Mature photinia, dying? (new hedge)

PK hedge

Hi, just after some advice and thoughts.

Our house has a 110 metre boundary with the road.

We asked a contractor to supply and plant about 200 evergreens, a mixture of laurel, yew and photinia.

Some plants were mature about 6 ft tall and most about 2 ft tall. The total cost was about £7k, for prep, supply and planting.

24 of these plants were 6 ft photinias. All of them have been dropping theor leaves, almost 70-80% gone, and show no signs of new red leaves.

All the other plants seem to be thriving, including the smaller photinias . These were planted about 6 weeks ago.

I spoke to the company and they suggested they hadn't been watered enough. I watered everything every 1-2 days.

Am I right to worry that they are dying?

Im not happy that no care instructions were given to me...

Fairygirl

You should have been offered decent advice re their care PK. I think it's rather telling if the smaller specimens are doing ok - it shows you're doing a good job. 

Unfortunately, Photinias can be a bit iffy unless they have really good conditions. Planting big specimens can also be tricky as they're harder to get established than smaller ones. I know it always seems a good idea - bigger plants, bigger impact, ready made screen - but it doesn't always work.  Laurel and Yew are pretty forgiving and straightforward, but Photinia can be less so. You may have to prune them all back to a smaller height, to give them a better chance of establishing. 

I think it might be difficult for you to get any resolution - apart from contacting the supplier again and stating that the other shrubs are doing well, and you had no info as to treating the bigger ones differently. Not sure how well you'll get on but it's worth a try.