Question
Edward:
The tips of my trees are browning.
The person with a similar problem indicated that this happened during a drought, in my case there is no drought.
The soil is clay (slope), and the trees were planted two years ago.
They are now 6-8 ft tall and did not have any browning the previous two years. Can fertilization help? I did fertilize them the previous two years.
Thanks,
        KB

Answer
Klaus,

I think that the problem could be the location of the plants. Clay soils hold a lot of water, and depending on the location of the plants (i.e. at the bottom?), this could cause a condition known as wetfeet. Most evergreens will start to die back once their roots are damaged due to too much standing water. The symptoms are identical to drought stress.

I would recommend amending the soil around the plants using compost and peat moss augured into the soil around the dripline of the trees. Go as deep as you can to help move excess water away from the root zone.

Good luck,
Ed Gulliksen