Hi Gardeners, I need help with dying shrubs

[caseylouandtyler2]

Hi Gardeners,

I posted a question on the CB about my dying dwarf boxwoods. I didn't realize there was a gardening board. Anyway, I have six dwarf boxwoods along the walkway. I planted them about 8 or 9 years ago. They have been the perfect shrub for me, until my MIL watered them while I was on vacation. It was about 98 degrees about 2pm full sun. Needless to say I was very surprised and not to happy to come home from vacation and find five inch round yellow spots on my shrubs. That was two years ago that she did this and the shrubs still haven't really recoverd in those spots. With the long winter they were burried in snow for quite a while. And those particular spots are now brittle, dry, dead. Last spring the shrubs looked like they were coming back real good. This spring it looks like the middle of every single shrub is dead.

So how can I get these to come back to life? How do I prune them or what ever without making them look they have no middles? Is there any hope or should I just go to the nursery and start over?



O.K. I know this is getting long and I apoligize.

I also have these bushes that are a light green with white in the middle of the leaves. Or yellow with dark green in the middle of the leaves. Two different varieties of the same thing I think they are Euonomous (sp?) or something.

These lost all there leaves over the winter and look well just awful. Are these going to recover? They have never lost all there leaves before. Should I get my shovel and start over?


All of these shrubs are the only ones in my front yard, so my yard looks pretty crappy right now, and I can't deal with that. So, please help!

 

[Snowwark]

Welcome to the F&G board, Denise.

I read your post on the CB and I see that Jipsy gave you some great info on what may be wrong with your Boxwood.

As far as your Euonymus goes, it sounds as if they might have Euonymus Scale, which is pretty nasty.

We've been battling ES for the last two seasons. Our Euonymus is quite large (covering the first floor front, of our house), and I was very upset to see the damage that's been done to it. We cut out the dead sections, and have sprayed the remaining plant with dormant oil several times. This year it's starting to grow a bit greener, we'll have to watch and see how it goes.

Here's some info from The Connecticut Plant Pest Handbook, regarding ES.

Euonymus scale, Unaspis euonymi.
This is perhaps the most serious pest of euonymus, and it often kills entire branches. It also infests bittersweet and pachysandra. The female shells are gray and pear-shaped, and the male shells are smaller, narrower, and whiter. There are probably two generations each season, and the winter is passed in a nearly mature condition; eggs are formed during May and hatch later in the month. All badly infested and injured branches may be cut and burned. Among the compounds registered for control of this pest in Connecticut are horticultural oil, insecticidal soap and malathion. Spraying with ultrafine horticultural oil, either in mid-April for a dormant treatment or early June and again in mid-July, will control this scale while conserving the natural predators and parasites that might be present. Sprays of insecticidal soap and malathion applied in early June and again in mid-July will also control this scale. Consult the label for dosage rates and safety precautions.

How large are your bushes? If they're really small, and looking pretty much dead, I'd probably yank them.

I hope this helps, and keep us posted on what you do, and the results, okay?

 

[caseylouandtyler2]

Oh Dear, I think my bushes are doomed.

I was really checking out the boxwoods today and I think they definitely have that fungus thing that Jipsy gave me info on. Hopefully they will come back.


The euonymus, is that scale stuff, little white buggy type things. At least I think there bugs. It was on one out of the four a couple years ago and the shrub was just starting to come back. Then it spread to another one, smaller and we had to yank it. But the other two are the yellow/green variety. Kind of on the large size. If I cut out the dead sections there won't be much bush left.

Do you really need to burn the stuff you cut.


Do you know if there is an easy to grow shrub, meaning not much care needed except maybe a trim once in a while that doesn't get diseases, will look decent all year round and doesn't get very tall. ?

Just in case I have to pull the remaining bushes.

 

[Snowwark]

"The euonymus, is that scale stuff, little white buggy type things."

That's right Denise. They're very small, almost look like little white dots.

No, we didn't burn the branches we cut off, we bagged them and put them out for yard waste pickup. It's important to make sure you clean up all the leaves that have fallen also.

We blasted the bush first, with the hose, to wash it off really well. Waited a day or two for it to dry, and then sprayed it with dormant oil. You can buy dormant oil at any garden centre. We've done this at least three times.

A disease free plant? Hmm...the first thing that comes to mind is something plastic . I need more coffee, and then hopefully my brain will start working and I can give you a few suggestions.

Buds, are any of you awake to suggest some shrubs for Denise?

 

[caseylouandtyler2]

Oh good I don't have to burn anything. But can I just put them in a compost pile if I'm not going to use the compost for anything? We don't have yard waste pick up here.

I did clean up the leaves. I um well vacuumed them up. I used my trusty wet/dry vac. There were just too many to pick out of the rocks. I got some real strange looks from my neighbors. But it worked great.


I'll head to the garden centre today. So I can start the process.

BTW, is the picture in your signature your yard. Its absolutely beautiful.

 

[Snowwark]

"BTW, is the picture in your signature your yard. Its absolutely beautiful."

Sure it is, in my dreams......

 

[DebºoºS]

Euonymous scale hmmm. That's what it was. I just dug up a small one and threw it out. It had been hanging on for at least a year looking sickly. Now I know why. Thanks, Kim.
I love this board, always something to learn from it