Question
I recently planted three ivory halo dogwoods along our walkway.  All three receive the same amount of sun and are watered regularly, however, two of the bushes have leaves that have begun turning brown and dropping off on only one side of the bush.  The other bush is full and beautiful.  Is this transplant shock and will they survive or should I be treating with something to prevent spread to the other bush (the one in the middle)?  Also, we have some purple leaf sandcherry bushes that I noticed this week have brown spots on the leaves.  There is also some leaf drop with those as well.  Until this year, these bushes have been beautiful.  Thanks for your advice.

Answer
Linda,

Is the side that is dying over or directly next to the walkway? If this is the case, it may just be a simple case of heat reflecting off of the sidewalk. Was the walk treated with anything? The fact that only one side is effected points to either heat stress from the walk or possibly over spray from something that was put down on the walk. I would recommend hitting the effected plants with a little granular organic fertilizer and maitaining a good watering schedule.

The sand cherries have leaf spot. This disease is easily controled in the early spring with fungicide. I would recommend trying to keep as much moisture off the leaves as possible and spraying with fungicide to limit the damage. The plants will be fine- this disease does not kill the plants.

Good luck,
Ed Gulliksen