UK gardening - Why Are My Conifers Dying?

Author

Why Are My Conifers Dying?

Earths_Child

2005-07-28, 5:21 am

I'm out in the garden most nights, and get to prune, and dig and water and
feed, so I can't think what is happening. I've read the earlier posts
about dying conifers, but would like to know what I might be doing wrong.

Had some conifers (spreading leylandii) put in early spring to get a garden
boundary going. Most of them did pretty well; though one of them dried out
by mid march and I uprooted it and put it in the shredder, replacing it with
another from the garden centre (a slightly different variety, but thriving
none-the-less). Recently however, another of my conifers suddenly went
brown and the needles started dropping.

I cut it back, fed the plant, and sprayed it in case mites had got to it,
but it went downhill rapidly and within two weeks, I had to dig it up.
I've trimmed it and replanted it behing one of my healthier greener
leylandiis, in case something magical happens, and this time, I replaced the
gap with four newer conifers.

And then suddenly only two days ago, another of the conifers planted in
spring has taken a nosedive. If the other two are anything to go by, I
don't hold out much hope, although I intervended on Tuesday night when I
noticed the first discolouration and the slight droop.

Why is this happening? Is there anything that I can do to prevent healthy
looking green conifers from drying out and dying within what appears to be
days?

Emrys Davies

2005-07-28, 7:21 am

"Earths_Child" <Earths@Childs.net> wrote in message
news:6x0Ge.14130$zp1.9688@newsfe7-win.ntli.net...
> I'm out in the garden most nights, and get to prune, and dig and water
and
> feed, so I can't think what is happening. I've read the earlier
posts
> about dying conifers, but would like to know what I might be doing
wrong.
>
> Had some conifers (spreading leylandii) put in early spring to get a
garden
> boundary going. Most of them did pretty well; though one of them
dried out
> by mid march and I uprooted it and put it in the shredder, replacing
it with
> another from the garden centre (a slightly different variety, but
thriving
> none-the-less). Recently however, another of my conifers suddenly
went
> brown and the needles started dropping.
>
> I cut it back, fed the plant, and sprayed it in case mites had got to
it,
> but it went downhill rapidly and within two weeks, I had to dig it up.
> I've trimmed it and replanted it behing one of my healthier greener
> leylandiis, in case something magical happens, and this time, I
replaced the
> gap with four newer conifers.
>
> And then suddenly only two days ago, another of the conifers planted
in
> spring has taken a nosedive. If the other two are anything to go by,
I
> don't hold out much hope, although I intervended on Tuesday night when
I
> noticed the first discolouration and the slight droop.
>
> Why is this happening? Is there anything that I can do to prevent
healthy
> looking green conifers from drying out and dying within what appears
to be
> days?

I am wondering if you are watering them effectively. Some people water
from a hosepipe or a watering can rose believing that they have watered
successfully but, more often than not, they will find that the water
runs off the rootball leaving the roots dry.

A dry rootball is hard to penetrate. Water deflects off it. It needs
to be soaked slowly before planting and then by the application of water
poured directly and slowly onto the roots.

Regards,
Emrys Davies.

Steve Drake

2005-07-28, 8:21 am

I have had some luck with my leylandii, i watered them every night for the
first few weeks, then every other night (depending on weather) for a few
months, out of 25, 2 died and i think this was due to me clipping them with
the strimmer. over 18 months they have gone from 3ft to 8ft (some less)

I also put a soak hose and left that on several times.

Don't every cut them back, they don't regenerate, let them cut about 2 feet
more than you want, then cut 1 foot off, then cut the other foot off little
by little over time (if anyone know a better way please share it, i have
been told this is the best way todo it, but i am no expert).

Steve

"Earths_Child" <Earths@Childs.net> wrote in message
news:6x0Ge.14130$zp1.9688@newsfe7-win.ntli.net...
> I'm out in the garden most nights, and get to prune, and dig and water and
> feed, so I can't think what is happening. I've read the earlier posts
> about dying conifers, but would like to know what I might be doing wrong.
>
> Had some conifers (spreading leylandii) put in early spring to get a
> garden boundary going. Most of them did pretty well; though one of them
> dried out by mid march and I uprooted it and put it in the shredder,
> replacing it with another from the garden centre (a slightly different
> variety, but thriving none-the-less). Recently however, another of my
> conifers suddenly went brown and the needles started dropping.
>
> I cut it back, fed the plant, and sprayed it in case mites had got to it,
> but it went downhill rapidly and within two weeks, I had to dig it up.
> I've trimmed it and replanted it behing one of my healthier greener
> leylandiis, in case something magical happens, and this time, I replaced
> the gap with four newer conifers.
>
> And then suddenly only two days ago, another of the conifers planted in
> spring has taken a nosedive. If the other two are anything to go by, I
> don't hold out much hope, although I intervended on Tuesday night when I
> noticed the first discolouration and the slight droop.
>
> Why is this happening? Is there anything that I can do to prevent
> healthy looking green conifers from drying out and dying within what
> appears to be days?
>
>
>
>

Mike Lyle

2005-07-28, 9:21 am

Emrys Davies wrote:
> "Earths_Child" <Earths@Childs.net> wrote in message
> news:6x0Ge.14130$zp1.9688@newsfe7-win.ntli.net...
[...]
a[color=darkred]
prevent[color=darkred]
what[color=darkred]
>
> I am wondering if you are watering them effectively. Some people
> water from a hosepipe or a watering can rose believing that they
have
> watered successfully but, more often than not, they will find that
> the water runs off the rootball leaving the roots dry.
>
> A dry rootball is hard to penetrate. Water deflects off it. It
needs
> to be soaked slowly before planting and then by the application of
> water poured directly and slowly onto the roots.

Agreed. But I notice three things. First, you "had" them put in.
People who do these jobs are often pretty clueless and in a hurry.
Perhaps the soil wasn't prepared, and perhaps the roots weren't
gently spread out on planting.

Second, you "cut it back". If you cut back so hard that there aren't
enough leaves left, these trees will die of starvation.

Third, I think you may regret choosing Leylandii. They aren't much
good for making a conventional evergreen hedge (Thuja plicata is
good; yew is excellent but expensive and rather slow), and are one of
the most effective ways to get on bad terms with your neighbours! If
you have no near neighbours and need a quick windbreak for a big
garden, they're great though dull; but even then they'll end up with
bare trunks lower down. If you visit an arboretum and find some old
ones you'll see what I mean. A slow drive round the suburbs being
nosey will show you what they can be like after a much shorter time.

--
Mike.

Earths_Child

2005-07-28, 10:21 am

"Emrys Davies" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:3kroosFvvumuU1@individual.net...
> "Earths_Child" <Earths@Childs.net> wrote in message
> news:6x0Ge.14130$zp1.9688@newsfe7-win.ntli.net...
> and
> posts
> wrong.
> garden
> dried out
> it with
> thriving
> went
> it,
> replaced the
> in
> I
> I
> healthy
> to be
>
> I am wondering if you are watering them effectively. Some people water
> from a hosepipe or a watering can rose believing that they have watered
> successfully but, more often than not, they will find that the water
> runs off the rootball leaving the roots dry.
>
> A dry rootball is hard to penetrate. Water deflects off it. It needs
> to be soaked slowly before planting and then by the application of water
> poured directly and slowly onto the roots.
>
> Regards,
> Emrys Davies.
>
>
>
>
>
I've been watering the conifers regularly and the earth around would appear
to be moit most the times, though I'm not sure how moist it needs to be.
Seems to have been okay till now. I wonder if the moisture isn't
penetrating the ground to get to the roots - but why would that happen?

Thanks all the same.

Earths_Child

2005-07-28, 10:21 am

"Mike Lyle" <mike_lyle_uk@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:3krumfFv8f98U1@individual.net...
> Emrys Davies wrote:
> [...]
> a
> prevent
> what
> have
> needs
>
> Agreed. But I notice three things. First, you "had" them put in.
> People who do these jobs are often pretty clueless and in a hurry.
> Perhaps the soil wasn't prepared, and perhaps the roots weren't
> gently spread out on planting.

You are right - I did spend a fair bit of time and money on hiring someone
to revamp and do some hardscaping. We've since parted, quite amicably at
first I would have thought, but later he was rather rude once during the job
and when I called him back about the first conifer just weeks after it died
and when a patch of my lawn turned yellow. Needless to say, I have my
pride, he has my money and I shalln't be requesting his services again.

I'm new to gardening, so the hired help at first was a good place to start.

>
> Second, you "cut it back". If you cut back so hard that there aren't
> enough leaves left, these trees will die of starvation.

Oddly, the cut back conifer still appears to be alive - it doesn't snap
easily and the mini-branches seem quite moist.

>
> Third, I think you may regret choosing Leylandii. They aren't much
> good for making a conventional evergreen hedge (Thuja plicata is
> good; yew is excellent but expensive and rather slow), and are one of
> the most effective ways to get on bad terms with your neighbours! If
> you have no near neighbours and need a quick windbreak for a big
> garden, they're great though dull; but even then they'll end up with
> bare trunks lower down. If you visit an arboretum and find some old
> ones you'll see what I mean. A slow drive round the suburbs being
> nosey will show you what they can be like after a much shorter time.
>

My brother in law has an established leylandii hedge, and just trims it. I
am new to this so, I chose what appeared to be already working.

> --
> Mike.
>
>

Earths_Child

2005-07-28, 10:21 am

"Steve Drake" <Steve@_NOSPAM_.Drakey.co.uk> wrote in message
news:dcadkg$d1q$1$830fa17d@news.demon.co.uk...
>I have had some luck with my leylandii, i watered them every night for the
>first few weeks, then every other night (depending on weather) for a few
>months, out of 25, 2 died and i think this was due to me clipping them with
>the strimmer. over 18 months they have gone from 3ft to 8ft (some less)
>
> I also put a soak hose and left that on several times.
>
> Don't every cut them back, they don't regenerate, let them cut about 2
> feet more than you want, then cut 1 foot off, then cut the other foot off
> little by little over time (if anyone know a better way please share it, i
> have been told this is the best way todo it, but i am no expert).
>
> Steve

I took some of the tops off - I thought it might encourage outward growth.
Will avoid cutting - I actually do want the privacy and the enclosure that
comes with height.

>
>
> "Earths_Child" <Earths@Childs.net> wrote in message
> news:6x0Ge.14130$zp1.9688@newsfe7-win.ntli.net...
>
>

John Anderton

2005-07-28, 11:21 am

On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 11:56:15 +0100, "Steve Drake"
<Steve@_NOSPAM_.Drakey.co.uk> wrote:

>
>Don't every cut them back, they don't regenerate,

They can do actually, as long as you don't go right back to brown
wood.

I had a couple of out of control leylandii and experimented on them. I
found that if I cut back each branch so that it still had a green
shoot then, after a few months, more green shoots would appear further
down the branch and the branch could be cut again, still leaving at
least one green shoot.

Eventually what had been a 10' diameter tree became a 1' diameter
"pole".

Then I cut it down :-)

Cheers,

John

Steve Drake

2005-07-28, 11:21 am

cutting will encourage outward growth, but if you cut brown it will not grow
up any more, if you cut higher than you need you get more outward growth at
top.

Steve

"Earths_Child" <Earths@Childs.net> wrote in message
news:oc4Ge.3913$hc4.3527@newsfe6-win.ntli.net...
>
> "Steve Drake" <Steve@_NOSPAM_.Drakey.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:dcadkg$d1q$1$830fa17d@news.demon.co.uk...
>
> I took some of the tops off - I thought it might encourage outward growth.
> Will avoid cutting - I actually do want the privacy and the enclosure that
> comes with height.
>
>
>
>
>

nambucca

2005-07-28, 6:21 pm

"John Anderton" <John@home.co.uk> wrote in message
news:uqmhe1th4espn1fks0hnsd16ar1e7gk021@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 11:56:15 +0100, "Steve Drake"
> <Steve@_NOSPAM_.Drakey.co.uk> wrote:
>
>
>
> They can do actually, as long as you don't go right back to brown
> wood.
>
> I had a couple of out of control leylandii and experimented on them. I
> found that if I cut back each branch so that it still had a green
> shoot then, after a few months, more green shoots would appear further
> down the branch and the branch could be cut again, still leaving at
> least one green shoot.
>
> Eventually what had been a 10' diameter tree became a 1' diameter
> "pole".
>
> Then I cut it down :-)
>
> Cheers,
>
> John

Earths child has not said if they have neighbours but Leylandi hedges are
causing great misery all around the country ........maybe your neighbours
dont want a wall of green and are poisoning the nasty things before they
start

John Anderton

2005-07-30, 10:21 am

On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 20:33:22 +0000 (UTC), "nambucca"
<nambucca@nospam.com> wrote:

>
>"John Anderton" <John@home.co.uk> wrote in message
>news:uqmhe1th4espn1fks0hnsd16ar1e7gk021@4ax.com...
>
>Earths child has not said if they have neighbours but Leylandi hedges are
>causing great misery all around the country ........maybe your neighbours
>dont want a wall of green and are poisoning the nasty things before they
>start
>
Er, did you mean to reply to me ?

Cheers,

John

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