Hello. My wife and I purchased a house on Vancouver Island with a well established Monkey Puzzle Tree this year. For the first couple of months, this tree appeared to be quite healthy. But now the bottom two tier of branches are completly brown, and there is browning at the base of all other branches to the top of the tree - and the trunk itself is now browning all the way to the top. We are both sailors - we were gone for a portion of the dry summer - so we were thinking at first that it was getting rid of excess branches to conserve water to compensate for the drought. But now, we are not so sure as the brownness keeps slowly spreading. Is this a disease or fungus that we can treat? Or is it in need of a dire pruning? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you for your time. Stephen and Michele M.
