Hiya!
I would be grateful for any advice you might be able to give. I have a well established pyracanthus bush growing by my front door.

The leaves are healthy looking and it has a fine show of red berries but over the last week or so the leaves have simply been dropping off and come away in handfuls if you touch it.

It's such a pretty bush and I really don't want to lose it but if it carries on like this it's going to be 'bald' in a very short space of time!

Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Sandy

I would hazard a guess that its too dry at the roots. If you have a bit of copper tube ex plumbing 15mm dia. hammer it in down into the roots about a foot and then pull it out. remove the soil from the tube and see if its dry. If it is, add a few buckets to resoak.

Thanks so much for your help. Sorry it's taken me so long to reply. I did wonder if it had anything to do with the dry spring we'd had. Also back in March we had some very strong winds which resulted in the bush being partially blown over - not to the ground of course but sort of 'leaning' . Do you think this might have done any damage to the root?

Another small pyracanthus,which could well be an offshoot of the larger one as I didn't plant it, appears to be fine.

Sorry if I'm coming across as a bit of a 'numpty'. I enjoy gardening but don't have a great deal of knowledge!

Sandy

Hello Sandy,

Unless it was flat to the ground I dont think it would have been damaged. Evergreens are difficult to spot when they are short of water (until the leaves dropp off!) These shrubs are very robust so pile in the water and it should recover. Remember that winter is gebnerally a dry time and the plant may be growing of a trench of 'back fill' of rubble into the foundation trench of the house so it might be very free draining.

Try adding a three inch layer of garden compost 'mulch' around the base of the plant. The worms will take it in so you dont need to dig. It will stop a lot of evaporation and over the years will build up the amount of fibre in the soil aiding water retention.