Viburnum Bodnantense dead

Any ideas as to why my 3 year old Viburnum Bodnantense appears to have suddenly died? It was full of flowers in February and March but the new leaves have shrivelled and dropped off, and there are no new signs of life.

 

Maybe it has beed knobbled at the roots? Only way to find out is to dig it up and look,
sorry,
Jenny

 

That was quick Jenny!! How will I know if it's been 'knobbled'?

 

There will be signs of grub or insect invasion. Or possibly a white fungal like residue in the surrounding soil. A piccie will help the experts on here to give an opinion,
Jenny

 

Okay, I'll do that first chance I get! Cheers

 

Okay folks here are the pics. I couldn't find any signs of grubs or insects of any kind in the hole or surrounding soil when I dug it up.

 

Are you sure it's totally dead Lorea? Have you checked to see if anything under the bark is green? I'd nip the stem back an inch at a time with secateurs to see if green appears, if it does then cutting it back won't be a problem, it will force it to branch out. From what I can see some of the roots look okay, I'm just wondering being a young plant whether it was too much planting it straight out. To give it a chance I'd put it in a pot and give it a feed, then wait and see if it re-shoots.

 

Thanks Sheal! I did try cutting it back to see if there was any life in any of the stems, but they looked decidely brown and....dead. I was afraid to cut back anymore, for fear of destroying it completely. But I was surprised when I dug it up to see that the roots looked okay. I'll follow your advice and hope for the best. Thanks again!

 

Did I read somewhere that viburnums suffer from a die-back fungal disease like sudden oak death, and should be burned if infected?