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Viburnum Tinus: Yellowing and No New Growth

lawrence 804lawrence 804 Posts: 22
edited June 2020 in Plants
Please help!

I am worried about my Viburnum Tinus because:

  1. I can't see any new leafy growth.
  2. By comparison, June last year (pic 5) had lots of leafy growth.
  3. There's lots of yellow leaves.
  4. It's thinning.
  5. It just doesn't "look" healthy compared with everything else: all other plants are having the "time of their lives" right now, but this one just looks rather sad and demotivated.
As far as how I've cared for it / the shrub's history:
  • Planted as a mature shrub 18 months ago (pic 4).
  • Last winter: mulched.
  • This year: watered about once every 10 days.
  • This year: Osmocote 6-Month Plant Feed (given in March).
  • This year: in March it had some new leafy growth out of the bottom of the shrub. Since it wasn't in-keeping with the shape, I snipped it off. It hasn't really generated any new growth since, and is yellowing.
Any ideas on how to get new leafy growth "all over" and to reduce number of yellow leaves?

(p.s. compare pic 1 to pic 5 -- 12 months apart -- this is why I feel it's not doing very well comparatively!)

- June 2nd 2020, No Growth (Pic 1) -



- June 2nd 2020, Thinning (Pic 2) -



- June 2nd 2020 (Pic 3) -



- October 7th 2018, First Day Planted (Pic 4) -



- June 22nd 2019, Lots of Growth! (Pic 5) -


Posts

  • BorderlineBorderline Posts: 4,700
    It's an extremely mature shrub to begin with. I suspect, even with all the 'round-the-clock' care, it's highly likely with warm dry weather such as the last 2 summers, the whole shrub will be weakened. It's right up against the fence, so even with rain, most of the rain will not have penetrated enough throughout its life.

    Having said all that, at this time of year, evergreen shrubs will shed their leaves, and yellowing of leaves are normal too. I do see some possible Vine Weevil damage to the leaves, so that may be an added bit that weakens the whole shrub. The soil may need some treatment.

    Do also water the shrub in the warm and dry weather. Especially when no serious rain forecast for over 4-5 weeks. Be generous, directing the water into the base in the evening or early mornings.
  • lawrence 804lawrence 804 Posts: 22
    It's an extremely mature shrub to begin with.

    Please could you clarify what's implied by this? (Sorry! I'm just not sure if that means "it's probably on its last legs" / "it will generally have less vigour" / something else  :D ).

    This source seems to state they last 25-50 years, so without knowing its exact age, I could only compare to larger ones I've seen in the area (I have seen a couple that are around 4m high) so would hazard a guess at 12 years...

    By the sounds of it: what it's been missing most is water?
  • BorderlineBorderline Posts: 4,700
    That comment was just highlighting the size of it when it was planted. Quite a large mature size shrub, but by no means on its last legs! These shrubs are long lived plants. More concerned it may take a while to settle into the soil compared with smaller 50cm tall plants.

    Usually, the larger the shrub size planted, the more time is needed with watering. I think it needs a bit more help with watering during the drier periods. The shrub is also planted close to the boundary, so will not likely get a good watering from the rain. More likely to suffer water stress.

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