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Poorly Photinia red robin
Hi all, I have several Photinia in my garden 5 I planted last year some distance from the 2 in question and another 1/2 standard about 5 ft away.
These two I have had in very big pots for 2 years while I did work on the garden and have grown very well, they are about 5 ft tall. Planted them out last year they have consistently grown well.
Unfortunately this year they have been loosing leaves quicker than they are growing them.
They have black spots all over a lot of the leaves. This seems to be a bit of a thing with Photinia.

Do you think they will Recover or are they doomed!
They both have lots of new growth, it would realy suck to loose them.
Is there anything I can do? I work away a lot so can't do stuff every week.
I collect and dispose of all the fallen leaves as often as I can and remove any leaves that are ablut to go. It's mostly red leaves they just about fall off when you touch them.



These two I have had in very big pots for 2 years while I did work on the garden and have grown very well, they are about 5 ft tall. Planted them out last year they have consistently grown well.
Unfortunately this year they have been loosing leaves quicker than they are growing them.
They have black spots all over a lot of the leaves. This seems to be a bit of a thing with Photinia.

Do you think they will Recover or are they doomed!
They both have lots of new growth, it would realy suck to loose them.
Is there anything I can do? I work away a lot so can't do stuff every week.
I collect and dispose of all the fallen leaves as often as I can and remove any leaves that are ablut to go. It's mostly red leaves they just about fall off when you touch them.



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Posts
Evergreen shrubs will lose their older leaves, and on Photinias, this tends to happen after the winter, but so long as the plant has been planted into well prepared planting hole, and kept watered throughout the first 2-3 years, they will eventually settle. It needs time.
Other things to bear in mind. They prefer to be in the sun, and they don't do well in exposed windy positions. Soil-wise, they need free draining soil to begin with, but once they establish they can do fine on heavier surrounding soils. Laying the slate chipping makes it hard to know how wet/dry to soil is underneath. I don't recommend something like that on newly planted shrubs. The decorative look is usually more suitable once a shrub has matured enough.
The soil around the base is OK, definitely not dry.
Our soil is heavy clay so when I made the beds I dug down a good 40 to 50cm and then filled with a mixture of compost, well rotted farmyard manure and topsoil. Then as I planted them I added some blood fish and bone to the hole.
At the moment they get sun from about 10am to 3pm in summer when the sun is higher it is 10 until 5 and once they make it above the wall it will be until sunset.
Unfortunately in winter it is fairly windy but that can't be avoided.
I will pull the chippings back from around the base and give it some food.
See what happens.