Last updated on October 23rd, 2023 at 08:26 pm
In general, you will have few problems with the Taxus. This hardy hedge plant can also live to be quite old: the oldest Taxus plants on record even date back to before the dawn of time. The Taxus, unlike some other conifer varieties, is not particularly susceptible when it comes to mold diseases and pest infestations. Still, it can sometimes happen that your pretty evergreen Taxus hedge suddenly gets brown spots. We’re happy to explain why your Taxus hedge is turning brown, and more importantly, what you can do about it.
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Brown taxus due to waterlogging
There is one thing that Taxus does not tolerate well: soil that is too wet. If your Taxus hedge is growing in soil that is too wet for the long term, then it is possible that this will cause the hedge to turn brown and eventually die. If you know for a fact that your Taxus has turned brown due to waterlogging, then you can drain the soil. You can do this by digging a sewer pipe into the ground underneath the hedge. You should be careful when doing this. After all, the roots should not be damaged during this process. You may also have a gardener install this wastewater system. Then you will know that everything is in order.
However, before you want to consider such a solution, you should first see if your Taxus hedge can still be saved. If your hedge has died completely due to waterlogging, then it is actually already too late. If so, you should dispose of the plants and then drain the soil before planting a new Taxus hedge in the ground again. Because the Taxus has a slow growth, in this particular case you can opt for a prefabricated hedge made of Taxus plants. If you’d rather not install a complicated drainage system in your yard, you can also poke a few deep holes in the planting holes before planting the new hedge in the ground. This will help you avoid waterlogging problems again with new conifers.
Do you prefer not to plant any more Taxus in your garden because you are afraid that the same problems will occur again? If so, you may as well use a hedge that can handle waterlogging much better than the Taxus. The olive willow, the hornbeam and the primeval redwood are extremely well suited in this respect.
The right soil for the Taxus hedge
The Taxus prefers a humus-rich, well-drained garden soil that also contains some lime and magnesium. In principle, the Taxus can also grow on other types of soil, but nevertheless, problems can then arise over time if your Taxus hedge is not planted in a suitable soil. Your Taxus can then turn brown due to a lack of lime in the soil, for example. Does your garden soil not contain enough lime? Then it can happen that the roots can not develop optimally. It is then recommended to give your Taxus hedge once a year a good basic fertilizer and a fertilizer containing lime.
Don’t know exactly what garden soil your Taxus hedge is in? Which Taxus varieties will fit in your garden? A soil analysis can be helpful then. If your Taxus should turn brown, then you should also find out the cause as quickly as possible. Only in this way can you also quickly find a suitable solution. However, a detailed soil analysis can be a bit expensive. There are several companies that perform such an analysis. In most cases, you will have to send a soil sample of your hedge to the laboratory. You can also do a soil test yourself, as there are quite from cheaper soil tests that you can buy at a garden center. However, these often only measure the pH of the soil in your garden. However, if you have problems with your Taxus hedge, this value is not always sufficient.
Problems with the taxus scale insect
Another cause of your Taxus hedge turning brown is problems with Taxus scale insects. This pest can attack your pretty hedge quite severely. There are two possibilities for the fact that you suddenly have Taxus scale insects in your yard. Often, these critters are already in the potted plants when you buy the Taxus. You then plant the hedge in your garden along with the Taxus scale insects. Of course, you can avoid this by only buying the Taxus from a good nursery. For example, our company only works with the very best nurseries that have many years of expertise when it comes to Taxus. Our nurseries know exactly what the hardy Taxus needs in order to develop well into a healthy and particularly hardy plant. After all, the Taxus is by nature also particularly strong and hardy. And we can’t repeat it often enough: the healthy base of your hedge plants starts with the nurseries.
Of course, if your neighbor’s garden is suffering from Taxus scale insects, there is a chance that these scale insects will quickly find their way into your garden as well. The Taxus scale aphid is a pest: although it can only spread by crawling, it can still easily reach nearby gardens. You now know how the Taxus scale aphid can get into your garden, so now is also the time to think about controlling this pest. The Taxus scale aphid stays mainly on the ground, near the Taxus roots. These roots are then eaten quite severely, so your Taxus hedge will slowly die from the inside out. In addition, the scale also lays hundreds of eggs in the garden soil, very close to the hedge roots.
Control taxus scale insect
The most effective method of controlling Taxus scale aphids is to control the larvae. You can catch adult Taxus scale insects with so-called larvae traps. This control method is also environmentally friendly and completely harmless to us humans. You can also buy a special compost, which will then contain a certain mold that will kill the Taxus scale insects. In addition, you can buy various, chemical control agents, for example, through an online web store or even in a garden center. Fortunately, the taxus scale aphid is generally easy to control. The same cannot be said of the boxwood borer, for example, which is often found in boxwood hedges as a particularly persistent pest.
If parts of your Taxus hedge have already died due to the damage caused by the Taxus beetle, then you can easily replace parts of your hedge with prefabricated hedge elements. These are healthy, mature hedge pieces that can replace destroyed hedge parts quite wonderfully.