Pyracantha advice/help please

Good morning gardeners,

We’ve recently planted 4 pyracantha in our front garden so we will eventually have a privacy hedge.

We planted them at the end of July, everything seems ok except for the last week or so some of the leaves are turning yellowish and very dry, fall off to the touch.

We bought a ph reader to see if we could spot the problem. The reading shows the ground is very alkaline, we did water the plant thoroughly during the hot weather but have stopped over the last 3-4 weeks as we’ve had a good few days of rain followed by sun and then rain again. So we felt the ground and plant should be getting enough water.

We may be panicking too early but can anyone give advice, are we watering too much, not enough.

We’ve also ordered ferris sulphate today mix with the water when we need to give a little extra water.

Should it make a difference the bottom of the plant seems to be nice and green, near the top is generally where the problem seems to be.

Thanks in advance.

 

Hi,

Not sure if its just end of the season leaf fall as they do not always keep all their leaves and with all those berries it might be saying, give all the effort for them rather than a few top leaves.

Could also be down to lack of water or feed, new plants need regular watering for the first season and with all those berries it will have been using a lot.
Did you use any feed / fertilizer this year ?

Would just water for now as its too late in the season, perhaps adding a bit of general balanced fertilizer, like Growmore or a top dressing of compost rotted manure.

Would not use your rather unusual addative, ferris sulphate ? unless you knew for sure you had a specific and serious iron deficiency, very unlikely, if other plants in your garden are ok.

Have had a few Pyracantha over the years and if yours have the usual evil thorns you may want to consider their location, near what looks like a public footpath.
When they get bigger, and they soon do ! you migh run into problems with folk catching on the thorns.

 

I agree with @ricky101 being against a wall might stop the rain getting to them and you will have to trim it if close to a footpath. I wouldn't add anything to the water. They're still settling in and might lose a few leaves.