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Thanks - I was watering every day then because I had also planted grass seed around that time. I was actually running them twice a day, once in the morning before sunrise, and once in late afternoon/eve, for the grasses sake.
The sprinklers were touching the lower leaves a bit of the trees. On top of that, I was giving a good solid watering to these trees for a week after planting - only at the root areas with a wand. Did not touch the leaves then.
The backs do a look a bit better I will say, but not great. Again, I'm not sure if maybe this is just normal behavior after transplanting.
You are drowning your arborvitae: stop watering.
Make sure the sprinklers don’t wet the foliage. Let them dry out a bit - only water them ( the same for your grass) if no rain - once a week max. If it rains- don’t water that week
Better less water than more.
Make sure they are not planted too deep.
Google root flare images
Hi - hoping someone can help me answer this. I had 25 arborvitae planted in my backyard for a natural fench. They were 7-8 footers, and I got them from a very reputable local nursery. They were planted by my landscaper in mid September (I live in southern NY state).
Around 2 weeks after planting, they already started to turn brown in a lot of spots. My landscaper is saying this was either from overwatering, or from my lawn sprinklers hitting the plants and causing them to burn. My sprinkler guy doesn't think this is from overwatering, and he says they will come back and be perfect in the spring.
I'm not sure what's going on here, but I spent a ton of money on these and am hoping they don't die before the first year even passes!
I did water them a lot by hand the first week - I thought they needed a ton of water right after transplanting. Could the browning be from that? Or could it also just be shock from the transplanting? Any other ideas of what this could be or what I can do to save these?
Thanks!
1. Why ask a sprinkler guy or landscaper when you spent so much money buying them from the "very reputable local nursery"?? Not only you should bring this up to them so they have on file, but they would be the ones to give you proper advice and help. I am sure there is a warranty as well if they die in the spring. (it would still be less than 8mths)
2. Absolutely NORMAL for Arbs to get brown and drop needles. I've been growing them for 11 yrs and they do that.
3. Is it on all sides? Looks like 1 side from pics. They aren't browning because of overwatering.
4. Could just be transplant stress? Over fertilizing? Not watering deep enough? Planted too deep?
5. I'd use a soaker hose around the bases instead of a sprinkler but that shouldn't be a huge thing unless you're not watering evenly.
6. Contact the nursery and see what they say/recommend
7. Don't fret. Leave them be. Winter is coming now. Don't fertilize or even water if you're getting rain. Maybe take the dead leaves off this way you can see how much more or if any more are browning.
You are drowning your arborvitae: stop watering.
Make sure the sprinklers don’t wet the foliage. Let them dry out a bit - only water them ( the same for your grass) if no rain - once a week max. If it rains- don’t water that week
Better less water than more.
Make sure they are not planted too deep.
Google root flare images
Spot on the money. Over the past 4 years I have planted 22 of these trees. Absolutely check their depth of planting - makes a huge difference. You want to see the top curvature of the base flare. And as they grow over the next few years, keep any eye on the flare (they’ll get heavier and sink in lower). I’ve had to dig mine out twice and they’re over 20 feet tall now (green giants).
Holly Tone for fertilizer.
They’re resistant to bugs, but can get spiders that damage them. If you notice webs - I’ve been using TalstarP to spray them (1 ounce per gallon) and it seems to fix all problems (including blight).
This time of year, they will shed a bit, totally normal. Do NOT damage the top of the tree (the leader) or it won’t grow upward very fast.
What kind of soil do you have? Is it a heavy/dense type, kind’ve like clay? We do - so you have to remember they’re basically sitting in a bowl and it’s really easy to drown them with a hose. I did it once to a 14 footer we put in via transplant.
Also, where yours container grown, or were they pulled from the ground? Ours that were put in directly from a container (7-8 footers) have done much better than the ones we had transplanted (14-16 footers), which has taken 18 months for them to root and get going.
Good point about calling the nursery. I didn't really think of it because they are not really a retail operation - they sell directly to landscapers. But if they don't bounce back in the spring I will definitely call them.
I stopped watering a few weeks ago as soon as the brown started showing up. I also had a soaker hose installed as part of my sprinkler system, so I can automate the watering in the spring/summer. Will also make sure the lawn sprinklers are not hitting it.
It seems there are so many things that can cause this and nobody seems to agree. Hopefully it will be ok in spring!
It seems there are so many things that can cause this and nobody seems to agree. Hopefully it will be ok in spring!
When you get a cough there are so many things that can cause it but sometimes you'll never find out and the best thing to do is just make sure you don't get worse. If you get worse, you address it.
did your landscaper give you a warranty? i had about 75 green giants put in last october. i had a 1 year warranty, i lost one and it was promptly replaced.
ive had some brown pieces here and there that werent an issue but id be worried if i had as much as you.
they look too close together. My house has numerous of these that were planted by the builder. House was built in 2005. Some are now taller than my 2nd floor window and wider than the spread of my arms. Hope you dont get much snow bc 2 winters ago, we got snowstorms 1 after another and many of them flopped over from the weight of the snow.
I'm having the same problem with a few arborvitaes trees I had planted in September. One of them is gradually turning the yellowish brown color everywhere. I've checked for bugs, periodically. I'm going to go out this week to see if i can move some soil away from the base and stick the hose at the base for 20 minutes.
It might be a problem with something in the soil itself...
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