My ornamental hawthorn is very sick looking?

Question

Very sparse pale green foliage and no flowers this year. Any ideas on how to help it flourish?

Answer 1

Sometimes this can be caused by a caterpillar infestation. They can strip away virtually all the greenery. Have a look to see the condition of the leaves.Look carefully for caterpillars, they might be very hard to see. You could try placing a sheet or something like that underneath and shaking the branches to see what falls out.

Are the branch tips healthy? Hawthorns can get the disease 'fire blight'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_blight

To help it recover from it's current condition, give the plant a good feed with a general all-round fertilizer like Phostrogen. Make up three or four watering can's worth and water it onto the ground under the tree canopy, then water that in a bit more to get it down to the roots and see if that helps. You can also mulch around the base with compost to give a longer-term boost and a wider range of nutrients.