Solosheep
Newly Registered
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Aug 23, 2017 11:47 am

Are my conifers dying?

Hello all

I'm very new to gardening. I bought my first house in December and it was a new build and had nothing in it. As well as getting lots of plants for my borders I got two pots and planted Thuja occidentalis Smaragd in them to look good on the patio. This was in about April and they have been fine apart from what I thought was natural browning at the bottom.

I came back from holiday and to my horror both plants are affected by this browning. I'm not sure what is going on. Are they dying? Or do they have a disease or maybe just a lack of water even though it's been raining heavily.

Does any one have advice? I have tried to attach two pictures and an overall of my garden this far.
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Solosheep
Newly Registered
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Aug 23, 2017 11:47 am

Anyone?

Solosheep
Newly Registered
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Aug 23, 2017 11:47 am

Not a great fourm

Ksk
Cool Member
Posts: 89
Joined: Sun Jun 25, 2017 11:57 am

I would say they are stressed and at risk of dying. Without more details that is the most obvious answer. While there may be a pathogen involved, that would have progressed and not waited until you left. That being said, if they were not consistently watered when you were gone the stress can make them more easily compromised by insects. When you planted them they started browning and after your holiday it was worse. Trees and shrubs need consistent deep watering to establish a robust root system over the first year. If you were hand watering vs using drip the watering and rain on the foliage may not have been deep enough. If you had a very hot June/July this would contribute. Then in your absence the shallow watering or less watering could result in more stress = brown.
The trick is figuring out how often to water and for how long. A steady drip for hours is better than a gush of flooding water. I would try a slow deep water once per week to see if they come back. Also, they will need water over the winter once every few weeks.

Also, some conifers are altitude dependent. I live at 6000 ft and have to be very careful due to high desert conditions. What grows in Seattle would never grow here. So there are many variables in play depending on your zone and weather patterns.



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