Thuja problem

[JackpipE]

I planted 24 thujas from Lowes about 3 weekes ago and they are slowly turning brown. I watered them about once a day once every two days for the past 3 weeks and now I water them twice a day (early morning and evening). Not all of them have this problem but at least half (12). Few of them were planted close to large oak tree but I don't see any connection between location where it was planted. They get about 3-5 hours of full sun. Here are pictures:

help will be much appreciated.

Thanks, Jack

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Any idea where you live? State, city, that sort of thing.

[Pat Kiewicz]

Wild guess here. Look up 'arborvitae leafminer' -- I had problems with these years ago at another house. Ended up solving it with by using systemic insecticide pellets in my root-feeder.

[agardenangel]

pictures:

> All help will be much appreciated.

Hi Jack were these Thuja all in pots and were they a bit pot bound? Have they ever been stored near a road way before you bought them? Ive seen this before when theres heavy traffic close by the salt from the roads does them no good at all, other than that i would score a small mark into base bark of tree to see if the layer is bright green still, if so they may just be a bit stressed and will improve, oh wots the soil ph? clive

[JackpipE]

I'm in NJ and the soil is sandy in my area. I also added Miracle-Gro Potting Mix with Fertilizer 1/2 bag per plant. They were all in pots and they didn't store them well. I don't think if they were close to any road way before I got them. What I do know if that about 2 weeks after I purchased my thuja all thujas (about

6-8) at my Lowes were dead - brown and dry. I worry because I don't see them getting any better. We did have few heavy rains here in NJ and I if the watering would be an issue I would notice something after 2 days of raining. I'm gonna get Ortho 1 Pt. Systemic Insect Killer from Lowes and see if that helps. I do have 1 year warranty on them but it took me a week to plant them all. I don't want to do it over again.

[symplastless]

1st you are over watering. Just water enough to moisten the absorbing roots in the upper 4" of soil. may evry couple of days at most.

Many tree problems are associated with the following: They are Case Sensitive.

Troubles in the Rhizosphere

Trees from the Nursery / Improper Planting up "Tree Planting" Mulching - Look up "Mulch"

Improper Pruning

Fertilization (See A Touch of Chemistry) Farming and Related Problems John A. Keslick, Jr. Arborist Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology. Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us that we are not the boss.

[JackpipE]

I looked at every shrub on my property today and every shrub that I trim this summer has "turning brown" top. I trimmed old thuja about 3 weeks ago and I noticed that it also has brown spots at the end of branches. Please note that only the one that was trimmed. The rest is doing just fine.

[sherwindu]

What size root ball did the trees come in? If they were in burlap, the supplying nursery could have cut off too many roots to fit in the bag size. If they were grown in pots, a better chance the roots were not cut. However, in pots you have to check if they were given enough room to expand out, or did they start to strangle eachother.

Sherwin

[sherwindu]

As I mentioned in a previous post, trees in pots are generally safer. However, these trees could still have been dug improperly out of the ground and placed

into pots with too few roots. I have been reading where nurseries are going over to raising trees in pots. The challenge there is to move the trees to bigger pots, if they outgrow their current pots.

Sherwin

[sherwindu]

Thujas love to be in moist soil. Just don't drown them. Make sure you give them a real good soaking at planting time and keep them well watered for the first few weeks, at least.

Sherwin

[JackpipE]

Thank you all for the tips. I setup my small sprinkler system and I water them for 30min every 4h. They seem to be ok now.