My holly bush 'came ' with the house, so I don't know its age.
It gets dappled sunlight til noon, then direct sun for about an hour
--
..
Right now, the leaves seem curled, not very green, and I see little of
no growth in any direction.
Never had berries, btw.
Leave it alone, try some kind of pruning, fertilizer?
I'd like to get some height.
The Black Thumb of Zone 9a thanks you.

"val189" wrote in message
ups.com...
My holly bush 'came ' with the house, so I don't know its age.
It gets dappled sunlight til noon, then direct sun for about an hour
--
.
Right now, the leaves seem curled, not very green, and I see little of
no growth in any direction.
Never had berries, btw.
Leave it alone, try some kind of pruning, fertilizer?
I'd like to get some height.
The Black Thumb of Zone 9a thanks you.


Holly likes acidic soil, but don't assume this is the issue until you do a
soil test.

Contact your cooperative extension, find out if there's a local office
nearby, and if they will do a soil test for you. Your main concern should be
the pH, although other soil characteristics are good to know about.
Alternatively, go get a soil test kit and do the test yourself. They require
distilled water or rain water. Don't try and get around that requirement, or
you'll get inaccurate results.

Holly also likes lots of sun. Unless you're prepared to eliminate the reason
for the shade, there's obviously not much you can do about it. But, if you
improve whatever you can, you may get better results.

If you decide to prune or fertilize here is som info.



Many tree problems are associated with the following:

Troubles in the Rhizosphere
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/shigo/RHIZO.html

Planting
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman/sub1.html and
Look up "Tree Planting"
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/shigo/RHIZO.html

Mulching - http://home.ccil.org/~treeman/sub3.html and
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/M/index.html Look up "Mulch"

Pruning
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/tree_pruning/

Fertilization (See A Touch of Chemistry)
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/shigo/CHEM.html

Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Arborist
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.

"val189" wrote in message
ups.com...
My holly bush 'came ' with the house, so I don't know its age.
It gets dappled sunlight til noon, then direct sun for about an hour
--
.
Right now, the leaves seem curled, not very green, and I see little of
no growth in any direction.
Never had berries, btw.
Leave it alone, try some kind of pruning, fertilizer?
I'd like to get some height.
The Black Thumb of Zone 9a thanks you.

"val189" wrote in message

My holly bush 'came ' with the house, so I don't know its age.
It gets dappled sunlight til noon, then direct sun for about an hour

Right now, the leaves seem curled, not very green, and I see little of
no growth in any direction.
Never had berries, btw.
Leave it alone, try some kind of pruning, fertilizer?
I'd like to get some height.

Sounds just like mine used to be. I removed the trees that were shading it
(not because of the holly, they just had to go for other reasons) and the
holly took off once it got more light.

The holly now has to be moved because some idiot planted it right beside a
window and about 2 ft from the house and a holly tree that close to the
house will not do.