(I wasn't sure which forum to post this under, so I also put it in the soil / fertilizer forum) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- They are the evergreen type cryptos. What is the best way to water them? I've been told to soak them once a week at the roots. They are only about a year old and seem to be growing well, although there is a little bit of brown on some of the tips mainly near the top. Also, if we get a good heavy rain for a few hours one day, does that mean I should not water them myself that week? I don't want to over water. I also, what is the best way to fertilize these trees?
I just went outside to look at them a little closer. I have 6 trees on the embankment in my back yard, and one in the front yard on the corner of the house. When we planted them we dug bowls for proper watering. These trees stay in the sunlight pretty much all day, and I live in Georgia where it gets hot as you know. I watered them quite a bit last summer for the first few weeks when we planted them because they were not established. Then I went to more of a once a week during the summer just filling up the bowls. Now we are in the second summer. All of the trees do show signs of new, bright green growth. So that is good. 4 of the 6 trees in the back certainly though have brown tips on much of the tree. The length of the brown tips are mostly 1-3 centimeters, not very long at all. And you really have to get up close to tell. I'm assuming the browing is on some of the new growth we got this year so far. It is also more prevelant at the top of the tree and less at the bottom, but the tips do seem to be brown in many areas on those 4 trees. On the other 2 trees, which are next to each other on the left side of the bank, the brown tips are much less prevalent, but still they are in "some" areas. It should be noted that we did have a bloom in april with many of our plants and then a freeze for 2 days that hurt a lot of my plants, including my *** maple (but it will survive). It should also be noted my neighbor planted the same number of leyland cypress trees in his back yard, same soil, on a bank, and his seem to have zero brown. The tree in the front my house is almost flawless, but does have a few areas where the tips are brown. All in all, the trees have grown quite a bit from last year. But it gets hot here in the summer, real hot. The tree in the front gets a little bit of shade that in the morning the other 6 don't, but only for about an hour or so. All of them are in the direct sun pretty much all day. So to sum this up here are my questions: 1) Do I need to be concerend about the brown tips and why is it more prevelant towards the top vs. the bottom? 2) What is the proper way to water these now in the second summer..and if I get a heavy rain, does that mean I should not water that week? I do not want to over water. 3) Is there a need to fertilize, and if so, how? 4) Is it ok to spray the tree down once a day just to cool it off or does that not matter? Thanks for all the help. I'm very new to this and it's my first home, and these trees were sizeable investment including the labor. My hope is that they grow tall and block off the view of the neighbor. It's a beautiful tree when it's full grown. Thanks.
Fertiliser shouldn't be necessary, unless a soil test shows a marked deficiency in anything. Yep, no need to water after heavy rain!
Thanks Michael. What about the brown tips? Is that normal for hot weather on these trees? I'll go take a picture and see if I can up load it.
Here are some pics I took. The first 2 are of ones in the back where the tips are browning. The 3rd one is of new growth on the front yard tree. All of them have new growth, but 4 of them in the back have the browning tips fairly prevelant (not on every limb but many of them), 2 in the back have browing tips but not as prevelant. The one in the front has almost no browning. I water them all about the same. Click on the image to enlarge for a clearer view.
Clip some shoots with brown tips and take to nearest Cooperative Extension office. If these were 'Sekkan' I might think it was a bit of sun burn but since these are a green one that may not be the case.
The brown tips mostly look like aborted cones to me. Probably it was just starting to grow them when it was moved, and then it aborted them part-grown so as to divert resources into new root growth. The short, dense leaves just below them are characteristic of Cryptomeria cone stem leaves.
Thanks for the replies. They were grown and moved about a year ago...and I didn't see this until just recently. When we planted them they were about 6 feet tall. They are standing at about 9 - 9.5 feet now. I talked to a manager at Pike Nursery and he said that the brown tips were the cause of one of two things probably: Either spider mites (I may be mispronouncing that) or lack of water. I took a small portion of a branch near the dead part, put it on a white piece of paper and scrubbed it. I didn't see any sign of these little pests. The heat here has been terrible lately and we have had rain once in the last 3 weeks. His advice was to water them more, probably fill them up every 3 days with this sort of heat. Another thing...the one in the front that is not on a bank seems to be doing great. The ones on the slope are browing a bit on the tips. I'm starting to think that the dug out bowl that they sit in on the bank just isn't holding the water enough like the one on a flat surface. In this sort of heat, the roots need to be soaked, right? Also, if I'm over watering them, the tree would have a yellow color, not browing tips...or is that not correct? I filled em all up today with a hose directly on the root for a good 3-4 minutes each. If it stays this hot with no rain, I think that might be the way to go until it cools down or rains. As long as the brown stays the same or starts to retreat, I should be OK. If it starts getting worse, and I'm watering, I may have an incest problem. This was the advice I was told today from the local Pike manager. The investment putting these up, as well as the amount of time I've put into them, is just too much to take lightly. Thanks so much for everyone's input on this. Any advice or replies on this new info I got today is more than appreciated. Thanks so much.
This is about the best I can do with digital camera. If there is another angle that will help let me know. These are the tips. The first attachment where I am holding it up is from one of the worst spots on the tree. Most tips that are browing are smaller than that, typically 1-3 centimeters long. Is this just a case of not enough water in the wretched heat / lack of rain?
Thanks! Seems to be a mixture; a few are aborted cones, but some is also dead shoot tips, several of which look somewhat distorted. One possible cause is mites (Trisetacus or others).
How do I determine if there are mites and how do I get rid of them? I pulled a brown piece off and scrubbed it on a white piece of paper, and didn't see any little black specks / pests.
The brown bits are already dead, so any mites in them will have gone. Maybe try the green galled bit (top arrow from mite damage note on my edit of the pic). But Trisetacus really needs a microscope for confirmation, they are minute. Try Ron's suggestion of taking some to your Cooperative Extension office.
