Close up

Second Shrub

Second shrub close up

There's something going on under the surface imo, not a pest or disease. What are they planted in? Do they really get sufficient water? i.e. is the rain getting to the roots? How much disturbance was caused to the shrubs when that white gravel and brown mulch was added? And what is the white stuff? Is it limestone? In which case they might be affecting the pH of the ground.

Was the sprayer used for herbicide before the insecticide? Sometimes the residual of herbicide in a sprayer can be enough to damage plants. Just a thought.

No the hose was not. The shrubs have been "dying" since I moved in to the house in November. It has just progressed further and further.

in FL .... i presume sand soil ????

sand covered in rock ...

against a white wall ..

i am guessing you cooked the soil they are in ...

not to mention the cement walkway and driveway ... which retain heat.. deep into the night allowing no recovery period ....

improper watering since you cant tell what is going on under the rock .. ...

and relying on rain ..... without verifying is risky ....

and baked them with reflected light..

and you may have burned the roots with the fert stake... depending on how that was done ...

then sprayed chemicals on seriously stressed leaves ... burning them off....

never fertilize a recent transplant.. and dont waste your money on fertilizer stakes ... total and completely useless ...

i really dont think.. there is much here to save ... unless you are willing to wait until spring.. and see how they flush out ... but i dont know if i could look at this.. all winter long.. right out my front door ...

if they were new plantings... perhaps they can be replaced under warranty ..

BTW .... are they new transplants.. or perhaps.. the stone and the mulch lawn was reworked???? .. significantly affecting their microculture ????

ken

They were dying like this before I put any rock down. The rocks, mulch, and fert stakes have been down only for a few months. Before that was bare soil. I would say they had already started dying in November. I thought it was just weeds choking them out. But the weeds were the first thing I removed (by hand). As far as I know these have been here since the house was built in 2007.

They're not worth saving. If you dig them up and take a look at the rootballs you will probably find most, if not all, the roots are dead.
I don't think bugs killed them. Were bugs eating them when you sprayed, or was that a preventative measure?
I agree with ken on all the reasons your plants failed, but a fertilizer stake next to each plant is a bit much. Those stakes are the worst way to apply fertilizer I can think of. It's too concentrated where the stake is and burns the roots and where the stake isn't, it isn't doing any good at all. A much better way would be to take one half stake for all the shrubs. Not one for each. Grind it up and lightly apply on the ground around the shrubs. Then stir it in a bit and then apply an organic mulch on top of it. White rock is a lesson in futility in keeping it clean and knowing what's going on under it. Your sandy ground needs humus, not rocks.
Mike

Those are young plants, maybe planted in order to sell the house. The first is Pittosporum; can't ID the second one as it's in such terrible shape. That is what I would call a 'hostile environment' for any plant....lots of reflected light and heat in that location.