Viburnum\'s Dying - Advice on how much to water?

Hi,
I had a landscape company install a lot of new shrubbery around my yard in the late spring. I am having trouble with all of the viburnums.

Blue Muffin (Dentatum), Alfredo compact (Trilobum), and American Cranberry Bush (Trilobum). They are all wilting badly. I am watering them, but based on instructions from my landscaper I am only watering every 2-3 days for about 10 secs each plant. They stressed to not water too much. Although it has been pretty dry lately in Indiana. The weather has been very hot here for the last few weeks. And not sure if I am either over watering them or not enough. When I test the soil under the mulch, it is hard to tell how dry/wet it is. I can squeeze the soild and compact it together, so it is not powdery or really dry. One problem I have I have a lot of different combinations of shade/sun. So some plants have her own unique climate. The soil is not typical Indiana clay soil, it is former wooded/wetland area so the soil is quite dark and soft in most places.

Do these plants like a lot of water? Is it really easy to over water them?

Any suggestions? Or questions?

Thanks.

Please don't kill the messenger. It sounds like Verticillium. Read this article and see if this seems to be the problem. I hope not.
BTW, in order to get good berry production for the Viburnum dentatum "Blue Muffin", you will need to get another cultivar with the species being the same.
Read these articles:
http://www.finegardening.com/what-made-my-good-plant-go-bad
http://www.classicviburnums.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/home.showpage/pageID/23/index.htm
http://www.classicviburnums.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/plants.plantDetail/plant_id/7055/index.htm

Let me know what you think about your wilting viburnum.

10 second watering is nonsense. You should have been given some idea of volume of water to provide, and frequency based on soil texture/condition and weather conditions. Anything else approximates malpractice.

Do you recall whether these plants were in containers or balled/burlapped when planted?

First: show us some images of the conditions which you have provided decent descriptions of.

Second: if you are willing to work with recommendations, and you have one or several plants that are in extreme stress situations, then here is what I would do.

If planted from containers, then I bet you have some really root-bound plants that are not absorbing water from surrounding soils, and the container media drains quickly and doesn't support the excessive root system therein.

IF SO: I would pull/dig up one or two of the worst looking plants out of the ground, and begin Code Black resuscitation before the plants are completely dead. Prepare by assembling all the things mentioned below before pulling the plants out of your landscape. Have a camera (or an assistant with it) at the ready to excessively document every step of the process, so you can post here (and provide to your landscape company).

**Once out of the ground, find a shady place to work in, to reduce further sun stress on the plant.

**Find a big bucket, pail, or some other container that you can plunge the whole plant into, so that complete imbibition (uptake of water) can occur.

**Then, you can begin the process of untangling and loosening and spreading out of the circling rootbound mass - which is an indication of very poor quality and plants that should never have been sold/installed for a customer.

**After loosening the roots, which will result in shaking off or removal of most of the container media, prune off any broken roots from this process. Then be prepared to replant your shrub in a new hole wide enough to accept the root system you've loosened up. Make sure the soil from the hole is granulated enough to settle in around the root system - you've indicated that it is pretty decent soil.

**Replant, and thoroughly water in/water-settle the soil around your shrub. Make sure the crown (where stems arise from root system) is at or just above the existing soil level - DO NOT BURY THE CROWN, nor pile up soil on/around the stems.

**After watering in, I would provide two to three inches of granular mulch (not chunks) over the planting area, and again DO NOT PILE MULCH ON CROWN. Keep the mulch an inch or two away from the stems.

**You could also rig up some way to shade these plants while re-establishing them. A couple stakes and a big towel or an old bed sheet can do the job. So can a "broken down" cardboard box. It doesn't have to be pretty - just effective.

I would love to see what you exhume when beginning this investigation, and the process you employ in saving your plants.

Hi! It has been a while since I have posted on the forum. I was looking at some of my older postings and see that MY response to your original response did not get posted. I must of messed up somehow. But based on your detail response I did not pull any plants up, since I was too nervous. :-|

But like you said the 10 sec watering non-sense was not good advice. Since the time of year I was having the problem was extremely hot. So in some areas that got the most sun/heat I turned up the watering significantly. I also noticed that soil around a lot of the plants was not really filled in very well and just lightly filled in an covered in mulch. It was very deceiving because when I went to do a finger test, in some cases it seemed like nothing was there. So I worked on the soil in those cases making sure that plant had some media to hold water better.

I also called the landscaping company back and worked with them some more on what plants can handle water better and what plants are more tricky. Example was the Clethra in foundation planting between house driveway and sidewalk. Tons of heat/sun! So I just drenched them everyday, since seems you cant over water those.

So all in all (50 or more trees and shrubs, all native), I really had one Viburmum Trilobum (Alfredo compact) that had some trouble snapping back. It looks good now, I had to prune it some this spring, but it is on its way looking good. :-)

I planted two, I guess what I would call 'true' Viburnum Trilobum' (not compact) shrubs myself in a different area last fall that seem to be struggling now, but I will save that for another post.

Thanks for the help!

Wondered what had happened with your efforts to reclaim your woodlands, and the challenges you were encountering with a big new landscape planting. Thought you fell off the edge of Indiana...

I am heartened to hear that you have resolved to a satisfactory end the issues you were having. I hope that - despite not undertaking the effort yourself - that you will always look with a bit of skepticism and jaundiced eye at any work by anyone, and have an increased knowledge yourself of what is good work and quality plants, versus what is not. Ethical and thoughtful businesses and workers will appreciate that you understand the difference; shady characters will be huffier, and try to dodge responsibility.

Interesting that you learned - because of an excessively hot location - that Clethra love water. In fact, they live in the saturated sandy coastal conditions of New England, as well as other wet places. Better: they don't belong in the heat and reflected light locations such as you've described! That's a design error, in my estimation, but if excessive irrigation can overcome it for you...

I've always put species like Clethra (and Itea, and Ilex verticillata, etc.) in the perennially wet locations of landscapes so that extra energy is not required, and that these species will thrive there when other species that do not appreciate the extra wetness will struggle or fail.

Should you be interested in sharing such, it would be fun to see the results of your efforts to eradicate the pestiferous elements of your property and the progression of those plants that you've invited to inhabit your landscape.

Your landscaper doesn't know what he's talking about. Newly planted shrubs need a LOT of water. I have planted many viburnums in my garden, and I gave them about five gallons every other day. And they were small.

Yes I would love to share those efforts. I need to do my best to get some good pictures. This spring I have spent a bunch of time removing new growth of honeysuckle (still got a long way to go). My yard really isn't that big but I still have a lot of honeysuckle babies to work on. Along with that, I removed every garlic mustard and giant ragweed I could find. Yesterday, I also chopped down 4 or 5 small bradford pear trees that I didn't realize were there. They were starting to choke out my dogwoods.

Now I am trying to figure out what these little grove of plants are (see pic). At first I thought they were Blackhaw viburnums, but not so sure? I also thought they might be more pear trees but are somewhat different.

I attached the two plants side by side (bottom is what I determined to be a bradford pear)

:-)

I hear ya. I think the problem is, landscapers put in plants and some people will water them so much they end up killing them and then claim the warranty. So landscapers tell everyone, no matter who they are or what plants they have, to not water more than once a week. I should of been smarter. I eventually wised up.
:-)

I only see opposite arrangement of simple leaves in your second picture. Those look like a lot of Blackhaw Viburnum. They could be seedlings, or suckering stems from a parent plant.

Were there any recent soil disturbances in that area? Could you have cut off a parent stem/trunk? If so, this is a common result - many suckering stems from the root system of an established plant.

If 2015 is recent, then yes there were recent major disturbances. This whole area was disturbed in 2015 when our house was built. So this picture is on the edge of our yard (grass area). Along this edge of the yard everything is starting to really take off. Sun is now shining on this area, before it was cleared there were larger trees (some larger ash trees now gone) and a lot of honeysuckle. So now the edge of our yard is starting to fill in with a combo of dogwood and blackhaws. I will take a look and see if there is a larger plant nearby. I have not cut any parent stems/trunk in that area either.

I am hoping they are blackhaws, since I do not want to remove these plants.

I could get more pics if that helps with the id? Or do you feel confident they are Viburnums?

My landscaper guy said they looked like pear trees, pointing to the orange top (see pic) of the plant start as typical to bradford pears? I am hoping they are Blackhaws.

Your landscaper guy (and you) could use some practice with elementary plant ID. Not a slight, just stating fact. Pears and Blackhaw Viburnum are two species that should NEVER be confused.

Simply: opposite leaf arrangement versus alternate leaf arrangement. You have previously posted a picture - on this thread - which shows this basic ID feature very clearly. All Viburnum will have opposite arrangement of simple leaves; pears will have alternate arrangement of simple leaves.

If you find alternate leaf arrangement plants there, then beware. If opposite, then you are less likely to find the problem - since you are wiping out the nasty Honeysuckle.

2015 is about right. If there was soil disturbance that would have disrupted root systems, then suckering from the ends of the cut roots is to be expected with this species, and others like Sumac, Black Locust, Honeylocust, and Sassafras.

I agree. That was the first thing I pointed out to him. Opposite as opposed to alternate leaf arrangement.

But wanted to be sure.

Thanks for the help!

You are welcome. May your viburnums and dogwoods prosper with your efforts.