the ground. Around the black branches dense beautiful foliage sprouts and, after several years, blooms. If you are willing to wait, I really think that any cut to the ground, would re-sprout to form well-rounded bushes. Otherwise,cut them down, move the roots and replace them with new, nicely formed plants. |
RE: Help with Mountain Laurel
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| I have lots of laurel on my property and I found that occassionally you have to do a drastic cut and leave only a little above ground. They grow back in healthier and fuller. I have also been known to play large moss rocks (field stone) on explosed roots with lots of compost and decaying organic matter. Good luck. If you ever need any more, I have lots. You can also build some amazing pieces of furniture and decorative items from the cut stems. Take care |
RE: Help with Mountain Laurel
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| Cut stems can be used to build or construct pieces of furniture like desks, but I think it is not ideal for furniture, especially about the durability issue. |
Here is a link that might be useful: chair
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