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Cherry laurel yellow leaves

Updated: October 2026

Cherry laurel yellow leaves send people to a fertiliser page before they have looked at the leaf. Yellow between the veins, a whole pale hedge, brown tips, and holes that look like insect bites are different problems. A bottle will not close shot hole, and it will not cure powdery mildew. This page is the check before you buy. Product rows and prices stay on [Cherry laurel fertiliser](/hub/fertiliser-soil-and-bark-mulch/cherry-laurel-fertiliser). A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you. The Products Compared editorial team used Royal Horticultural Society guidance and the amazon.co.uk listings as they stood on 19 October 2026. This is not a laboratory diagnosis of your hedge.

Cherry laurel yellow leaves send people to a fertiliser page before they have looked at the leaf. Yellow between the veins, a whole pale hedge, brown tips, and holes that look like insect bites are different problems.

Our top picks

Substral Substral Thuja-Vital 500 ml

Best overall

Substral Substral Thuja-Vital 500 ml
5.0/10about £22.80
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Empathy Empathy After Plant evergreen granules 1 kg

Preis-Tipp

Empathy Empathy After Plant evergreen granules 1 kg
8.2/10about £7.99
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Empathy Empathy After Plant evergreen liquid 1 litre

Rank 3

Empathy Empathy After Plant evergreen liquid 1 litre
8.5/10about £9.46
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On this page
  1. 1.Yellow is not one problem
  2. 2.Holes are often shot hole or mildew
  3. 3.Magnesium has its own rate
  4. 4.When a feed is still reasonable

Yellow is not one problem

Start with the pattern, not the product. A pale leaf with weak shoots can be hunger, drought, waterlogging, or a young plant that has not rooted. Yellowing between the veins on older leaves is the RHS pattern for magnesium deficiency. Holes and brown spots are a leaf disease until something else is shown. Brown tips on a green hedge are often water. Portuguese laurel can show the same holes. The RHS says most laurel leaf diseases, except Eupropolella, also hit Portuguese laurel. Chalky soil is a known chlorosis risk on Prunus laurocerasus. If the hedge is dry, water it. If it is sitting in water, feeding makes the roots worse.

Holes are often shot hole or mildew

The RHS names powdery mildew, Stigmina, Eupropolella and Pseudomonas syringae as causes of holes and tattering on cherry laurel. Hopes Grove still suggests a spring feed and mulch. The RHS does not recommend a routine fungicide. Feed does not close holes that are already there. This page will not tell you to spray a fungicide. Bacterial shot hole linked to Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae is recorded on cherry laurel in the UK. Xanthomonas arboricola pv. pruni is a quarantine concern on imported Prunus. Severe spotting or cankers on new stock is a report-it case, not a feed case.
Substral Substral Thuja-Vital 500 ml

Testsieger

Substral Substral Thuja-Vital 500 ml
5.0/10about £22.80
View offer

Magnesium has its own rate

If older leaves yellow between the veins, the RHS remedy is magnesium, not a shrub food whose NPK you cannot read. On light soils the rate given is 30 g of magnesium sulphate per square metre, or a dull-day spray of 20 g of Epsom salts per litre, two or three times a fortnight. Those examples are tomatoes, apples, roses and rhododendrons, not a cherry laurel trial. Do not swap in Empathy, Goulding or Substral and call it the same job. None of the four listings print an NPK. A manufacturer page that describes Substral with magnesium is not the amazon.co.uk analysis. A general feed in the same week hides which treatment did what.

When a feed is still reasonable

A feed is reasonable when leaves are pale, shoots are weak, drainage is sorted, and you are in late winter or early spring. It will not close holes or cure mildew, and dead wood stays dead. Substral's listing says browning can be disease. The one UK review says Good and names no plant. Apply as on how to feed a cherry laurel hedge. Cherry laurel is harmful if eaten. The Veterinary Poisons Information Service notes that crushed tissue releases hydrogen cyanide. Shred outdoors, and do not leave heaps where animals can browse them.

Common questions

Why are my cherry laurel leaves yellow?
It depends which yellow you mean. Pale leaves and weak shoots can be hunger, drought or waterlogging. Yellow between the veins on older leaves matches the RHS magnesium pattern. Holes and brown spots point at shot hole or mildew. Water and drainage come before a bottle, and a healthy hedge often needs no feed at all.
Do holes mean insects or disease?
They often mean shot hole, which looks like insect damage and is commonly tied to weather and to diseases the RHS lists on laurel, including Pseudomonas syringae. Powdery mildew is separate. Do not assume a pest and reach for a spray from a fertiliser page. New plants with severe spotting or cankers are a reporting question, not a shopping one.
Will a fertiliser close shot-hole gaps?
No. Feed does not close holes that are already in the leaf, and it does not cure mildew. The RHS notes that feeding may help a struggling plant, and that laurel is usually robust enough not to need routine feeding. New growth can hide old damage. The damaged leaf does not heal shut.
When is magnesium sulphate the RHS remedy instead of a general feed?
When older leaves yellow between the veins and you are treating magnesium deficiency. The published rates are 30 g of magnesium sulphate per square metre on light soils, or a dull-day spray of 20 g of Epsom salts per litre, two or three times a fortnight. Those figures are not a general yellow-leaf cure, and they are not the NPK of the feeds in this comparison.
Are brown tips a reason to spray Substral?
Not by themselves. The listing offers an anti-brown formula and also says browning and dead shoots can be disease. Dilutions are 1:80 for watering and 1:67 for spray. The written UK sample does not describe a laurel result. Dead tips do not turn green because the bottle mentions brown.
What if the hedge is dry or sitting in water?
Water a dry hedge and sort drainage before you feed a wet one. Fertiliser on droughted or waterlogged roots is a mistake UK hedging guidance names directly. Yellow leaves in those conditions are not proof the plant is hungry. Mulch only once the soil is damp, and keep it off the stems.
When should I stop buying bottles and ask someone else?
Ask for help if a long hedge keeps dying after drainage is fixed and you have given one correct feed, if new stock shows severe spotting or cankers, or if a pet or livestock has eaten a large amount of laurel. Work above shoulder height beside a road is also someone else's job. Another bottle is not the next step in those cases.

Related pages

Best cherry laurel fertiliser

Fertiliser for a new laurel hedge

Cherry laurel fertiliser

Cherry laurel fertiliser buying guide: what to buy

How to feed a cherry laurel hedge: season and dose

Sources

Public UK and maker sources from the research digest, used for this page in October 2026. Prices, stars and review counts are from the four amazon.co.uk listings captured on 19 October 2026. The RHS did not rank these listings. A Germany-marked review is not UK opinion. Empathy's gram rates are the maker's statement, not a line on the amazon granule listing.

  1. RHS, How to grow shrubs (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  2. RHS, How to feed plants (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  3. RHS, Laurel leaf diseases (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  4. RHS, Nutrient deficiencies (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  5. Hedging Plants Direct, laurel hedge feed (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  6. GOV.UK, Manufacturing and marketing fertilisers (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  7. Veterinary Poisons Information Service, cherry laurel (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  8. Empathy After Plant Evergreen 1 kg (retrieved 19 October 2026)