you might also post this to the "shrubs" forum - there's some active viburnum enthusiasts there who can surely help.

This is interesting, since my understanding is that chindos are remarkably disease-resistant. Are they spots, or does the browning start at leaf edges and work inward? If spots, are the spots "limited" by the veins on the leaf (more apt to be bacterial), or do the spots go right thru the veins (more apt to be fungal)? If you have angular spots, chances are good for bacterial leaf spot. Removing all the leaf debris around the plants is a good idea - and send it away, don't compost it. If the disease is bacterial, you may well have to remove the plants. You can send material for diagnosis to the Plant Disease Clinic.

http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/2003/8-22-2003/viburnum.html

Here is a link that might be useful: Plant Disease Clinic

They are spots over rendom areas of the leaf. I will go out and take a look tonight to see if the spots are limited by the veins. If it is bacterial, that would make sense that the fungicide I was using wasn't working. I'll let you know...
Thanks!
Lori

You can always put a few diseased leaves in a bag with a note, describing the problem, and leave them for the extension agent at your county to identify.

My chindo was 4 years old and gorgeous but was nibbled off by a predator and snapped in half!

I did take a few leaves to the extension service last year, but they said it was 'probably' fungal and didn't really seem to give it much effort for identification. That's why I had been treating it with fungicide. Anyway, I finally got some pictures:
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I will also cross post this in 'shrubs'....thanks for the suggestion.
Lori

I read about this on the shrubs forum -- that sounds scary. The extension agent may be a lot more interested now (doesn't give you much faith, does it?). If the plants have the organisms that causes Sudden Oak Death they will need to be destroyed.

I live in Apex, NC and have had problems with my two chindo viburnums--the same as the person in Clayton, NC. The shrubs were planted three years ago, part sun, clay soil, but have been fertilized and watered when needed. They haven't grown. They have the brown spots, yellow leaves that eventually fall off. Look just like his pictures,but not as severe. New growth looks very healthy. Is this a bacteria? Any suggestions from anyone?

The initial poster doesn't have cold damage -- the problem occurs during the summer.

All I can contribute is that the bushes I bought at Home Depot labeled Chindo Viburnums don't look anything like yours, and they don't bloom anything like the photos in the books either. Don't really care what they are but I'm pretty sure mine aren't Chindo's.

I have a similar brown spot disease that infects any Sambucus nigra (European Elderberry) that I plant. Starts out small and ends up virtually killing the bush (takes years). I swear I see the same illness in River birch. It doesn't show up in native/wild Elderberries but no one has come up with any fancy leaf/fancy colored forms of them yet.

My new growth this spring started out very promising, but then began to show the same kind of spotting. This time I have treated the trees with Kocide 2000 (I belive it is a Copper Sulfate or Copper Hydroxide or something similar). This is for treating bacterial leaf spot. This seems to have worked very well. However, if I do not apply it weekly, the spots start spreading. This is particularly annoying as Chindos are promoted as being virtually disease and pest free. I surely didn't want a high maintenance plant. Oh well. We'll see what happens when it gets a few more years of growth on it.

I was out a wholesale nursery last month in Harnett County and noticed that their Chindo's were having the same type of problem.

mary_gardner_2006, if the spots come back, try out a copper based spray and see if it helps out.

I'm so glad this subject came up.
These viburnums (there were 12) were part of my landscaping for our new home 2 years ago and all but 4 quickly developed all the problems described.
They never really took off after planting and even the surviving ones (that went through the leaf browning and drop) won't bloom.
Those that have survived seem to be free of the spots and browning now.

Either there were a few 'bad apples' spreading the problem to the others or those that survive were saved by lifting, soil amendments and replanting.
Surely hope it's not a variant of the sudden oak death problem.

The plant does look exactly like all the chindos I have planted in their first year.

As far as cold damage, the brown leaves do look that way. I planted more chindos (15) last fall under pine trees and almost all the leaves turned brown by spring. I left them on and they now covered with new green leaves.

The chindos I planted 6 years ago are now huge and while they do get the brown spot on the older leaves, they look great.

I would give them time.
This plant is only marginally hardy in your area.

Yes, cold damage can look like that, but you don't get cold damage during the summer. My young gardenias look like that at the end of the winter but never during the summer.

Hi bumblebeez,
Yes, I know that I am at the low end of the zone range for Chindos (7b - 9), but the damage I am seeing occurs during the warm months. Like I mentioned in an eariler post, I am seeing the spots appear on the new growth unless I keep it sprayed with copper. Glad to hear that your chindos got huge in 6 years...I have a psycho neighbor that I'm trying to block quickly. LOL
That is very interesting that others are having the same problems, considering that this plant is being highly promoted as being disease resistant. I wonder if any of the folks at NCSU would be interested in these postings.

Kribensis, have you considered using something besides the viburnums? How about Carolina cherry laurel, Bright and Tight?

Several gardens in my Charlotte (z7) neighborhood (including mine) have Chindo plantings of 10+ years' age. We all have to spray for fungus every spring.

It appears you have the same problem.

We spray carefully once a year. Some leaves will spot and drop off and must be raked up and thrown out. Do not compost those diseased leaves.

My Chindos are over 8 feet tall, 5 feet wide, and make a graceful entry to the driveway. They are under deciduous trees that put the area in deep shade when leafed out.

I love the look, and the spraying is worth the effort to me.

dottie_in_charlotte: I guess we could plant something else, but we've already spent the money on these plants and I'd hate to rip them out if we can keep the bacteria/fungus under control.

doc_dot: I'm curious - what product are you spraying? That would be great if we only have to spray once a year. I am finding at the moment that I'm having to spray weekly to keep the spots from spreading. Maybe after the trees get established a few more years they will be strong enough to fight off the worst of it. Anyway, would be interested in knowing what you are spraying. Also, how did you find out it was a fungus vs a bacteria? Do you know what type of fungus it is?
Thanks,
Lori

I planted a Chindo Viburnum 2-3 months ago in Richmond, Va. In the last 3 weeks the leaves are developing a brown streak down the middle vein from the front of the leaf through the back of the leaf. The Plant was check for disease and bugs. None were found. Leaves and stems were given to Southern States and Extension Agents-No problems identified. I watered the plant every 2-3 weeks, but in the past week (90-100 degrees) I watered it every 3-4 days if the ground was dry from top to 3 inches down. In is in full sun. Can you help ? Any suggestions will be appreciated. Ray

You have bacterial leaf spot. It does occur on Chindos and other glossy evergreen shrubs like cherry laurel.

Don't give up on your shrubs yet. You were right to treat them with a fungicide (has to be copper). Be aggressive about treatment until they can stabilize. That means pull off the dead leaves and cut back severely affected growth. Disinfect your clippers between uses and don't touch un-affected leaves or stems after handling affected ones. Clean up the diseased debris around your shrubs frequently, and change the mulch. Bacteria in the debris splashes back up on the plant when it rains or you water from above, thus re-infecting it.

I had this same problem -- coincidentally, it also occurred when the Chindo was young (2-3 yrs.). But one season's treatment, and vigilance, solved the problem. That Chindo is now huge and beautiful, with glossy, healthy foliage. It's possible that this particular bacteria is prevalent in your neighborhood, or that you had a lot of warm, wet weather last winter & spring -- conditions that are right for it. But I think you can solve this problem. And a healthy mature Chindo is worth the trouble.

I received a question via email about the status of my chindos since this person was having the same issues. Instead of just replying to him, I thought I would share with all. This will now be the third summer since we planted the chindos. The chindos got hit hard by our late frost this spring and it caused a lot of damage. The Chindos have recently started to put out fresh leaves to replace the damaged ones and the majority of them are an unblemished glossy green and healthy. However, there were a number of dead branches and an occasional spotty leaf. I pruned the dead growth and picked off the spotty leaves yesterday. We have continued to spray the copper every 2nd or 3rd week. We tried to stop the treatments at the end of last summer but the spotting got obviously worse at the time. I really hope they can outgrow this problem soon. It's been a lot of work!
Lori

I received a question about the chindos through email. Thought I would share it, along with my reponse:

Hi
Just wanted to check in on how your chindos are doing. I sprayed very diligently at the beginning of summer but got busy and didn't do it regularly (although I have kept them well-watered; I'm in the first county south of Atlanta not under an absolute water ban this fall). They looked pretty good until fall and now I'm suddenly having a lot more of the strange leaf spot problem and I'm back to spraying them religiously.
Did you ever get an answer from the extension service as to what is causing this? How are yours doing?
I haven't been able to find anyone else but you with this problem!!! Any ideas? I really love them, but I'm getting more than a little concerned.
Thanks.
_______________________

I never got around to sending another sample over to the extension service. My chindos didn't do great over the summer. We didn't have as much problem with the spotting, but they didn't really thrive either. It is just in the last month that we started to see some new growth. The plants are about the same size as they were when I planted them in 2004.
We didn't have to spray as often this summer. Maybe every 3-4 weeks. Maybe at least the spotting is getting under control. Sigh. Maybe we'll see some growth next spring.
-Lori

please help me. i bought chindo's to hide a shed, 6 shrubs at 25.00 each. I HAVE NOT PLANTED THEM YET, AND I AM THINKING ABOUT RETURNING THEM DUE TO SUCH REPORTS ABOUT DISEASE!!! ITS NOT JUST THE MONEY, IT THE TIME AND MONEY. I WANTED A SHRUB THAT WOULD GROW FAST, STAY GREEN AND BE MAINTAINCE FREE. WHAT WOULD YOU DO. PLEASE HELP ME!!!

I've had no disease problems with mine.

Well Shirley, my two up here on the border of NC/SC took off and grew a great deal after the drought of a few years ago. With adequate water and limited intrusion of tree roots nearby they still suffer the occasional dead branch so they need selective pruning. I never sprayed them or treated them except for giving them extra rain water when it was droughty.
Might be that the irrigation water (county water) since being changed from chlorinated to chloramine treated has helped. I don't know.

Plant them. Don't delay any longer. We'll be in summer heat real soon.

I am in Piedmont NC (Salisbury). I planted my nursery purchased Chindo's 3 years ago. They were container grown, approx 3-4' tall. They are now 12-15', never had leaf drop or discoloration. Do well in mostly shade. Never sprayed or fed. My only problem is my goat getting out of her fence and munching them. :(

A second Chindo close by.

Marion,
Thanks for posting that for me. I planted one in part shade this spring and hope it grows half that nice.
I planted it so that I don't see the view of my neighbors ugly stinking trash can, lol.
It has some brown marks on the leaves, but only on one side of the shrub, and it's still little yet.
Yours are beautiful, and I hope mine so as well.

I have had a chindo with the same problem that many have described. several have commented “no worries, be happy”, but the plant dies. Now I have another demonstrating same issue. I think this plant is going to die as well. I live inRaleigh, NC, so if anyone has any advice please respond.

Live in Raleigh...planted 3 chindos last year. Having severe issues with black spots and leaves dropping. garden center says don't worry! spray with fungicide later when tems are higher. Will see.