Photinia little red robin issue

gardenman91

Hello everyone, this is my first post so go easy on me 😂 

So I have 3 Photinia little red robins here and are in a south facing front garden. The soil is relatively chalky/stony. Can someone help identify the issue with my photinias please?

Many thanks

Borderline

When were they planted? They look quite young to me. The soil is dry and it's possible your plants all needing a good water-in. Generously into the base of each plant. Avoid watering over-head.

They are prone to fungal leaf spot but that may knock them back a bit when they are under stress, but not fatal.  I suspect, watering consistently throughout the year, especially in the warm dry weather, and pruning back diseased and dead looking branches (brittle & break when you bend it slightly). After watering, lay a thick layer of compost or bark chip to help seal the moisture in and keep soil temperatures more even.

gardenman91

Hi Borderline, thank you for the advice! I’ll give it a good watering now. Is composted manure ok to use for the mulch? Also some of the stems higher up are still red but have lost their leaves. What should I do about these? Thank you.

Borderline

Yes it's fine as long as it's well rotted down. I would still trim them back. They may not leaf up or just produce spindly growth that could be caught by the wind later down the line. Also, promptly remove dead leaves around the base of all shrubs, they may re-infect the shrubs with leaf spot. 

gardenman91

Ok thank you very much Borderline. The ground around it is quite cracked is it worth trying to break the ground up with a small hand fork or will I damage the roots?

Borderline

With soil like that, best to water your soil first and let it sink in for an hour or so, then you can gently fork over the top layer to loosen it up a bit, and then work in your chosen mulch. Get into the habit of doing that for at least once a year. This will slowly improve your soil. 

gardenman91

Ok sounds good. When you say working it into the soil. Do you mean to fork it over a little bit with the soil I would have dug up? If so would that not ruin the mulch?

Borderline

Maybe I misunderstood you. I suggest you water in your soil first so it is nice and moist. You only need to spread the mulch over the top and you don't need to fork it in.

I thought you were writing about the current soil conditions before putting on new layer of mulch. Forking over soil is not really necessary. 

gardenman91

Ah ok sorry about the confusion, my fault. Thank you very much for the advice