Dying Conifers

Cristiane

We have 3 big conifers in the front yard about 30 feet high. 2 of them are dying and have turned brown very quickly. We have had an incredible amount of rain in Queensland. The confiers are in sandy soil. We are close to the beach and the water table is only a metre or more down at the moment. Could too much water be the problem. If so whatever you think the problem is what should we do to save these beautiful confiers.

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Eric Frei

Queensland is big, what part?

I've seen many do this. They did it in the drought, they do it in the wet. I do not think they are suitable to our humid weather unless they are tropical style thuja's or endemic callitris.

Look very closely at the trunk and see if there's any tiny holes with beads of resin, in my experience it's fungal disease and needs treating with copper based fungicide, spray the whole tree or inject.... but very hard to stop once it has that good a hold

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Guru Tree Guru

Too much water and too little water, are opposites to us, but cause similar stress in trees. The trees are then unable to produce sufficient quantities of Phenols and Terpenes, which are part of the very complex chemical arsenal trees have to fight insects. These insects, mainly "Brown Aphid", also know as Italian Aphid, attack the tree as a secondary stressor.
In Johannesburg, we have a wet Summers' and see Aphid populations explode in the dry Winter.

We use systemic "Confidor /Merit" with the active ingredient Imidacloprid 700g/kg. (70% active ingredient). It knocks the brown stuff out of brown Aphids. Treat in a holistic way, so we use Doggett's Natural Resource Bio-stimulant.

Remember to mulch, but keep the mulch off the stem/trunk. We also spray contact poison and light horticultural oil to knock down Aphid on the scales (Leaves in Cypresses) as part of the initial treatment.

Try to educate the client to have a regular watering regime, which takes normal rainfall into account.