Holly tree leaf drop

Hello!

I was looking down my garden before, and I noticed that the mature Holly tree was looking remarkably thin on foliage. I went to take a look and noticed some significant leaf drop. I did the fingernail on the bark test on the affected branches, and they all show green and 'alive enough' underneath. The leaves that have fallen look, to me, fully green and healthy and not brown or dead. The tree has to be pushing 5m tall, possibly more.

I'm in NW England, so we did have the strong blow the other week and we have had lots of this warm wet winter we seem to have these days (in this part of the world). Should I be worried?

I am starting to feel like the current climate has seen off a log of my garden, and I don't want another victim!

 

Are the leaves that have fallen from the middle of the plant or from the outer parts of the branches?

 

Hello! I would say from the other branches, and more affected in the lower half of the tree. I'll try some photos once my phone is charged enough..

 

Some of the leaves in the affected areas pull off cleanly with no effort. But otherwise all looks green and healthy

 

It does look rather odd, but at least the surviving ones are green , which is good. I’d venture to suggest a delayed reaction to storm Darragh.

 

How far are you from the coast.
Reason I ask is that storm may have had salt in the wind.

Going back to the storm of 1987 we even had salt burn on leaves around here near 30 miles from the coast.

 

@pete The tree is somewhere in the region of 200m from the sea wall. And boy was it a salty wind. The windows were grey!

And to @Tidemark point, the lead drop seems to be on the windward side mainly

 

Common Holly (Ilex Aquifolium) is notably salt reactive. You could rinse remaining foliage if not had a good clean rainstorm since. Soil affected by seawater can be treated with gypsum to advantage.
Gypsum: an old product with a new use | Integrated Crop Management

 

Hi

it may be holly leaf blight, always starts to show in early winter.

has the holy been under stress , ie too dry in the summer and water logged over the autumn winter ? …. Try and clear all the old leaves away and burn them , top dress with fresh compost in the spring and give a good feed of a shrub fertiler in March ..

 

@infradig. That's interesting. I've washed it with a hose, as has the past day or so of heavy rain.

@Spruce . I'm not sure about dried out. Probably more like it's been more wet than anything with this year that we have had, especially in the coastal NW. I've cleared away the leaves and will top dress and feed in the spring. Hopefully she bounces back ok.

There doesn't appear to be any blotching on the leaves, or any signs of scale. Some kind of stress reaction seems to make sense.

My garden seems to have suffered so badly with these warm wet years that we seem to be having. Fingers crossed I get my tree back
Thanks for your comments and help so far!

 

Large amounts of regular rain won't affect them, so there's something else causing the problem. It looks like it's been in poor condition for a while. Holly of any kind should look healthy and well covered with foliage all year round.
If it isn't down to salt - and I can't advise on that, and there's no obvious damage to the main trunk lower down that we can't see in the pix, then it's probably down to what's happening below ground. Like most shrubs/trees, they won't appreciate being in poorly draining soil long term, which is why they're great with plenty of other shrubs around, or as a hedge, especially in heavy clay soil. If you have heavy soil, and want a shrub or tree in isolation, or with only perennials/annuals etc nearby, then the ground has to be in good shape.
If you had a compacted clay level further down, that can cause trouble, or a layer of rock/concrete or something similar.
It looks very near a fence, so there could be something happening on the other side if there's nothing obvious on your side.
They aren't generally too bothered by insects/pests etc, unless they're already sickly.