Buxus balls turned yellow

patrickspicture

Hi. I had planted a row of buxus balls a few months back. A few had brown leaves on them
and no new growth but there center was looking fresh. Now that it hasn't rained and I cut back on watering them the outer level has dried and turned yellow.
I don't know much about it and wanted to know if they will come back or are they done and need replacing.
Thank you

magicbastarder

google box blight. it may not be what you have, but worth checking out.

patrickspicture

magicbastarder wrote: »

google box blight. it may not be what you have, but worth checking out.

Thank will look into that

Slasher

i am no expert, and i don't like to contradict the moderator, but i don't think what you described is box blight.

The same thing has happened to mine, and i put it down to lack of water. But it might be something else.

magicbastarder

Slasher wrote: »

i don't like to contradict the moderator

heh, i'm a moderator of the cycling forum!

certainly didn't mean to imply it *is* box blight, but to look it up as a possible cause; 95% of what i know about box blight was from monty don having to dig up a lot of his box on gardener's world, due to it.

Slasher

Yes, i remember that on Gardeners' World a few weeks ago.

I really hope what i have is not box blight and it might recover, but, right now, it looks pretty sick.

patrickspicture

Slasher wrote: »

i am no expert, and i don't like to contradict the moderator, but i don't think what you described is box blight.

The same thing has happened to mine, and i put it down to lack of water. But it might be something else.

I google box blight and I don't think it is that on my trees, If it is lack of water will they recover?

Slasher

patrickspicture wrote: »

If it is lack of water will they recover?

Just to let you know, my box hedge went completely yellow. I brought a cutting to local garden centre, where they told me it's dead and won't recover, no matter how much water it gets from now on. She said the cause was lack of water.

metricspaces

Slasher wrote: »

Just to let you know, my box hedge went completely yellow. I brought a cutting to local garden centre, where they told me it's dead and won't recover, no matter how much water it gets from now on. She said the cause was lack of water.

What garden centre did you go to?

Could anyone recommend a good garden centre in Dublin/Louth/Meath are with knowledgeable staff?

I've got a similar problem with two buxus plants and would like an expert opinion https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057886874/1 .

My buxus seem to be getting worse even though I feed them every two weeks and they've been kept fully watered all summer. There is some new growth, but they are getting less and less dense to the extent I can see right through the plant now.

looksee

Slasher wrote: »

i am no expert, and i don't like to contradict the moderator, but i don't think what you described is box blight.

The same thing has happened to mine, and i put it down to lack of water. But it might be something else.

Please feel free to contradict moderators, unless they are posting with mod in bold they are just posters.

looksee

People have different ideas of what constitutes 'watering'. Plants in pots can dry out very easily, and if they are in compost rather than a soil/compost mix it is extremely difficult to get them wet again. A largish pot with a shrub in it could easily take two or three litres of water to wet it through. If the water just comes out of the bottom of the pot it needs to be put on a tray or other container and the water poured slowly onto the soil giving it chance to soak through. If you have lots of drainage crocks in the bottom of the pot it may not soak up the extra water.

Don't use the sprinkler head on a watering can, it just fools you into thinking you have put on more water than you have.

Also remember that a shrub can shelter the soil from getting enough water if there is only a light shower of rain, so you may need to water even if there has been a shower.

Sorry if I am stating the obvious, but I am related to people who think that a sprinkle of water on the surface of everything is 'watering'. It is not, it actually makes the situation worse!

patrickspicture

metricspaces wrote: »

What garden centre did you go to?

Could anyone recommend a good garden centre in Dublin/Louth/Meath are with knowledgeable staff?

I've got a similar problem with two buxus plants and would like an expert opinion https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057886874/1 .

My buxus seem to be getting worse even though I feed them every two weeks and they've been kept fully watered all summer. There is some new growth, but they are getting less and less dense to the extent I can see right through the plant now.

Hi. I asked the question originally so I don't know much about it but I ran into a professional Gardener pulling out shrubs that looked similar to mine so I asked him about it.
His problem was someone put the buxus in pots without good drainage and they drown. So maybe they had to much water.

metricspaces

patrickspicture wrote: »

Hi. I asked the question originally so I don't know much about it but I ran into a professional Gardener pulling out shrubs that looked similar to mine so I asked him about it.
His problem was someone put the buxus in pots without good drainage and they drown. So maybe they had to much water.

Thanks. I'm not sure drowning is the cause of the problem with my buxus. I put lots of stones in the bottom of my pot and the pot has a hole in the bottom.

When I water once a week I do give it a good soaking with half a watering can (4 litres?) and a small bit of the water runs out the bottom. So I know there is drainage.

I read somewhere it's good to give them a good soaking once a week as opposed to less water more regularly. Rationale being that when you soak them water gets down to bottom of pot and this encourages roots to grow down. Whereas if you just water little and often the water will not make its way down to the bottom of the pot.

metricspaces

Here are some images I took yesterday of the plants. What do people think?

Image one, see the dark purple leaves.

One:


Two:


Three:

New Home

That to me looks like it got too much direct sun and it scorched the leaves (for the purple parts); the yellow could very well be lack of water. It doesn't look dire, it doesn't look dead to me at all. You can actually see the green shoots already pushing through the topiary.

Now, if you see these, then it's HUUUGE trouble, and I'd suggest you got in touch with Biodiversity Ireland ASAP. They can destroy whole box hedges overnight, and you'd be left with something like this (sometimes they recover in two or three years, most often they don't).

LaLa2004

I'm not saying this is the problem but that plant is very close to the wall/building. It might be sheltered by the building when it rains. It may not get as much rain as one would think.

Metricspaces - I have a similar plant in a container like yours and can understand your frustration. They are so expensive to buy.