British Columbia: Yellow leaves on Portuguese Laurels

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice as my Portuguese Laurels have developed a fair number of yellow leaves. I read that one of the causes could be lack of moisture, and the yellowing seemed to happen the least with the trees closest to the water supply. So I decided in September to let them be in the hopes that the rainy season would solve any water problem. Well we have had record levels of rain and there's no improvement. The trees are about 5 years old and were planted 2 years ago. I'm attaching some pictures, also at: Portuguese Laurels with Yellow leaves

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks,
Nate

 

The yellow leaves are not going to green up, and there will always be a loss of leaves, even on evergeen plants, which you hope will be replaced by new leaves.
Are you saying more yellow leaves have developed since the rain started? From the photos, it seems that the newest leaves are green.

 

Oldest leaves will color and drop every year. However the rest of the foliage of these specimens is quite pale also, indicating a problem. Maybe too wet or just needing to be fertilized.

 

I'd give them some mulch before the next long hot summer. The ones I planted as 2 ft tall plants 30 years ago also have yellow leaves on the inside. It takes a few years but soon enough you won't have to water them at all anymore. They'll thrive in a cooler coastal summer and be more able to take the heat in following years.