Hi there, I have a cedar hedge of about 20 mature trees (about 8 feet high). A couple of weeks ago our nephew sprayed round up on the lawn. Despite us telling him to be careful, he apparently touched the cedar trees as well. We just came back from a 3 week trip and 15 trees have turned brown at the bottom (about 2 feet up) and some have patches going up in the tree. Is there anything we can do to save the trees? Do I cut off the brown areas? Do I fertilize? What can I do? Or are they lost. Thanks for any advise, I am very upset by this... Hester
Assuming the glyphosate application is the problem I doubt they are going to die. I've sprayed glyphosate on weeds in tamarix juniper and only had the juniper produce a somewhat different manner of growth for a few years afterward. The portions sprayed did not brown out, nor did the shrubs die. Usually when glyphosate is sprayed on plants they first develop a yellowish or pinkish appearance before dying. Woody plants of some size are not as easily killed and may only become abnormal at the tips of the new growth. However, the timing and location of the damage to the hedge certainly implies that the herbicide application to the lawn was the cause.
So does that mean I don't do anything? Or do I remove the dead part of the trees. These trees did turn brown, not yellow or different growth. Thank you for your prompt answer! I must say it is a relief that they won't die... Hester
If the brown increases in extent then they are in fact dying. These should never be brown and crispy on the outside.
