Holly growth stunted with yellowing stems

Posts

• Dovefromabove Posts: 88,147

  October 2020

  Hello @mikeyocean and welcome to the forum 😊 

  
  

  Your holly certainly appears to be unhappy and struggling. It looks to me as if it’s very thirsty.  The soil near walls and high fences is usually very dry as it is in a ‘rain shadow’ and most plants in such spots need much more watering than if planted elsewhere. 

  
  

  Even at this time of year, with all the rain we’ve had, the soil several inches below the surface can be very dry as the wall’s foundations act like a sponge. 

  
  

  Last winter was unusually dry and spring and summer had some long dry spells and many trees and shrubs have suffered. 

  
  

  For now I would pour a couple of buckets of water slowly over the root area so that it really soaks into the depths of the soil, and then mulch with compost or composted bark or similar. 

  
  

  Then starting in mid March I would give your tree two buckets of water twice a week, poured on slowly as above, and give a feed of Fish, Blood & Bone ... a slow acting organic feed... as directed on the pack. 

  
  

  A photo from further back showing the tree in its surroundings might enable us to give further advice. 

  
  

  Hope that helps. Let us know how it goes 😊 

  
  Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
  
  
  
  
  
  

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• mikeyocean Posts: 4

  October 2020

  Thank-you, I really appreciate your advice and i’ll see how I get on. 👍🏻

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