Question
Dear Expert,

We live in Northern California. There were 10 Italian cypress trees in a row, in the south side of the backyard, along the wood fence as a screen when we moved into this residence. They are not watered or fed regularly. About 3 years ago, the first tree from east end of the row turned yellow, we removed it. 2 months ago, the second tree turned yellow and was removed. Now the fourth tree in the row is turning yellow again. After the first tree removed, we planted an orange tree in that spot 6 months ago, but it didn抰 grow. Is the soil the problem?

And we also have a boxwood hedge at the northwest side of the garden next to neighbor抯 oleander hedge. Three of the boxwood plant in the middle of the hedge died. We planted new boxwood plants in that spot twice, but never made it. Is it the problem in soil?

Regards,
Mary

Answer
Hi Mary, Soil doesn't suddenly go bad causing established plants to die. The most likely cause is water.  Too much or too little is hard to tell, but the result is the same.  Since your problem is effecting such a wide variety of plants, new and established, I'd say you need to evaluate your watering.  There could be other problems like voles coming into an area and eating roots, but my gut feeling is a water problem.  New plants require daily monitoring in the growing season and weekly monitoring during the winter for the first year or two until established. Jim