Question
We have two potted evergreen poodles that are showing signs of deterioration.  They have areas on the balls where the needles have turned brown and dropped, but only in areas on the ball, not all over.  One ball is more sever and has a larger area that looks dead.

We planted them in April and during a recent windstorm they tipped over. When re-potting them, I noticed that the roots were still in their original 'pot shape' from when we potted them in the spring - that doesn't seem right....

We are spraying for insects, and watering, but I'm worried that we're losing them.

Do you have any suggestions as to what we can do to save them?

Answer
Hi there. Unfortunately whatever is brown won't recover. If you are going to try and save them I would take them out of the pots and gently try to separate the roots. This could be the problem. Another possibility is spider mites.Unless you use a pesticide specifically labeled for mites you won't kill them. Because of their small size the best way to look for them is to hold a piece of white paper under the branches and shake the plant. If you have them they will be tiny pepper size dots running across the paper. Hope this helps,Bill