Skimmia yellow leaves

shamray.anton90

Hello,

Would anyone be able to help please.
Got leaves yellowing on skimmias grown in containers for two years now. I believe the yellowing started about august this year. The top of the plant looks healthy but bottom leaves are falling off. It was planted in ericacious compost and always watered with rain water.

Many thanks

Fairygirl

The compost alone isn't enough to sustain them, so you need to replace that with a soil based medium. You can then add some fresh compost each year. That's also very important. Shrubs won't stay healthy long term in containers without some amendment to the soil they're planted in  
All evergreens drop foliage at regular intervals though, so that isn't always anything to worry about.
It's what's happening underneath that needs some extra care. The containers are very small for the amount of plants too, so you may find they're completely root bound now.   

shamray.anton90

Fairygirl said:

The compost alone isn't enough to sustain them, so you need to replace that with a soil based medium. You can then add some fresh compost each year. That's also very important. Shrubs won't stay healthy long term in containers without some amendment to the soil they're planted in  
All evergreens drop foliage at regular intervals though, so that isn't always anything to worry about.
It's what's happening underneath that needs some extra care. The containers are very small for the amount of plants too, so you may find they're completely root bound now.   

Thank you very much for this. I'll have a look this weekend and mix in some john inness and also see if they're root bound. Would watering with epsom salts help in this case too?

Pete.8

It looks like a deficiency to me too.
I think sequestered iron would sort them out - a neighbour had a similar skimmia that I felt sorry for so I gave them some - looking a lot better now

JessicaS

Seconding, looks like iron deficiency, id give some sequestered iron too as well as topping up potting medium.

Fairygirl

No point feeding just now though. Wait until spring, and don't overdo it. Overfeeding a plant which is struggling is never a good idea. 
The main problem is how they're being grown.