Holly tree losing leaves

I have a couple of holly trees in my garden, and since earlier this year they have started to drop their leaves. First of all they turn yellow, and gradually ar falling off. There are many flowers showing and some seem to be setting as for berries. Am I losing these tres or is there something I can do to help them recover. I have a variety of other trees and bushes in the same area, which seem to be unaffected.

 

I think, holly loses its leaves about nowish.
I know its evergreen, but all evergreens lose their leaves, they just do it at a different time and not all at once like deciduous trees do.

 

Hi Roy,

Welcome to the forum - I hope you can find the answers you are looking for here.

Ilex aquifolium is a very tough tree that can resist quite harmful pathogens that would kill other tree species, so I would be very surprised if you actually lost these trees. Saying that, holly can be affected by the following:

• Honey fungus (butt rot)

• Perennial canker (which affects twigs, bark, stem etc...)

• Phytophthora blight & leaf miner (which affects the leaves, shoots, buds, flowers and fruit)

Do you have any pictures of the trees and can you give a brief description of the tree location, ground conditions etc.? How long have you had these trees? Have you had problems with these trees or other species before?

 

Evening, Roy and welcome. Is the plant in a wet area of the garden, by any chance?

 

Neither tree is in a wet area, and the loss of leaves is far more that I have seen before. The largest tree is several years old, and the other must be at least eight or nine years. Although the loss is gradual it is worse than I have ever seen before. Last year and the year before it stayed dark green and had an abundance of berries on, and the younger one had new berries coming on until about March.

 

Hi Roy
Mine is just the same. Seems it is normal at this time of year as Pete says. It is alarming just how many fall isn't it!!

 

Ah well as long as it is not only mine probably it will recover. Yes it does seem to be a large percentage of the leaves this year.

 

Old leave will drop, but there should be new ones growing. If there is plenty of new growth I think it is probably OK.

 

Pete is right mine does it about this time every year some years there does seem more.

 

The annual leaf fall is well under way again.....I'm still amazed how many fall though!:cnfs: