disease of laurel
By Maz48
United Kingdom 
the young growth on my laurel bushes has rusty coloured patches on leaves, holes in the leaves and looks sick. the mature leaves are dark green and healthy looking.
5 Nov, 2008
Previous question
Do you have a picture of the infection Maz? It does sound like Shot hole disease from your discription. I have looked it up for you and according to my book, laurel and flowering chery are occasionally attacked by this disorder. brown spots appear on the foliage, and as the leaves expand these brown areas fall out leaving holes scattered over the leaf surface. as only weak trees/shrubs are attacked, build up thier vigour by spraying with fillip during the summer.
that is all it says in my book, so if it is shot hole, i don't think you need to dig it up or anything, i would just remove all effected bits and distroy them it is not the best time of year for feeding so i would maybe loosen some of the soil around the base and mulch with some good organic matter, i use B & Q's organic soil improver, i have found this really good, for old tiered soil, or if you have it the best possible treat for your poor laurel would be your own home brewed compost! and then maybe some blood, fish and bone in spring and spray as recommended in summer. good luck.
5 Nov, 2008