Variegated pittosporum looks like it's dying. Help????

[CaptBraap]

Half are healthy and half not, but it looks to be spreading. Scratching the stems they are green. Watering is perfect, no changes to soil, no changes to sunlight, no animals... no changes.
Anybody have a hunch at what's up? Picture is a week old. Leaves are brown and falling off now.

 

[cpp gardener]

Where are you?
How long has it been there?
How often does it get watered?
What kind of irrigation system is it? Drip? Sprays? Soaker hose?

Take a look at where those branches originate, there may be a wound or canker at the base. Also look for gnawing of the stems. We have issues with rats chewing the bark off.

Something has happened to make it change from healthy to dying. The damage may have happened a while ago and now the symptoms are showing.

 

[CaptBraap]

I'm in Houston
Vari Pitt were put in 5 years ago, the boxwoods 11 years.
Watering three days a week, 7 minutes each time and via pop up sprayers.
Both the Vari Pitt and the boxwoods have been healthy as a horse since day one with same water/sun. If we have extreme heat coupled with drought I will hand water with hose.

We have indoor/outdoor cats so no rats or other pests would be there. No, they don't use this as their litter box, they use the indoor box and another specific spot along our back fence.

Stalks all look the same from healthy to unhealthy except the unhealthy have some new growth near the bottom. Makes me thing I should just do a heavy cutting on the top and push the reset button.

 

[cpp gardener]

As I said, something has happened and my suspicion is that they are staying too wet. After this much time the boxwoods and pitts are very well establIshed and can get by with significantly less water. The pitts can get by on rainwater here, so I think they can there too. The boxwoods would probably be happy with once a week for 15 or 20 minutes. I know nothing has changed in what you do, but the plants and soil have changed and the plants are showing symptoms of root damage/stress. Something to try anyway.

 

[CaptBraap]

You're correct, something has happened but the evidence doesn't suggest water because my sprinklers distribute water very evenly and only 35% are dying. Our "winter" watering times are substantially less and that starts Nov. 15. I'm going to heavily cut them back and hope it works. Temps here are finally closer to 90 with nice evenings so better growing conditions.

 

[Noah275]

Hey, it could be some fungal issue, even though everything else seems fine, Brown leaves and dropping are often a sign of fungal diseases, especially if the plant is weakened, Check if your soil drains well, excess moisture can make things worse, And about the picture – a week is quite long, Maybe things got worse in that time?I also read that temperature changes can affect it, even if you don’t notice it right away.

 

[CaptBraap]

Thanks, I'm going to trim them down and spray for fungus. I have a wax ligustrum close by that is prone to fungus.