I bought my home 3 years ago on five acres. I have 400 linear ft of hollywood cypress trees fronting my property along the road side. Maybe 35 trees 10 - 25 ft high. Trees are about 6 ft apart. Redding, California gets real hot in the summer; 2-3 months of 100 plus degree weather. Rain fall is 35- 45 inches a year. 2 years ago at the end of summer I noticed the trees start to brown, some at just the tops. I hired a arborist. He seen my trees and tested the soil. He said nitrogen was depleted, potassium was sufficient, Phosphorous was a surplus. He recommended a fertalizer mix of 32 nitrogen, 7 phosphorous, 10 potassium. He also recommend watering with drip system. I never fertalized the base of the trees. And I occassionally watered them with my existing PVC irrigation piping system "manually turn on the spicket". This past winter year 3 trees that are side by side turned browned and died. This spring I'm noticing more trees turning brown. Some turn brown at top, some just turn brown all over. The arborist never detected any bugs, fungi, or decease infesting the trees. Does anybody have any idears whats killing my trees? Is it lack of water in the summer time, or some bug, decease killing them. And how can I find evidence of infestation. And should I fertalize per the arborist recommendation. Help!!! Redding Ron
Guess you mean Hollywood Juniper? This is a cultivar of Chinese Juniper; it should do OK in your area, though there are various fungal diseases that can affect junipers. Another possibility is salinity in the irrigation water, I don't know if that's a known problem in the area. Can you post some photos of the affected trees and their foliage?
Disease problems seem to be somewhat cultivar-specific, don't remember brown patches on Hollywood juniper whereas so-called spiny Greek juniper ('Pyramidalis' or similar) appears to almost invariably get large dead sections with age (in this region). Tips only going dead sounds like drought effects. It would be on another cypress family tree, western redcedar (Thuja plicata) anyway, which 'compartmentalizes' when moisture is deficient.
Thanks Michael for responding, I got pics of these hollowood cypress (junipers). Pics include healthy trees, dying trees, and close ups of some kind of pitch coming out of the trunks. Let me know your opinion Ron
These are Leyland cypress and it looks like you may be having the same problem a big public planting of these in Seattle developed (haven't yet seen or heard a detailed diagnosis of what it was, think Coryneum canker has been tossed about but don't know if this was based on reliable information or just an assumption). They've started cutting them down. Try taking samples to your local Extension office.
Agree with Ron - they are Leyland Cypress, which is very prone to Seridium cardinale (coryneum canker; formerly Coryneum cardinale) in interior California. I saw one note somewhere which stated that Leyland Cypress rarely survives more than 5-10 years in the CA Central Valley, because of this disease. I'd remove them, and replace with one of the more canker-resistant cypresses, ideally one of the California native species such as Cupressus macnabiana or Cupressus sargentii (which occur in the hills southwest of Redding), or the readily available Arizona Cypress (Cupressus glabra).
Michael suggested removing them, and that's a better idea than you may realize. I made a webpage about Leyland Cypress and money growing on trees.... www.mdvaden.com/leyland_cypress.shtml Each tree can become absulutely massive in just 20 years or so. I just did a 10 year old hedge behind my mother in law's garage - pruning - and it took 2 days to deal with. I only planted a handful myself, and spaced them 20' apart. Redding must be interesting. A bit hotter than Medford, Oregon where I'm at, but about twice the rainfall. I'm a cool climate person, and our home is for sale in the Applegate Valley - we're going to head back to a suburb on Portland's west side. If you plan to keep the trees anyway, you need to get started on corrective pruning and do it quick. My mother in law, like a dozen other's whom I worked for, skipped pruning for years, and the trees were absolutely loaded with weaknesses: - codominant leaders (multiple leaders that can split) - too thick > a lot for the wind to tug on because the breeze can't pass through - poorly attached limbs So I you want a tunnel over that driveway, get going ASAP, and continue with yearly light corrective pruning. Forget cutting back the sides to narrow them and straight-side them - that would be a small pruning disaster. You would only congest the foliage, and ruin the potential to lead and direct the growth. Only thin from the inside and underside.
