Japanese Privet Hedge not growing!

10 years ago

Hello all,

I'm new here, first post.

I'm hoping someone can help me with my privet hedge which isn't growing well.

We bought a house out here in Woodland Hill, CA almost 4 years ago and the back edge of the property only had a chain link fence separating our property from the neighbor. The adjacent side of the property had big privet hedges separating and they seemed to be growing well so we planted a row of privets for privacy along the back as well. The area slopes down from right to left and the right half of the hedge has grown pretty well. It has gotten tall and has filled out relatively well.

However, the lower area down to the left has not grown almost at all in 4 years! About 6-8 plants have sat there, barely changing over the years. Each summer they grow a few inches on the top but then kinda thin out. I've tried pruning them, watering them different amounts, adding gypsum to the very clay soils, feeding them periodically and nothing works. Initially, these plants had trouble with some type of pest, they got little bite marks all along the edges of the leaves. I treated a few times with an imidicloprid based spray from Home Depot which eliminated this problem a long time ago. That problem has not returned. However, the plants just don't fill out or grow. They have remained about 4-6 feet tall and sparse and haven't changed much.

Because they are lower than the plants that are doing well on the right I considered that it may be a drainage issue but the hedge along the left side of the property is even lower than this problem area and is doing fine (although those plants have probably been there for decades).

Does anyone have any tips on how to fix the problem or troubleshoot what is going wrong?

If pictures of the plants would help, let me know and I'll post a few right away.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give!

Cheers!

Josh

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Comments (9)

jdusick
Original Author
10 years ago
Here are some pictures. This one shows the cut off between the better growing plants to the right, which are much taller and more dense, and the problem plants on the left.
jdusick
Original Author
10 years ago
Here are the problem plants. You can see that the ones to the left are the worst.
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jdusick
Original Author
10 years ago
Another
jdusick
Original Author
10 years ago
Last one...

Thanks!
lisanti07028
10 years ago
Thanks for the pictures. That is sure weird. Did you notice anything different about the soil where the duds are planted? Anything different about the roots on those plants? If it were my yard, I would dig up one or two and see what's going on in the root zone. My understanding is that these shrubs are not expensive, so you could just replace a couple and see if they do better.
jdusick
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks lisanti!

No, the soil doesn't look any different than over on the right. All the plants were planted at the same time and from the same batch of plants from the same nursery.

I suppose I could try planting a new one or two but while not expensive, they aren't cheap for a good size plant. I'd hate to plant new ones and have the same problem and be right back where I am in a few months or next year. I guess I was hoping for a magical cure that will fix the problem but I guess I'll need to try something like this eventually.
Iris GW
10 years ago
I assume you're having to provide irrigation here. Any chance that the irrigation is not working well in that section?

By the way, looks more like chinese privet than japanese privet to me, not that it makes any difference.
jdusick
Original Author
10 years ago
Hello esh_ga,

I do have an irrigation drip line there but I usually just water by hose periodically. I've at times tried watering more or less to see if it makes a difference but haven't noticed any.

Do you think that in this hot, dry climate these privet are wanting more water? I haven't watered the plants to the right any more or differently than the problem plants.

Thanks for your input!

Josh
Phil S
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Hi Josh,

I live in southern California as well and noticed your post. I know it's old, but did you ever figure out your issue? I planted the same plants in my yard 9 months ago, and one row doesn't seem to be growing much. Then one side is getting so much more thicker. I verified they are all getting about equal amounts of watering via micro sprayers (pic). I know it's only been 9 months, but want to get ahead of any issues I may be facing.

Thanks all