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Emerald Green Arborvitae - Color changing - help!

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

Hello all. Planted a dozen of these back in May (here in central NJ). They were mature trees, 10-12 feet, at the time. Big, heavy and a royal pain to move and plant - which is why I'm very nervous about them - don't want to do that job again! I was told at purchase that they needed plenty of water, that I 'could not water them enough'. I watered them faithfully, daily from May through August. Then less so as cooler September came around. I looked at them recently and noticed a lot(?) of golden leaves and plenty of dead leaves, mostly/all interior. Now I'm worried. Is this normal for this tree? A seasonal thing? Did I stop watering too soon? Are they dying? Attached are some pics. Any wisdom/advice would be very welcome! Also, how long into the fall should they be watered? I just dug down to the root ball and it seems moist. Help!

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Comments (3)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years ago
interior yellowing.. then browning is NORMAL ...

increased by transplant until fully established....a couple years ...

also increased by hot dry summer... or extreme cold winter ...

the bottom line .. if the growth tips are not coloring.. then all is well ..

NO evergreen.. of any type.. holds its needles forever ... a certain per cent always are falling off .... unless its a plastic plant ... lol ...

no plant needs water every day .. period ... and youa re correct to cut way back.. when days are cooler.. and nights are cold.. there simply is no heat to pull moisture from teh ground.. especially if mulched.. which you dont mention ...

dont know where you are.. nor the mulch ... so i cant tell you how to water up to.. and thru winter ...

you really need to go dig some 3 to 6 inch holes thru the planting... a foot or two out.. and FIND OUT SOIL MOISTURE IN THE ROOT ZONE .. dont get all tied up on what the soil surface looks like.. you cant ask strangers.. how the soil in your yard.. is holding water ....

more info.. better answers ....

next year.. ONLY water in drought.. if any ... and then free range the next year ...

they are looking great for large transplants .. with a late spring planting .. lets not try not to kill them with too much love... now ...

ken
Scott thanked ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
Scott
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks Ken. Appreciate the reassurance that all seems well. The plants are mulched well, 2 inches or so, but still below the bottom branches which I was instructed to do. Central NJ here, Planting zone 7A. Dug some holes and the root zone is moist - but it did rain last night. Will check again after a few dry days.

They were a beautiful deep green all summer so the quick color change caught me by surprise. Was hoping for a seasonal reason rather than a murder investigation!
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I have to backtrack a little and explain that when I planted the first set of trees, I was a COMPLETE newbie. I did not even have the soaker hose down at that point. I was watering them by hand about once a week thinking that would be enough. The soaker hose is that flat fabric kind and I've got two of them connected to a "Y" at the edge of my house...one length that goes down the side of the house is 25 feet, the other length goes toward the yard 50 feet. Together they make a 75 foot run and I read that a length under 100 feet should not be an issue where equal pressure is concerned...am I wrong? There is no "incline" along the length where the water ever has to go uphill, that is an optical illusion. From where the water enters the hose it only goes downhill slightly. I've been using this soaker hose all summer and it seems to do the job well, although I had to use it every day since I did not have time to put mulch down until this fall. I am thinking the reason the first batch died was from obvious lack of water before going into winter and then drying out by spring. Also not having mulch might have been a factor since we got down to -5 last winter. I have a hunch that the drying winds knocked out most of them, since my few survivors were the ones next to the house where they are somewhat protected. Which leads me to another question... What do you think of Wilt-Pruf? Could I prevent some dessication by using it? I was going to go with burlap but that is an awful lot that I would need to wrap...do these even need protection from wind if they get enough water before winter? I think in the spring I will move the one arb with the dead branch to the end of the line and replace it so I can keep the height I have going in that area (I need it there! I don't think want a window in my hedge..haha).
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Embothrium
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
They're shedding excessively - many of them have only a few inches of green beyond the orange. When that drops out they are going to look sparse. When plants develop too much dead older foliage - relative to the amount of live outer foliage - they are too dry, too wet, or need to be fertilized. Healthy 'Smaragd' are rich green with a solid outer covering through which little of the spent inner foliage shows through.

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