Q. Two
of my Indian hawthorn bushes developed unhealthy looking brown spots on their
leaves. It started on the southernmost of the two bushes and then the second
was affected. These are in the middle of a row of bushes planted along the
sidewalk when the house was built in 1986. None of the bushes get a great deal
of direct sunlight, but bushes on both ends of the row, with conditions about
the same as for these, are looking all right. Can you tell me what is wrong
with these two bushes and how to fix it?
 |
| Indian Hawthorne with leaf browning |
A. From
the picture this looks like a soil related issue. The soil around the plant
looks like it is fairly rocky and I am guessing unimproved over the years.
I
think you'll see a big response by taking a bag of decent compost and spreading
it under the plants one or 2 inches thick and watering and in. The other thing
you might try is replacing any rock mulch under the plants with wood chips that
will slowly decompose and improve the soil.
If you put the compost down now and
water it in, you should see some improvement in the plant when it continues
growing in the spring. The second thing you could try doing is spraying the
foliage with liquid good quality fertilizer.
Miracle Gro or Peters would be a
good choice. Use one or 2 teaspoons of liquid detergent in a gallon of
fertilizer spray to help it penetrate the leaf surfaces. I would try spraying
the foliage during the winter. If it's in a warm spot, you may see a response
before next spring. Otherwise you'll have to wait until growth resumes early
next year.
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