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Dear sages,
I would like to ask you to share your knowledge about Thuja occidentalis, that I helped to plant for my mother in May 2020. The climate is a Temperate zone, average precipitation is 65mm (2,5") a month with temperatures ranging up to a maximum of -20°C (-4°F) winter time and up to a maximum of 28°C (82°F) summer time.
Short version of the question:
After planting in 2020-May, watering heavily throughout hot and dry summer, plants seemed fine, but in autumn some of them started browning upwards from the bottom and by November reached the state that they are now (stopped degrading) (one of them (shown below as "problematic") seems almost dead) as can be seen from the pictures below.
1) Do you have any idea of the cause?
2) Regardless of the cause, would the best further action be to use fertilizers strictly according to the instructions and continue to water heavily (small amount of soil and not of very good quality)?
Long version of the question:
Thujas were bought of larger height (~1.5m) than what people usually buy due to lack of patience. The risk of lowered probability of successful establishment of the plant was known. Due to the poor soil and lack of it, some of it was replaced with peat moss (is that what it's called - some more fertile ground that we gathered from a local forest). The summer of 2020 was very dry and hot, so we watered the soil with ~40 liters of plain water twice a day every day. The plants seemed relatively happy.
In autumn, the plants started to take a darker/ more pale colour and the bottoms started browning. I can not recall whether the browning started after ending the regular watering of the soil or after. For about 2 months the problematic thuja (shown in the picture below) was browning upwards from the bottom and then dropping dead leaves. Other trees also browned from the bottom, but just a little. During the winter time plants stopped withering and have not changed since, only a less attractive / darker color.
Do you guys have any idea of a possible cause of this damage? Could it be that the soil is not rich enough ( I regret changing only the top part of the soil with a richer soil from the forest). Regardless of the reason, should we just buy some special fertilizers (for this season) and continue to water heavily and hope for the best?
Thank you dearly for your advice.
I would like to ask you to share your knowledge about Thuja occidentalis, that I helped to plant for my mother in May 2020. The climate is a Temperate zone, average precipitation is 65mm (2,5") a month with temperatures ranging up to a maximum of -20°C (-4°F) winter time and up to a maximum of 28°C (82°F) summer time.
Short version of the question:
After planting in 2020-May, watering heavily throughout hot and dry summer, plants seemed fine, but in autumn some of them started browning upwards from the bottom and by November reached the state that they are now (stopped degrading) (one of them (shown below as "problematic") seems almost dead) as can be seen from the pictures below.
1) Do you have any idea of the cause?
2) Regardless of the cause, would the best further action be to use fertilizers strictly according to the instructions and continue to water heavily (small amount of soil and not of very good quality)?
Long version of the question:
Thujas were bought of larger height (~1.5m) than what people usually buy due to lack of patience. The risk of lowered probability of successful establishment of the plant was known. Due to the poor soil and lack of it, some of it was replaced with peat moss (is that what it's called - some more fertile ground that we gathered from a local forest). The summer of 2020 was very dry and hot, so we watered the soil with ~40 liters of plain water twice a day every day. The plants seemed relatively happy.
In autumn, the plants started to take a darker/ more pale colour and the bottoms started browning. I can not recall whether the browning started after ending the regular watering of the soil or after. For about 2 months the problematic thuja (shown in the picture below) was browning upwards from the bottom and then dropping dead leaves. Other trees also browned from the bottom, but just a little. During the winter time plants stopped withering and have not changed since, only a less attractive / darker color.
Do you guys have any idea of a possible cause of this damage? Could it be that the soil is not rich enough ( I regret changing only the top part of the soil with a richer soil from the forest). Regardless of the reason, should we just buy some special fertilizers (for this season) and continue to water heavily and hope for the best?
Thank you dearly for your advice.
