Hedges: Cedar trees dying... any way to save them?

We had a new cedar hedge planted last spring and are experiencing a lot of die off. We were very diligent about watering and fertilizing last summer, but it seems as though we're going to lose several trees.

I know cedar hedges can be tricky, and probably depends just as much on the quality of the plants from the nursery as post-planting care, but I'm posting in a last ditch effort to see if anyone has any advice for potentially saving some of them, or avoiding this problem when we go to replant this summer.

Thanks very much in advance,

Sarah

 

Re: Cypress trees dying... any way to save them?

Cypress or thuja of some sort, not cedars. The ones that are all-brown already are dead; impossible to determine the case from the photos, but root damage when they were dug at the nursery before planting out is the most likely cause.

 

"We were very diligent about watering and fertilizing last summer"

That might actually be reason of die off. Thuja occidentalis doesn't like to be overwatered, and I would not walk around them too much after planting because they hate compacted soil as well. What fertilizer did you use and how often? Be carefull with that too as too much fertilizer may burn new roots.

 

These may be the highly popular 'Smaragd' which has been said to be more prone to root rot than others. There certainly have been a lot of questions on the internet about problems with browning out etc. of this one.

Cultivars and species differ in susceptibility to Phytophthora root rot. Western red cedar Thuja plicata is most resistant, T. occidentalis 'Pyramidalis' is intermediate, and T. occidentalis 'Smaragd' is most susceptible

http://plant-disease.ippc.orst.edu/ShowDisease.aspx?RecordID=68