Question
Brown arborvitaes
Hi Steve, this is my follow up question on the arborvitaes (the old converse 'Dying Garden" doesn't except continued follow ups). Here is the photo of the trees. Not only the interior, but the outside leaves are getting yellow, brown and falling of, a lot of branches are dry, especially on the bottom. The rain water in washed out, because all 10 trees are planted on the middle of the slope and water is continuing its way down, but when weather was very dry on the summer I put some mulch around the trees to keep it moist, may be this is causing the problem? I removed it now, hope its?not too late. We are leaving on Staten Island, NY our soil is basically clay and little send. Do I need to dig the soil around the trees and add some other type of soil that can drain better? Thanks, Olga
AnswerOlga:
If the browning in your photo is quite representative of the overall condition of the trees, I suspect they may have undergone a root related stress- perhaps in conjunction with the water issue. Clay in the soil tends to hold water and does not drain well. I suspect maybe the trees may have had an excess of soil moisture at one time or another. I would just sit tight for the time being. Fall is approaching and I would just leave them alone and see how they look in the spring. Maybe a deep, but infrequent watering during the winter so they don't get too dry. Careful on the mulch--no more than 3 inches deep and pull mulch back away from the main trunk (a couple of inches back)so as to create a little depression in the middle around the main trunk. This will discourage insects from setting up housekeeping in the area around the stem.
Always keep a lookout for bagworms! These insects love these trees. If you find any, just remove them by hand and squash'em on the sidewalk as you see them.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend. Are the trees changing color in your area yet?
Steve
