Eleagnus Problem

[jamesday]

On June 28 2003 I planted roughly 169 Eleagnus shrubs along 2 fence lines on my property. On the left fence I installed an irrigation system complete with automatic timer. On the right I don't have any irrigation because i'm waiting until next spring.

For the first month or 6 weeks all shrubs were doing great...new growth...fast growth...i couldn't have been happier. After a while I began to notice some on the right begin to turn yellow. I then noticed they were on the end under a tree where I then realized they were getting NO water due to the tree...the grass wasn't even growing. (should have noticed that before i planted) so I put a couple of rotary spike sprinklers on the yellow ones and they're now doing great...new growth and all.

Now for the problem, on the left I was watering twice a day...once at 9am and once at 2 pm for 15 minutes. some of the shrubs began turning yellow as well. i watched them close. i realized only SOME of the ones in direct, all-day sun were dying. I realized one or two of the ones dying were REALLY wet because they were planted lower than the rest...but others that were dying were planted fine...for awhile I watered only at 2pm...i've been told this is the problem because they were getting to hot or burning...is this true? why are only some dying and not the rest? do you need pictures? i can provide some. i haven't watered at all for over a week...the weather has been cooler and we've had some good rain...ONLY SOME (2-6) of the shrubs in direct all-day sun are having problems...the rest are awesome and sending runners 6ft in the air...

anybody have any ideas?

[AGLA]

It sounds like too much water. Why are you watering so much?

Did the leaves turn yellow at the ends of the twigs or further down?

[KerryB]

Was the water getting on the leaves? At 2 pm any water on the leaves would magnify the sunlight and burn the leaves.
Early morning or late afternoon only.

[Hortman]

Only 2- 6 are in direct sunlight out of 169 ? Check planting height check for good backfilling no air pockets If they are 3 gallon material then maybe dig one up again and look at the root ball. Tell me what you see or pics.

[Team Gopher]

This may not apply but the information could be helpful.

ELEAGNUS DISEASE PROBLEMS (http://www.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/modzz/00000558.html)

[jamesday]

2-6 out of the ones in direct sunlight really have problems...i'm going to take some pictures tomorrow...sorry for the no response...this week has been hell.

As for as the "why are you watering so much"...I probably did water wwwaaayyy to much...but they seem to grow like weeds and most still do...the ones with out water are much slower so I figure I'm doing good.

I have cut all watering off except at 6AM and only for 10 minutes instead of 20.

The leaves turned yellow all the way down the stalks or whatever you call the limbs. Let me take some pictures guys and see what you think...

Thanks so much for all the responses...ya'll stay posted and look at the pics later tomorrow afternoon.

[jamesday]

"Eleagnus may be attacked by verticillium wilt. The
disease causes wilting and browning of leaves on affected
branches."

This might be similar to my problem...anybody have any pictures of this disease?