Browning Fir Pine Spruce - Ask Extension
I have a Fir, Pine, and Spruce on the South end of my yard. The are all browning and looking rough in different ways. The Fir seems to be dying top do...
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Browning Fir Pine Spruce #209962
Asked August 31, 2014, 2:06 PM EDT
I have a Fir, Pine, and Spruce on the South end of my yard. The are all browning and looking rough in different ways. The Fir seems to be dying top down. The Pine is browning bottom up. The Spruce is looking rough bottom inside out. They were all planted last Fall and were watered several times over the winter. They've been watered about weekly depending on rainfall this Spring and Summer. I drove a wood stake 15" down a foot away from each trunk and the next day they were all damp where they were in the ground. Why are my trees dying??
Jefferson County Colorado
Expert Response
Evergreen trees are always best planted in spring, so that they can establish some roots before having to endure a typical Front Range winter - drying winds, many warm days, very low humidity and little or no snowcover.
Your evergreens, even if they were containerized, had and still have a limited root system. Your evergreens, planted on a S (warm) exposure, were losing some water through needles in the winter...maybe more than was being replaced by root uptake.
Spruce in photo 1 (dead top) looks like it had LOTS of new succulent growth last year, probably as the result of heavy fertilization while it was in the container at the nursery. That new succulent growth may not have hardened well before winter cold (severe cold snap Dec 3) arrived.
Suggest you prune out most of the dead (needle-less) growth, leaving a small stub. With a soft cloth, tie an uppermost branch that looks a little more vertical to the stub and tighten so that the branch with needles is more vertical/upright. This will become the new central leader. Remove tie after May/June shoot growth makes that branch the tallest and most upright shoot. Remove/prune out the rest of the stub.
Pine in photo 2 looks like some needles were affected; these will not recover to become fully green. But in a year or so you can prune out these lower branches.
Spruce in photo 3 looks relatively unaffected.
Continue to water these evergreens seasonally and during dry warm snowless periods in winter.
Your evergreens, even if they were containerized, had and still have a limited root system. Your evergreens, planted on a S (warm) exposure, were losing some water through needles in the winter...maybe more than was being replaced by root uptake.
Spruce in photo 1 (dead top) looks like it had LOTS of new succulent growth last year, probably as the result of heavy fertilization while it was in the container at the nursery. That new succulent growth may not have hardened well before winter cold (severe cold snap Dec 3) arrived.
Suggest you prune out most of the dead (needle-less) growth, leaving a small stub. With a soft cloth, tie an uppermost branch that looks a little more vertical to the stub and tighten so that the branch with needles is more vertical/upright. This will become the new central leader. Remove tie after May/June shoot growth makes that branch the tallest and most upright shoot. Remove/prune out the rest of the stub.
Pine in photo 2 looks like some needles were affected; these will not recover to become fully green. But in a year or so you can prune out these lower branches.
Spruce in photo 3 looks relatively unaffected.
Continue to water these evergreens seasonally and during dry warm snowless periods in winter.
Thank you Robert. I've also spoken to a nursery as well as had a certified arborist come out to look at them. The 'go forward' plan seems to be pretty consistent and is what I will continue to do. However, your reason and cause explanation has been the best. No one has been able to tell me the 'why' until now. Thank you!
Sure...
I don't think you'll lose them...they've just had a "setback"
I don't think you'll lose them...they've just had a "setback"
