What’s Wrong With My Boxwood?

Question

I’ve provided a few pictured described below with context of the photos. Here some background of the Boxwood in question. I live in Johns Creek, GA and the Boxwood is in the front of my house that is South facing and gets ~8 hours of direct sunlight per day. We planted it in May and it had some chlorinated leaves (red tips) and after planting, watering, and fertilizing it had some growth and started to turn green. By July we noticed decline and some browning. I fertilized with Holly Tone (per our landscaper who planted) and soaked the soil around. It seemed to come back to life by turning a darker green but it was short lived, and we are back to the decline. I’m unsure why it’s having such a hard time establishing itself. Photos: Boxwood 10-1: This was taken 10-1 as I noticed further decline and leaves browning at base of plant. Boxwood 10-22: We checked the Ph of the soil and it was at 5. So we fed some Plant Tone and Lime. The Ph is back up to about 6.5 and it seems to be a bit better, but not by much. The fertilizer and Lime was applied on 10/16. 2 Boxwood: Comparison of our established boxwood on the left and the boxwood in question on the right. Boxwood Close-up: Observing white tips and chlorinated leaves. Some branches turning completely yellow. I’m using Espoma Plant Tone as the recent fertilizer (5-3-3). I thought about getting Milogranite but i’m unsure if that’s the right food. Any help would be greatly appreciated so I can it on track and ready for winter and spring. Any other recommendations?

Answer 1

It looks a bit like iron chlorosis. As you have found out, these shrubs need to be fed quite often to stay their greenest.

Iron sulfate will be appropriate between feedings, or at feeding times.

This article will offer more information on their care:

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/shrubs/boxwood/boxwood-care.htm

Here is an article that will help you feed them:

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/shrubs/boxwood/fertilizing-boxwoods.htm