Holly tree help needed

This year the holly tree does not seem to be doing well. Leaves discolored and some twigs dead. Anyone have any ideas?

 

A couple of things I would suggest:
1. cut the dead twigs back all the way to the trunk.
2. Fertilize with Holly Tone (this is the BEST product for hollys - evergreens)
3. Take the pics to a Master Gardener (like Beth at Greenworks) to confirm what I think is wrong with your tree.

I suspect that your tree may have a fungus or disease; tar-spot and/or cankers...and you will need to treat it with a systemic supplement & aggressive pruning. I would not wait to prune the infected branches.

 

Thanks, we'll try and hit up one of the gardeners at the farmer's market this weekend. I think we (Kim that is, I was merely in an advisory capacity) put some Hollytone on it last weekend.

 

Follow up: here is what the master gardeners said (they suggested I email the pics):

Thank you for sending the photos of your holly tree as well as the samples you brought to the Farmers Market. We were able to research the symptoms and it looks as though your holly tree has anthracnose. Anthracnose is a disease that can develop rapidly and may kill the tree. From the photos you sent it looks like the disease has progressed quite a bit. You may have to remove the tree and clean the area well prior to planting anything else in that spot. If you choose this route, be sure to remove any dead leaves and existing mulch, and clean the area well. Give it a year before planting anything new there in order for the fungus to clear. We also recommend that you not plant another holly in that spot.

If you would like to try to save the tree, you can try spraying it with one of two fungicides:
Chlorothalonil (Daconil Weather Stik, Daconil Ultrex). Repeat applications at 7-14 day intervals
Mancozeb (Dithane DR Rainshield, Mancozeb DG, Dithane T/O Rainshield) Repeat at 7-10 day intervals

You can find these fungicides at any garden center.

Can't believe this is a free service!

 

Just wanted to follow up in case others were having this problem. We've applied Mancozeb 3 times, and it seems to be improving. We got the liquid concentration, and a pump sprayer for $10 or so at the home depot.

 

Just an update to this post, I looked at the tree earlier and it is over 95% recovered. Thanks again to the master gardeners, what a wonderful resource.

 

I found the comments about cleaning out the soil & mulch and not planting for a year very interesting. We had a problem with one of our hollies and it had lost about 80% of it's leaves. My husband was ready to trash it but I moved it and overly pruned it one year; it improved slightly. Last spring, we knocked it back from 7 feet to under 1 foot and it's amazing how much it's grown since then. Unfortunately now I see that the plant we replaced in it's place is starting to turn color. Something's probably in the soil :-(. I'll have to email the master gardeners too!