Privets, Ligustrum species, are prone to some fungal leaf spots, cercospora being one of the most common. It does respond to registered fungicides but the treatment does need to be repeated as necessary throughout the growing season. You can also practice some basic cultural controls to reduce the infection - avoid any overhead watering (or water on the foliage), provide good air circulation and clean up and dispose of any fallen leaves.

I'd also expect some of the yellowing and dropping to be the normal seasonal shedding of older foliage but some of the foliage in the photo looks a bit chlorotic as well so perhaps some fertilizing in spring is called for also.

it would be nice to know where you are ...

and have a pic of the whole ...

if its a large plant.. and this pic is the sum total of the problem ... who cares ..

and if its low.. think dog ...

and my privet in MI ... are deciduous... may we rule that out for yours???

ALL evergreen plants ... presuming yours is such.. lose leaves .... none hold their leave leaves forever ...

the thought.. that you need chemicals.. on privet.. stuns me ... but since gal seems to know all about it.. maybe its a PNW thing ...

but i still wouldnt waste chems.. money nor time.. treating a privet ...

BTW ... top left corner of pic ... are the green leaves mottled.. what about mites?

ken

I'm located on the coast in south eastern North Carolina. It's occurring all over the shrub, not just the bottom. It is not normal leaf dropping as these plants have thinned considerably over the past 12 months since this started and it didn't get any better (or any worse) through all four seasons. They are about 6 ft tall and have hundreds of these dying leaves at any given time.

Steve, mor is correct....this is a fungal disorder and common to Ligustrum japonicum that just aren't happy. Are yours getting full sun, which they prefer?

The irrigation issue is an important one as are garden housekeeping tasks. Excessive fertilization can also lead to disease problems.

rhizo, thanks for the thoughts. Mine are not in full sun which might be the crux of the problem. They're on the north side of the house. Over fertilization and irrigation are probably not the problem as we do little of either of these. I guess my only choice is to keep hitting it with fungicide and hope for the best. Any particular one recommended?

I don't think that I've ever seen this particular plant thrive where it doesn't get full sun. Sorry, I can only advise you to consider replacing them with some thing more suitable.

Agree with ^. Continued use of a pesticide, because a plant is not sited properly, cannot be condoned. Far better it would be to work with something that's actually adapted to the site conditions.

+oM

100% agree with Larry. I had landscape fabric surrounding my Ligustrum and removing it fixed the problem.