Help! Browning at bottom 20 newly planted EG arborvitae
vikki m
7 years ago
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brandon7 TN_zone7
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agovikki m
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Help! Are my Arborvitae trees dying?
Comments (10)Hi Ken, Thanks so much for helping me diagnose the problem with our arborvitae trees. Sorry for the delay in my response. I have attached a close-up picture. We have been watering the trees about twice a week - a gallon or two of water each time. It seemed to be an average CO winter - it snowed on and off. The snow would not last more than a day or two with out melting off. It got below freezing overnight but it would warm up during the day - average days in the 40s and it would get down to 20 or below at night. It seems like the browning started early Spring. It's clay soil, and when we planted them, we dug a hole two times the size of the root ball and mixed fertilized gardening soil in with the clay soil. There is some browning on the side of the plants that face the fence (the south side), but not as much. We are unsure if they were root-bound upon planting - how can you tell? The lawn is not sprayed where the trees are growing. We did not use landscape fabric underneath the stone. Do you think it's a watering issue? Based on our research, it seems they are either getting too much water (which seems unlikely), not enough water (which might be the case), or some kind of fungus/disease is causing the problem. More recently, we have been watering them more in the past week to see if that helps, yet we aren't seeing a change - or does it take several days for them to green up if that's the problem? What do you advise we do? Thanks!!...See MoreNewly transplanted trees browning - transplant shock, overwaterin
Comments (20)Just wanted to post a followup on this for anyone who may come across this thread in the future. I always hate finding a thread full of good information, but then not knowing if it actually worked or not. I replaced the trees that died, and the new ones are doing great. Here's what I did differently. (I know that for some of you, these may be the most obvious things in the world, but some of us are still learning, even from our really stupid, obvious mistakes). - I waited til it cooled down. It got cooler earlier than I expected, so I was able to do the transplants a couple weeks ago. - Smaller trees. I did still really need the height, so I went with 6-8' tall trees (some are about 9', actually), but I got much smaller caliper (trunk diameter) trees. I tried for no more than about 1.5" caliper, measured 6 inches above the root flare (some are a little closer to 1.75"). They're definitely much less full, but they'll get the job done until they fill in and grow up a little. It helps a lot that I found out that for screening purposes, eastern red cedars can be planted as close as 4' apart. Bigger, fuller trees really aren't needed at that spacing. - No starter fertilizer. These are trees, not grass. I used some Fertilome Root Stimulator & Starter solution (per the manufacturer's instructions) when I planted, and may add some Superthrive in a couple weeks, just to get the roots really going before winter kicks in. - Much better care of the root balls. I didn't make perfect root balls, as such - after reading a whole lot of back and forth between scientists on the benefits of good root balls vs taking as much root as possible, even if they're outside of the dirt, I kind of went with a hybrid approach. I got as much root as I could, and kept as much dirt on them as possible. I kept all of them covered with dirt of some type for as much time as possible, and ensured that they never actually got dry. Total time from digging to planting was less than 4 hours, and most of that time, they were in some kind of dirt. - I watered with a sprinkler for a few days, to let moisture come in through both the roots & leaves, in case the roots were having difficulty of some kind. Then I found out about Wilt-Pruf (prevents moisture from escaping through the leaves, which causes a lot of transplant shock). I applied it per the manufacturer's instructions, and am now watering with a soaker hose, as Wilt-Pruf should also prevent absorption of water through the leaves. - I haven't mulched yet (life got in the way unexpectedly), but I will be soon. Something else I came across in my reading - mulch isn't required, but most bushes or trees that are mulched in their first year or two after transplant show 20%+ more growth than those that aren't. Since growth & size are my primary goals here, it's worth having that junk in my yard for a year or two. We'll see what, if anything, will grow under these trees once they're established, but for now, it's gonna be mulch. Thanks, everybody, for all the insights provided. Hopefully these results, and what I did to get them, will be useful to someone else in the future, too....See MoreNewly planted Aborvitae turning brown
Comments (5)Thuja is very forgiving of over-watering, so my first inclination would be to look to other reasons. One possibility is fungal issues if you're watering the foliage every night. If you are watering the soil only, disregard the comment, as this tree is usually pretty resistant to fungal attack. I wonder about how the trees were situated in regard to sun exposure before being planted? If the trees were sitting in one place for a long time (so one side was largely shaded from sun), or if they were situated so they were close together, shading each others foliage, you could be seeing simple sunburn. The parts that were shaded could easily "burn" when suddenly planted in full sun. If the trees have been fertilized already, it's possible they are exhibiting symptoms of fertilizer burn. Don't know if any of this fits. Trees only need soil to be slightly moist. Trees don't drink water like we sip through a straw. They absorb water by osmosis, molecule by molecule from the microscopic coating of water on the surface of soil particulates. Al...See MoreNewly planted emeral green arborvitae turning brown -- pls help!
Comments (8)Thank you all for the replies and thoughts. When I removed the burlap, the clayey root ball seemed very moist, so I believe it was adequately moistened. I have since placed a soaker hose in my garden bed (under 2-3" of mulch) with a full loop around the base of the tree, so we'll see what happens with soaking for a longer period of time rather than 5-10 minutes of direct hose spray. I also want to note that I planted a new rhododendron immediately adjacent to the emerald green about 2 weeks ago, and I just noticed today that the rhody appears to have a disease, which looks an awful lot to me like phytophthora ramorum. I think I have heard that arborvitaes are also susceptible to this disease. Do you think there might be a connection between the rhody and the arborvitae? I am probably going to pull that rhody out and bring it back to the nursery where I got it, as it was only a few weeks ago. I posted photos of the browning arborvitae foliage, and of the rhododendron....See Moreken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
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