Hi there, I drove over the North Cascades Highway to Mazama in eastern Washington, and saw Cedars that looked like the attached photos on both sides of the summit and all over the area we hiked in Mazama. I haven't seen anything about a disease, but this doesn't look normal to me. Anyone know what is happening? Thanks, Reisa
Conifer autumn color. Thuja plicata in marginal habitats have thin crowns. (It's possible, of course, that the particular individual shown is having some other problem, but "flagging" of Western Redcedar in late summer is not unusual. It shows more on those with open branching).
Along the freeway I've seen a fair number of cedars dying lately too, particularly along hwy 1 as you head out into the valley. They seem to die from the top down. Going brown. I lost several this way a few years ago on my property. Is there something killing the cedars or is it a result of our two dry summers in a row?
The cedars have been dying for about 4-6 years now. I've seen them on our property in the Slocan Valley ( and all over both East and West Kootenays). Just as you said - they start to wilt from the top down - usually takes a couple of years for this process - the next year it goes orange, the next year the foliage drops off. When I asked someone at the Forestry Dept. in Nelson 2004 it seemed to take them off guard but said it was probably from the severe cold and extremely hot summers and drought conditions. It wasn't long after that call that I noticed the willows were having some difficulty. Early dropping of leaves, branches dying, foliage grows nicely again in the Spring but lots of dead branches over the winter. Even with regular watering of the trunk and branches too it didn't appear to help much.
From top down suggests drought, but species no doubt subject to a number of possible ills same as others. Often takes more than looking at pictures to figure out what happened in a particular instance. Some kinds of willows are disease susceptible, often develop pathogenic infestations producing cankers, defoliation or dieback. Affected tree would not be likely to have same condition as western redcedar on another site.
