I am wondering to what you ascribe the plant demises? I am curious because I plan on planting a number of these cultivars this fall, and wish to learn from your experience!

Combination of root surgery on pot bound plants, heat, full sun and recent planting. Apparently the heat has been the worst since 88' so it won't hold me back.

For the most part I've planted an equal number of Picea, Pinus and Abies. Its interesting that so many Pinus croaked. That was the main reason for the post.

Not sure if its pure coincidence or if others have had the same experience. One possible theory is that Pinus have crappy root systems. They seem to contort and girdle more so than other conifers IME.

I live in the south and had one of the hottest and driest late winter, spring, and summer on record. I lost maybe 1-2 of my spring plantings and I planted >40. Most of those plants on your list can handle heat and full sun, even in my 100+ temps. Is it possible that you over watered your new plantings? I remember you being so concerned with the chore of watering during mere 90 degree temps. If I recall your photos, you had everything mulched well. I'm sure the severe root pruning didn't help either.

You planted more than 40 conifers, where are all the pics!?!

Overwatering is doubtful as I have sandy soil and it dried pretty quick in 14 hours of full sun. My watering was based on actual soil moisture and timing, not necessarily temps.

Can you tell us a bit about your success? Planting over 40 conifers in zone 7b (not sure where in the US) and only losing 1 or 2 is quite phenomenal.

I guess at the end of the day there are quite a few variables. Plants source, age, root system condition, micro climate and so on.

Good to see others are doing well with the heat and drought.

Rough year Whaas. Testamant that you're still standing.

I'll never plant pines in spring now, they seem to resent it by stunted new growth and/or yellow needles. My sylvestris and mugos have all done this in the past. I have several new ones in their nursery pots that I've held off planting until the deciduous tree leaves start to drop this fall (thanks to Ken for that pointer).

I have only lost 2 this year. The 2 I lost were planted in 2011. I planted about 30 this year.

The ones I lost this year:
Acer palmatum 'Waterfall' - Lost due to all the freezes this spring.
Picea glauca 'Elf' - Many have had problems with this one

I have planted around 120 conifers total, my loss so far are maybe 4-5

Are you doing to much root surgery? I've read somewhere that doing to much root surgery is just as bad as doing nothing at all. I try to mess with the roots as little as possible. I haven't had to many problems as most untangle pretty easy. I will never tear at the root system.

Your losses seem excessive. As to the ratio of Pine cultivars losses verses other cultivars...pure coincidence.

I don't think you will get an answer to your question because no one really knows.

I'll throw out a few possible causes.

Probably a result of plant shock due to root pruning, unseasonable weather resulting in overzealous care, we are all guilty of that, and the fact they just die for no reason at all.

You can usually figure for every 10 new plantings you are going to loose one on average. How many did you plant this year. Seemed like a bunch. If you planted 100 and lost 17 your the winner even being on the high side of the live/die ratio considering the weird year. Plan for next year and plan on loosing more. I can't begin to tell you how many I have lost over the years. I lost count.

Dave

Was just curious about the watering. I recall watering was sucking up most of your schedule. I live in Arkansas. Almost all my plantings were of the B&B variety. My soil is pretty close to the B&B rootball soil and holds water well. Luckily almost all my plantings survived the transplant. I'm not always that lucky. The plants that look the worst are my maples. The heat made a lot of them look bad. I'll have to take pictures soon. I don't take pictures of everything I do because I'm too busy. I always have intentions to take photos but seem to fall short. Sorry for your loses! Do you plan on replacing these conifers? Will you be planting this fall?

Severn (wish I knew your real name!)...it has been rough in regards to time spent watering but alot of those losses are now new opportunities!

Rick,
Its quite possible I've been doing too much. Usually I'm quite aggressive during the dormant season and that is when most of these plants where installed. I've since moved towards removing gridling roots up top and teasing the outer roots.

Dave,
Right on, many causes are immanent and will go unknown. More or less wanted to see how others have done. I've taken your advice to accept that plants will die but to take it as a new opportunity to fine tune the design. I actually lost many others but lost track. As far as how many I planted... its almost embarrassing but I'm extremely impatient (and addicted!) so I felt the need to complete my design this year. Perhaps 150 plants, yikes!

abciximab,
No excuses on being busy! We are all busy!lol! I won't go on as to how hectic it is over here. I did start doing something as of just yesterday that saves a ton of time uploading and posting pictures. Can't believe I didn't think of doing it long ago. I take pics on my mobile and send direct to photobucket for upload. Here is a nice Picea pungens 'Straw' from Conifer Kingdom waiting to be planted.

I have most of my plantings in a full sun landscape too. A little shade and maybe spraying some Wilt Pruf anti-transpirent on the needles could have saved a few lives. Luckily all my loses were very small, young, newly planted specimens which is why they didn't last through this crapy weather.

I planted 25 this spring and lost 7. 5 of the loses were spring plantings.

My RIP list

1. Abies concolor 'Archer's Dwarf' - planted spring 2012 (RIP 7/4/12) - Needles dried out from heat and too much sun

2. Abies nordmaniana Species - Planted spring 2012 (RIP 7/16/14) - Neglected on the far side of the property. My Fault =(

3. Abies koreana 'Silver Show' - Planted Fall 2011 (RIP 7/22/12) Needles either dried out or I possibly over watered. Boy did I love this one.

4. Abies pinsapo 'Horstmann' - Planted spring 2012 (RIP 8/16/12) - This ones more heat and drought tolerant for Abies and held in there for a long time but I'm pretty sure the heat got to it in the end.

5. Abies procera 'Blaue Hexe' - Planted spring 2012 (RIP 7/8/12) - definitely heat zapped needles. Was shaded a little by my Bloodgood and I thought it was in a good location but this little guy does not like 105 heat. The two abies I still have left receive more shade. I guess that's key for this species in my climate.

6. Tsuga canadensis 'Everitt's Golden' - Planted spring 2012 (RIP 7/8/12) - Okay I take fault for this one too. It's Gold and I planted it in full sun. Stupid, stupid, *slaps forehead* lets fry those little needles right off.

7. Tsuga canadensis 'Jervis' planted fall 2010 (RIP 4/8/12) - I stepped on this tiny little Tsuga while planting Taxodium distichum 'Peve Minaret' next to him in the dark. Heard a crunch under my foot and then remembered, "Oh yeah that's were I planted him" lol

After reviewing things, looks I like I'm to blame for most of them ha ha.

RIP to my established Mugho "Mitsch's Mini" and Pinus "Schmidtii". 106 turned them to a slow toast.

0 for 4 on Picea omorika "Tjin". Time to quit trying.

How big were they (pot size)? I find that plants under 2 Gal have a much higher croak rate. That's one reason why I carry on a lot of small guys in pots for a few years before planting in the garden.

Considering the heat stress you garden was subjected to, it's probably safe to conclude that the ones that made will be good going forward.

Alex

Last year was bad here. And I can contest that soft pines died in the biggest numbers where I live. Almost my entire Pinus parviflora collection perished.

I've since understood that for me spruce and hard pines are the toughest. Add in the fact that soft pines (strobus) cannot withstand overwatering...which make up likely 99.9% of all of the grafted cultivars in the USA...and it's double the trouble (roots are all on strobus seedlings).

Dax

Agreed on the P. strobus rootstock issue....that newly planted trees with P. stobus rootstock are neither drought tolerant or tolerant of overwatering. Can't comment on the P. sylvestris rootstock for the hard pines.

Abies koreana 'Gait'

Looked at it one day after a 2 inch rain and it appeared to be a little stressed...the next day all of the needles dropped.

And I lost an Abies koreana 'Verdener Dom' last year with similar symptoms, so I'm beginning to think Abies koreana is not a good choice for my area. Not sure if it's the triple digit heat or the occasional deluges of H20...but both are outside of my control.

On the other hand, I planted a number of Japanese White Pines and they are all doing fine.

Alex, everything was mainly 1 gallon so no major investment from that perspective. Only a couple 2 gallon plants.

I'm staying away from 1 year grafts unless they are bulletproof, like Picea or hard pines.

Here is to new opportunities everyone!

That list would represent a bushel of money in our neck of the woods. However, if you planted them in spring 2012 (correct?) and they died in June, they were probably actually gone before you put them in the ground. You don't say how you acquired them, but you should be in for some money back.

Trees sold in gallon containers were probably plucked out of the ground just before going to the nursery. Or who knows they could have been sitting outside all winter in which case the cold would have killed the roots. In any case these were not well established trees when you bought them. You think?

I don't think I lost that many plants in 30 plus years of landscaping. Something's wrong Whass. I guess it's a combination of things instead of one.
Of course, I live in a different climate, but I landscaped all year long. Frozen ground slowed me down a bit at times, but I remember putting sod down on frozen ground that I had prepared a few days earlier. When it thawed, I put a roller on it and the lawn was the best in the neighborhood. I planted a lot of plants in ground that had a frozen crust on it as deep as two inches with no problems. Rarely does it freeze deeper than that here.
The heat and dryness of summer was the most challenging.....for the customers. They had to really pay attention to watering. I made sure they knew what to do. A well educated customer is a happy customer.
Our summers are dry. 37 days right now with no measurable rain. No serious heat, either.

Mike

Most midwest nursery men (of course they are biased) stated the majority likely died as they are small mail order plants from the PNW. Those are comments off the cuff through general chit chat.

That is not why they died but couple that stress with root surgery, a sudden early heat wave and BAM you get sucker punched.

Its tough to say if the 15 or so FREEZES I had in April contributed to the issue after a record warm March which caused many conifers to break bud a month early.

At the end of the day this year is an anomaly. There is nothing wrong here with the exception of getting absolutely smoked by this ballbusting weather month after month.

I know all the variables that contributed to my plant failures, I was more or less curious how others fared.

I've owned two houses prior to this one and planted close to a 1,000 plants and only had a few losses. So yes this year is quite staggering.

Eitherway my replacements are nicer, more desirable cultivars so not all is lost!

Looking back over the years I have found out that Pinus strobus are usually the first conifers to succumb to adverse weather conditions in the Midwest. Most are vulnerable to excessive heat and drought. They need just the right amount of water to survive under these conditions. To much water or not enough will do them in. I also have foud if they are root bound even the slightest amount that could spell trouble especially if you do surgery before planting.

I am currently down to one, 'Angel Falls'. I might have another cultivar lurking some where. It came as a conifer grown in a wooden box. A big conifer that when unpacked had a very fine root system and was not the least root bound. It has performed beautifully over the years. The key for survival with these cultivars centers in the roots. I think they need to be spot on for any chance of survival. Bump them out of the pot at the nursery before you purchase them. Most will be rejects.

"I might have another lurking somewhere". I need to go find it.

Pretty bad when you don't remember what you are growing.

Dave

Dave, don't you have a 'Horsford'?

Dax

Weather conditions here have not been as bad. On the warm side at times, but still cool nights. I've been planting here and there throughout the spring and summer, and don't recall losing any.

Was the soil fumigated at the nursery?

Whaas-

The NWS has 101F in the forecast for tomorrow here in La Crosse... I hate winter, but man i'm ready for it. This warm spell goes all the way back to March...and that after a winter that didn't really exist (20 inches of snow, very few subzero readings)...

Yikes Frank. That's almost ten degrees warmer than our predicted high over here in Apple-town. LaCrosse area always seems hotter.

Dcsteg, thanks for the wood-box info. We've got 100 larch ordered (At work) for next year in that format. Good to hear that it can work well.

+oM