Photinia Red Robin trees dying or very sick?

I`ve recently moved into a house which has 7 of these trees. 5 in a row and two in a separate corner. One of the trees in the corner was dead. I`ve sawn it down, the other tree is very leafy but has leaf spot I believe, as do all the other trees. They all are approximately 12 - 15 tall.

The 5 in a row trees are planted in huge sunken pots which are approximately 3 ft across, these trees are fast becoming bare and I can see a lot of dried out dead branches.

Can these be salvaged or are they passed it now?

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner

Can't help you there as I managed to kill mine

Someone will be along soon hopefully

 

I had 1 in the garden when we moved here and it was on it's last legs. I tried to rejuvenate prune it but it just dorted along so went in the woodburner.
I think I'm right in saying that they aren't the hardiest? but may well be wrong. I've also been told they are fussy about drainage but again this could be incorrect, but the leaf spot would suggest it. Mine had leaf spot too. Being planted in buried pots isn't likely to give good drainage
Personally not a great favourite of mine so wasn't too sad to see it go up in flames. You could try pruning them, maybe stagger it so the trees still have some leaves left. If you like them and they aren't toooo big I'd be inclined to dig them up. Take out of the pots and replant without said pots.

 

I`m most likely going to get rid of them if possible. It's a new build house I`ve bought so hopefully the developer will remove them.

 

That would explain why they are in pots. Sounds like an instant garden job. I've heard of builders being pretty lazy with "landscaping" new builds but it is slightly taking the p by not even bothering to take the poor things out of their pots.
Bit like the Irish builder saying to 1 of his workers who was laying turf around a newly built house "green side up Paddy". I quickly add I am married to an Irishman and am very fond of the Irish so not being racist...oh this PC world we live in today

 

It was the show home. They asked if we wanted them removed and a path put there but my wife liked them for privacy. It`s only now, 3 weeks after moving in I`m seeing this and other stuff.

I`m hoping they just take them away but a fence has been built now between my house and the one next door that's nearly built. These will be tough to remove.

Do you think they are dying because they are still in the pots?

 

Without seeing them I would guess yes re dying. They won't be tough to remove being in pots and only been in for a short time. A couple of goes with a spade or decent garden fork and you will have them up no bother.If you think these will be difficult try digging up Hostas which have over 50 growing points and have been insitu for at least 40 years. I dug up 8 last weekend which had diameters of 3ft minimum and almost had to call the ambulance service as thought I was about to pass out.

 

I`ll see what they offer when the site manager visits.

About the pots, will this be the most probable cause of death?

The show house has been here 2 years, not sure how long the trees have been sitting there.

I`ve dug privits and huge conifers out at my last home, that was a killer, so I can sympathise with you.

 

00000000000000000000000000001348Brian, they are not dying but need to be taken out of the pots and planted in the ground.

 

What about the leaf tip they have? The two end trees have about a tenth of their leaves remaining. The others aren't far behind. I've filled a few bin liners with leaves that have shed. I don't want to waste time replanting them if they're on their way out.

 

Hi Brian. If you can see some new growth (they should be starting to grow new red leaves from the tips of the branches round about now) they're still alive and might be worth planting out if you've got space. They are excellent screening plants, although you might not need that if you've got a fence, but are also very decorative. I've personally found them to be tough as old boots. We've got two photinias in our garden - one which was about 12 years old was struck down by heavy snow a couple of years ago when the main trunk split and literally two thirds of the tree were on the ground. It's now bounced back and the new growth which came from the broken branches (we just left them on the ground as it was impossible to cut them off due to the angle) is nearly as tall as the original tree. The other was a cutting from my brother-in-law which has taken a few years to get going but is now taking off. Both of them get leaf spot every year (worse in wet winters) but it never seems to do them any harm. We usually get heavy snow and hard frosts every year and they've coped with everything. They are perennials but they lose their old leaves on a regular basis so don't worry about that. They respond well to being pruned back quite hard, although I usually do mine after they've flowered (they produced lots of tiny white flowers if you leave them) otherwise you cut off all the new leaves which are red and then they turn green. Good luck!