Did the defoliation coincide with the dry period?

even damaged leaves can photosynthesize ... dont go denuding the plant and adding insult to injury ...

disposing of fallen leaves is usually a good idea ...

what do you mean.. you treated with LOTS of neem??? ... why??? how heavy.. when ... was it sunny and hot when you did it???

its somehow stressed ... its not hungry.. back off the fert for a while ...

why do you think it would get root rot .. after a heavy pruning??? .. lets try not to jump to big problems ... and then love it to death.. trying to fix problems that dont exist ...

even in FL with its near year around growth season .. i would expect things heavily pruned.. to take some time.. to fill in ... or at least react to it all ...

i wonder if there is any chance.. that what you lost were interior leaves that were heavily shaded . until you took off the canopy .. and then they sun burned or something .. perhaps slightly.. and then took some time to eventually fall off ... just a WAG ....

ken

Thanks Embothrium and Ken. The sun hasn't been too hot here yet and I spray Neem at sunset. The bugs seem to have finally disappeared, but it was a battle...and the ants are gone in the one area from putting down lots of any bait in their trail. I also took the hose a couple times and jet sprayed all the leaves to try to remove more bugs and spray Neem again w/a dab of soap and alcohol. The viburnums do get a lot of shade in the winter months and they are in the sun now for most of the day with the shift. I may have pruned too early and pruned before flowering to allow sun to get inside early this dry spring and read to prune after flowering in several articles. I had a TON of flowers this year. I will let them rest a bit and keep an eye on the bugs. I am obsessed with saving these hedges. The little black dots on the new shoots really have me very concerned! I used lots of Neem because the bugs just wouldn't seem to disappear. :(