Please Help with Holly Bushes

knervegna · Sat Jul 04, 2009 4:16 pm

I have a hedge of 9 Holly Bushes that are used for a hedge. They were all planted at the same time two years ago and have grown evenly and healthy. In the past two weeks, the leaves on the three bushes in the middle have started to wilt and fall off. During heavy rains, it does tend to flood in that area, but the water dissipates immediately after the rain stops. We had a very rainy spring however. Could this be the reason for this? and if so, is there a way to bring the bushes back to normal growth? Thank you to anyone who may be able to help me out!!

bullthistle · Sun Jul 05, 2009 7:47 am

Could be. What would you be like if you were under water for a while? You could possibly raise the plant up above ground level and mulch heavily so when it rains the plants aren't drowning or you could figure out how to drain the water away from the area. Any solution is going to involve work.

jdeb · Mon Jul 27, 2009 7:15 pm

knervegna wrote:I have a hedge of 9 Holly Bushes that are used for a hedge. They were all planted at the same time two years ago and have grown evenly and healthy. In the past two weeks, the leaves on the three bushes in the middle have started to wilt and fall off. During heavy rains, it does tend to flood in that area, but the water dissipates immediately after the rain stops. We had a very rainy spring however. Could this be the reason for this? and if so, is there a way to bring the bushes back to normal growth? Thank you to anyone who may be able to help me out!!

Almost certainly too much water (which they hate). You could try to improve drainage, but I suspect that it is too late and they are gone. If so, their roots will have rotted and root rot spreads quickly so if their neighbours start to fade, take them out before it spreads further.