I originally posted the above in the wrong forum. Since the first post, I found out some things I thought I would post.
County extension agent said it was most likely due to fungus because it has been so wet. Suggested a systemic fungicide, would love to hear suggestions here. I did apply topical bayer, it appeared to help.
Local landscaper, pointed out trees were planted too deep. I'm moving dirt from around the trees to "raise" them.
Agent also said see how things progress with the trees through the summer. See how they looked early fall. That would be the time to replant if necessary.
What I have learned is plant in preparation for a flood, not just drought. We have had record setting rain this year (10 inches last monday). Drought is the normal concern around here (N Ga). If this weather had occurred a few years from now, I would be having this problem with very large trees. Planting depth is crucial for healthy trees.

This post was edited by lkbum on Sun, Aug 11, 13 at 9:12

Trim off all dead.

Clean up dead foliage or any other trash under the plant.

Go buy a spray bottle of copper fungicide.

Spray whole plant late evening after things cool off. Never in the heat of the day.

Repeat every 7 days.

This should stabilize the plant and you will see marked improvement immediately.

No special brand is needed.

Dave

This post was edited by Davesconifers on Sun, Aug 11, 13 at 12:23

boy that is a lot of chemicals ...

i would ask ... HOW YOUNG IS A 6 FOOT TREE ... i read that to mean a RECENT TRANSPLANT ...

ALL OF THIS.. could be transplant shock ... due to improper planting.. on many levels..

IF SO .. then you are wasting chemicals .. and harming mother earth ...

i would like to see a pic of the whole plant ...

i would NEVER spray things on a stressed tree .. and your sounds completely stressed ... shipping.. planting.. improper planting.. perhaps improper watering.. are all STRESSORS ...

a recent transplant.. in N GA in AUGUST... browning.. means improper water management ... and drainage is half of that equation .... do you have heavy clay soil????

and the odds of some rather fresh nursery stock having a multitude of internal and external diseases seems remote ... using your word of YOUNG.. i would wonder how a new plant would come up with mites.. and bacterial infections .... blight and the need for a mitecide ...

just stop spraying.. and water properly .... you have used enough chemicals ...

what did you do at planting besides too deep.. do you have that famous GA red clay ... obviously you did not plant high as suggested in non draining clay ... see link ...

and finally... if they are warrantied ... just stop spraying stuff ...

pic of the whole plant please ...

ken

ps: the wasting chems.. wasting money.. bothers me more than harming mother earth ... lol

Here is a link that might be useful: did you amend soil in a clay planting hole????

Dave... Thank you, that's exactly the same recommendation as the county extension agent except he said look for a systemic agent to cope with the rain issue we are having.

Ken, maybe you should re-read my posts. As stated in the first line, first post
"I have several young (planted about a year. 6' tall) cryptomerias". By about a year, I meant they were planted last fall. Soil was properly prepared. I personally did not plant these, a landscaper did. As I also stated, a couple of them had brown limbs. Out of several, (20 trees), two showed problems. None of the trees, including the ones with brown limbs show any sign of stress. With regards to watering, I stated we have had massive amounts of rain. We will break all records this year. Last Monday alone, we had over 10" of rain. Can't control watering with this amount of rain. Here is the pic of the whole tree you asked for and one of this line of trees. Average growth on these is 2' to 3' this season.

Any thoughts other than a lecture is welcome. You can see the dirt I removed from around this tree to raise it up.

Ken I see nothing about him using any chemicals yet or spraying stuff other then topical bayer. Also these crypto's have been planted a year not recently

If the plant has been attacked by powdery mildew or any other type of fungus as the county extension said was most likely to be the cause...If I am reading you correctly if a plant has become stressed by a fungal infection, insect infestation you wouldn't do anything? Just let it go south even if spraying would correct the problem and the plant survives because of intervention. I am basing this on your comment "i would NEVER spray things on a stressed tree".

My take...that part of the country has received to much rain. Either one or the other or even both...saturated soil or even standing in water could cause his issue. The other fungus infection because of humid damp conditions. Bottom line he should spray copper soap to cover the bases. Surely a $6.00 bottle of copper fungicide is not going to break the bank and put his property into receivership or contaminate the soil for miles around.

Dave

This post was edited by Davesconifers on Sun, Aug 11, 13 at 18:38

One other thing lkbum.

I wouldn't wait for the root system to take up the copper fungicide could take awhile.

I would spray now to shut down that problem. You could always add the systemic later.

Dave

Dave, thanks again. Will do, any brand less prone to,washing off than others? Don't know what set ken off. We've already had more than a years worth of rain. Check out this NOAA chart of last Mondays rain. We're in Dawson County which is one of the 10" to 12" areas at about 1:00 north of atlanta, east of Gainesville. This was one rain and we've had three of these in the last couple of months. Every lake around here is at record levels. We had rain for almost 50 straight days.

It looks as if these are planted on a grade? You might be able to use that topography to your advantage.

That first picture in the second set looks like bad handling by the planting crew. The rest of the plant seems unaffected. It seems a fungus would affect more than one single branch.
Mike

Mike is right, it's only one branch we're talking about.
Cut it off and leave them alone...

Most of the time Cryptomerias are free of diseases.

Yes,I also agree with Mike and Edwin.

Cut the brown branch away and watch.All the Cryptos looks healthy.Do not use chemicals.

Wolfgang

Well we all can't be right and I will be the first to admit I can ms-diagnose.

Bottom line it is very difficult to know what really is going on with some of the plant issues presented to us. Trying to solve them in front of a computer screen is a stretch.

I am sure lkbum is thoroughly confused by now.

If him I would defer to the county extension agent and go with is recommendations since he is local and more then likely better suited to diagnose then the rest of us.

Dave

Thanks all for the posts. I appreciate a good board. I offer advice on two home boards where I can help. I am doing a combination of what has been pointed out. Light chemicals to stop fungus and landscaping to minimize the water. I've already " raised" them a little by removing dirt on the up slope. Later this week, the landscaper will do a little cut to redirect some of the run off (won't help if we get 10 inches again). One question I still have, the brown branches have not died. They are very tender, flexible and have no dead dried out places. Should these be cut or might they recover?

Cryptomerias are easy plants which aren't susceptible for diseases or fungusses.
Cut the brown branch off completely and all will be fine.
You can save the money for the chemicals...

Just to round out the list of possibilities.....is your roadside
a place where folks might walk their dogs on leash or other
wise?I see its nicely mowed so good place to walk off pavement?Its sure in "the pee zone".I see dogwalkers
let their pets go on the same spot almost daily and wouldn't
a dog show interest in some exotic smelling foliage?
Just a thought - probably wrong.Doug

Thanks again. Not near any dogs and away from the street a long way, that was a good point I may have overlooked. Rain has prevented any use of fungicide. Please help.... My "bad" limbs have a mix of good and bad growth on them. On a branch that is predominately bad, I have what appears to be new growth. Should I cut off the entire branch, cut off all but the new growth (just the brown growth off the main branch), or just wait a while until it dries out, could take a while (70% to 80% chance of rain next 5 days and highs only in the 70's, IN AUGUST IN GA). This is not a great pic, but shows what I'm talking about. Thanks in advance.

I'm in the no chemicals crowded too. This is very minor. The conditions you describe - rain every day, muggy, highs around 80F, are exactly what they experience in the more elevated parts of their range.
Just cut off the sick looking branches. However, if they were container grown I hope you checked to be sure they didn't have any circling/strangling roots. Cryptos grow a very strong root system, very early.

You may want to put a few inches of good mulch to help control soil moisture and temperature. Also if too much water has been an issue. It could be root rot? Look for white fungus just below top layer of soil.

Good Luck

Root rot has different symptoms than pictured. The whole plant will generally look off color, not one dead branch.

It's mechanical injury, simple as that. Some serious expert pros above have stated that. It disturbs me, that you as a pro, can't understand what's been said and why.

By the way, this thread is a little over a year old. Ikbum, any update?

Mike

I disagree with Timberline's assessment of what it would mean to find white mycelia at or just under the surface. Almost all macrofungi-those things that produce mushrooms-have white mycelia, and almost all of these fungi are either harmless or actually beneficial to the trees. That is a very primitive response-to not know about the interplay between various soil-dwelling fungi and the big plants that tower above them. Mycorrhizal associates have been known about for decades now. And again, white or whitish mycelial threads are the norm.

+oM

I'm not at all opposed to using chemical protective agents when called for...and when a proper diagnosis has been made. Neither has happened here, so any spraying is akin to shooting a gun in a dark room. Not a great idea. That one itty-bitty dead sprig is of no consequence. The plants look great. If there was some disease process in play, more than one tiny lower branchlet on one plant in a row of identical plants would be affected.

Oh, and while most plant pathogens are fungi, most fungi are not plant pathogens. Please, read that sentence five times a day, or until solidified in your mind. Again...most plant pathogens are fungi, but most fungi are not plant pathogens. Now repeat!

+oM

I encourage fungi and treat my whole property as one big compost pile. White mycelia is my friend. I don't need it to heat up and kill seeds because I can mulch over the soil they sprout in. Plants that can't be controlled by woodchips are sprayed with glysophate. (Roundup) There aren't many left after a long time eliminating them.

I'm not one to use pesticides to keep plants happy. There's an almost unlimited number I can grow that are perfectly happy without chemicals, so why grow the ones I have to spray?

Cultural conditions go a long way in growing healthy plants.

There are eight varieties of Cryptomeria in my garden. Not many from a collector's point of view, but more than found in most gardens. I've been growing them for a long time.

Here's the trunk of a 60 footer species Cryptomeria japonica I planted.....with a Cedrus deodara branch in the way. :-(

Mike

I know that this is an older thread, but I came upon this because I desperately want to save my row of 35' tall Cryptomeria. There are 15 of them, each planted on an incline about 8 to 10 ft apart professionally by a landscaper 18 years ago. They were 10' tall when planted. Until we had a bad drought and watering was limited, they were wonderful and green and full. But over the past 8 years, the brown intermixed limbs, which are predominantly within the lower 15 feet, have developed brown sections, and the greenery seem to be overall thinning. To have these all removed would be hugely expensive, and it would negatively impact our now-private backyard. I have installed a drip irrigation zone during the time of drought we we noticed they were super stressed, but I have no idea whether to water or not now that I read this thread! Any suggestions!? Thank you so much for helping!

The last poster Vicki T started another thread on her problem. [SEE THIS THREAD![(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/cryptomeria-help-me-save-my-row-of-15-35ft-trees-dsvw-vd~5613862?n=21)

Vicki, starting a new thread is the correct thing to do.