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California Gardening

Italian Cypress

18 years ago

Greetings fellow Californians! I have a stand of 13 Italian Cypress that have been in the ground for a little over 2 years. They were about 6 ft tall when planted, and are now around 12 to 15 feet tall. I am very careful about not watering too much now that they are established, but about half of them tend to have a number or droopy branches, and not the tight columner form I want. Any thoughts on the cause and cure? The foliage is uniformily blue-green, with no browning or other problems. I do have a little spider mite webbing that I spray away with water, and could probably use some pointers on a better method of controlling them. Could this be a contributor to the droops? Looking forward to some expert help! Thanks!

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Comments (4)

Bob_B
18 years ago
Spider mites should not be causing your droop problem. More likely it is inherent in the tree, the cultivar. Some are tighter than others. If a branch sticks out too far and you can remove it without misshaping the tree, you can do that from time to time.
Bob
sputnikfarm
18 years ago
We had possums nesting in ours. They would knock them all out of whack. Not to mention what our dogs did trying to get at them. We didn't know what was going on until I found my big dog trying to burrow into the middle of a cypress. That also explained why the dogs smelled funny after their evening yard patrol.I removed all 12 cypress this past year and replaced them with cannas, gingers and vines on extra tall trellis'. Truth be told, I am not a fan of cypress or juniper and was happy to find an excuse to tear them out.
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Alyce Venice
18 years ago
Hello from StJohn,

CAn someone tell me the cost of a 6 foot italinal sypress. The price that would appear in the average California nurser? What should I look for in a healthy plant and any problems when newly planted.

THanks is advance
carney
18 years ago
A while back a gardener told me that when you plant Italian Cypress trees as hedge, it would be best to have one or two of them in containers--just in case. These trees have a tendency to mysteriously die from time to time leaving agaping hole (space)in the hedge. On such occasions you use the spare in the containers to fill in the gap. Very clever, I must admit.

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