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Emerald green arborvitae

11 years ago

I planted these trees in March watered all summer well ..they looked well until about 2-3 weeks ago and since have developed this look..are they falling back or dying?? these aren t my best summer so any help would be appreciated.. Is there anything I can do to help them..? thanks for any help

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Comments (7)

dietzjm
11 years ago
Hi Sweetie,

This is completely normal. No conifer keeps its "needles" forever. The oldest ones, in the interior of the plant, drop each fall.

You know you're good if the outter needles remain normal.

Matt
Embothrium
11 years ago
Poke around in the original rootballs to see if they have gone dry inside.

Your plants do not look like 'Smaragd' (Danish for emerald or emerald green) but rather 'Nigra'.
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dig another hole.. and perk your soil ... this will give you some great info for the future ....https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffcm&q=perk+your+soil&ia=web the stone in bottom.. probably doesnt do anything.. but wont hurt ... worms will either stay or go .. no harm though ... great time of year to plant .. day heat should be lessening.. night heat easily dissipated ... this is a tree.. things happen in tree time ... so dont have high expectations of SEEING much of anything happening anytime soon ... water properly.. deeply and infrequently ... let it near dry in between drying ... this time of year ... there usually isnt the heat to dry the soil.. down at root level .. even in your zone ... so dont love it to death by watering too much ... and just skip watering if there is any significant rain .. keep checking ... i would prefer you learn to use a finger.. rather than a gizmo .. for the long run.. so use both until you dont need the gizmo ... the next important period.. would be when the heat starts building next summer ... then we would be concerned with the watering again ... its in transplant shock due to the whole process... its not hungry.. no fert .. clay is usually very fertile ... one thing you didnt mention ... were the roots badly circling the pot??? to repeat.. dont try to kill it with too much love.. just relax.. water it properly ... .. ken
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where did this idea start Lopped broadleaf plants do produce quick growing shoots in an apparent effort to replace the suddenly lost top volume. But because of the cutting back that same volume will be less than if the specimen had been left to proceed with enlarging itself in its own natural way. In other words the often whippy shoots produced in response to the amputation do not in total have as much bulk as the original growth would have produced during the same subsequent period of time. This was actually tested decades ago by planting blocks of the same kinds and sizes of trees, cutting half of them back and then after replacement sprouts had been produced digging and weighing all of the test subjects. With the recurring outcome being that the control plants (unpruned group) consistently weighed more.
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Whenever I plant something like that, I put the hose right next to the trunk and let the water run for maybe 5 minutes. Not only does it soak the root ball. it also help settle the soil and get rid of air pockets. After that, I rarely ever need to water again. I usually plant evergreens in the fall. I have maybe 25 arbs right now and it worked for all of them. Arborvitaes don't seem to need a lot of water. They're pretty drought tolerant. My soil holds water really well and I get consistent precipitation year round in zone 7a. If you live in a hot arid location, what I do probably wouldn't work for you.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
11 years ago
what matt said.. the boy too..

but any shock increases the effect.. such as transplant ...

INSURE the root mass is moist.. for winter..

ken
Embothrium
11 years ago
Yes, amount of browning shown is more than just normal annual death of oldest leaves - some of the branches are brown all the way out to the ends.
davidrt28 (zone 7)
11 years ago
Just making a point that this is a plant which would not normally be native to TN, except in cool, moist mountains. Are you gonna have to make sure they are well watered in their first couple years, in a place with hot summers? You bet. Especially if you've been dry - you don't say where you are. Looks like the far western part of the state joined the midwest in the drought, but the central & eastern parts have not. You say you watered, but we don't know if you did it correctly. Sorry to have to put it that way, it's just the truth of the matter. That being said, sometimes drought damage manifests itself after the weather starts to cool down.

Anecdotally, I suspect the evil Leyland (which you should not have planted, I'm just using it as an example) and 'Green Giant' have a heterosis that gives them drought resistance beyond what would be expected of their parents. I've been surprised at how drought resistant my 'Green Giant' has been this summer.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://water.weather.gov/precip/index.php?yday=1350216000&yday_analysis=0amp;layer[]=0amp;layer[]=1&layer[]=4&timetype=RECENT&loctype=STATE&units=engl&timeframe=last180days&product=per_normal&loc=conus
botann
11 years ago
It looks as if they were field dug this Spring. They may have been in the field and missed a transplant last year. The rootballs are probably not the best.

Thujas are tough plants and can recover rather quickly, given adequate water until they get more roots to support the foliage.

Mike
aliensweetie
Original Author
11 years ago
someone told me that they are green giant so started another post about that and yes the guy at the nursery said they should be fine when he sold them..as evergreens which is what i was looking for ..rootball is moist... ie clumpy clay in comparison..I am going to leave alone and see if they make it this winter..first time with evergreen s so forgive this slow death

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