On the Strike 3 label I found mention of "for controll of woody plants" a few pages in. Also there are the usual warnings about drift and not spraying if winds excede 10 mph. My wild guess is some got on your trees due to wind or spray error. Totally a guess. Really it seemed listed as a systemic but with all the overspray warnings I figure contact must not be good for plants. Guys, what was that spray which one of them companies in the north is discovered is killing some trees? Was in the paper months back but my google skills are failing me. Is that a pretty normal treatment plan? I am not in a suburb so this lawn love stuff is alien to me. Here is a link that might be useful: strike 3 store with label

I forgot to mention that we are in central Pennsylvania, about an hour directly north of Harrisburg. We have had what seems like a fairly average summer, possibly a little dryer than normal. When we have a dry spell I do go out and water the shrubs. Here are few more pictures taken last night. The original that I posted was from right after the shrubs were planted. Close up of the dying arb. - http://i.imgbox.com/2OyAmbIA.jpg rear of the arbs., note the tree coverage. - http://i.imgbox.com/3TPLIqjB.jpg Two more pictures showing the tree coverage and shrubs. http://i.imgbox.com/tFiUHZgv.jpg http://i.imgbox.com/iXUjxdB0.jpg You will notice only one very browned arb, the two directly next to this one have been replaced in the last 4-6 weeks as they were in the same state. Lowes offered a 1 year warranty so I was credited for the purchased amount. My thought about bugs is that it is unlikely as the three shrubs I have had the problem with are all right next to each other. I could be wrong in this assumption. About applying a mulch, noted and I plan to take care of this immediately. I am happy with the layout of my yard/fence line and I do not require a additional shed as we have a sizable shed/single horse barn already for storage. I did not put fertilizer in the holes when planting. The ground in that area is extremely hard and compacted (compared to just a few feet over). Would it be beneficial to till up all of the ground in the general area down to maybe 12" or so? Will this help with my problem at all? When I replace the dying arb, should I break up the compacted soil (clay) that the root ball comes from the store in? Thank you again for all of your help.

interior browning is ENTIRELY NORMAL ... increased by transplant.. and doubly increased by lack of water after transplant ... but you got that part ... generic soaker hoses are NOT engineered for hills ... as you suspect ... they can not even out the pressure .. so all the water is going downhill ... and that is why those are fairing better ... you water a conifer/tree when it needs water.. and that is best indicated by inserting your finger to the second knuckle and watering when it needs water ... the first year or two after transplant.. you are fully in charge .... or at least you are NOW.. lol ... i wouldnt be surprised.. if the ones that are doing best were the spring plantings... i will guess the ones 6 weeks later are struggling a bit more [if they arent downhill] .... because they immediately went into the hot part of summer with insufficient roots .... all you need to do.. is forget about the brown.. and get some proper water on them ... how is the bigger issue .... you can buy engineered drip line .... or you can cut yours down.. and with a couple hose fittings.. make a contraption that does one tree at a time ..just a 2 or 3 foot circle around the tree ... and run it.. until the ground is well moistened ... in the alternative.. a plain old sprinkler on very low pressure doing just 2 trees at a time should also work .... once the clay is properly wet.. a good blanket of mulch will help hold the water in the clay ... to avoid the great extremes of watering ... by next spring.. the brown stuff inside will be crispy.. and you can stick an arm in.. and work it all out .. which you should do every year or two anyway ... as the plant grows. it will shade out the interior.. and in years of drought.. the trees will show more browning then in other years.. but there will ALWAYS be interior browning ... good luck.. and thx for being the first in weeks to actually post a picture without us begging [or so it seems] ken

When I established them I used a soaker hose for a month or two. If I remember correctly they did not appear to be root bound at all. As for fertilizer - they have probably gotten some "over spray" from when I fertilize the lawn but I have not deliberately fertilized them otherwise. I do a late fall fertilizer for the lawn and I'm sure some of that gets to them as well. Should I avoid them when I fertilize?? I have a bunch of others that are outside the reach of my broadcast spreader that have grown similarly - and are growing well. The back sides seem to be the same in terms of browning. The foliage on the back sides get very thick in the late spring/summer so the back sides of all of them have thinner growth. I've never had the lawn sprayed. Is it possible that the sprinklers wetting the leaves are damaging them? -JIm