Hedge problem

ronantansey123

Hello. I’m completely new to this forum and was hoping someone could help me out. I recently moved into a new home in May of this year and the hedge looked fine at the time however recently some of the leaves have turned brown and have holes in them. A few have even fallen off- does anyone know what would be wrong with this hedge based on the attached picture? I thought it could be a fungal infection so sprayed it with fungicide about a week ago but at this point a majority of the hedge already had this problem. I cleared out old dead leaves, branches etc from bottom of hedge in the summer and watered and fed the hedge with bone meal and have given it a few trims over the winter months. 

Many thanks
ronan 

Borderline

Looks like some sort of fungal leaf spot on your Privet. You are doing all the right things, especially clearing the base of the plant. Regularly removing dead leaves will minimise re-infection and the spread of the disease.

Pruning out leaves affected will also help. The idea is to keep the areas clear so there is less chance of it lingering around the soil area.

Fairygirl

In addition to the excellent advice @Borderline has given, the shape of the hedge can help. If it's a bit straight up and down, you can shape it into a better style which will help sun, air and moisture get to the base, and that will help the general condition of the hedge too. The idea is to have the bottom wider than the top.
If you can get that next year when trimming it, that will help too. 
Privet will also drop leaves on a healthy hedge, depending on weather/climate. It's always thought of as evergreen, but it's semi evergreen, so it's not always something to worry about.