Another pic

One more pic

These are the SAME TREES - from 2 weeks prior (!) Note the rapid deterioration. Again, the trees were doing well for 5 months prior to this...

Bump. Help please!

It's very difficult to diagnosis these types of issues based on photos alone. Personally, those trees appear to be spaced too close together, although I do not know the exact cultivar, doesn't look like the typical emerald green to me.

At this time of year arborvitae do shed some of their foliage. It sort of turns rust color, like in your image and drops, and it's nothing to worry about. The term Evergreen, gives the false impression that the tree never sheds its needles, which is not the case. (maybe an exception or two).

We have no idea what 90 minutes of watering means. You need to find out exactly how much water is being pumped to the trees in 90 minutes and check for appropriate moisture by inserting your finger to the second knuckle and checking. Additionally, you need to dig a 1x1 hole, file it with water, let it drain, then refill and time how long it takes. This will help you understand the type of soil you have and how frequently you need to water.

While it is true that people tend to plant too deep, newly planted trees falling over in a bit of wind, does not speak well toward the installation of these trees, seems like they were possibly just sold, plopped in the hole, and the guy goes back to NY and forgets about it...

I suspect some of the rusting is normal seasonal changes, but it seems excessive and could have been caused by the trees falling over, excessive water, or a number of other variables, which you need to investigate and correct.

Thanks. These are green giant, btw, not Emerald.

I had someone come out from a local nursery. They said the trees were planted too shallow. Showed me that when brushing off a bit of dust, the ground near the tree was full of really shallow roots. The root ball seems almost 6" above the rest of the soil. He wants to edge the area near the trees 2' out from the trunk, fill it with compost and build up a mound to the proper height, then mulch on top of that.

They also dug down around some of the worse-off trees, and pulled out mud, so they said I need to turn the water off for a couple weeks, and probably pull back the watering to 1x per week if that afterward.

Thank you for the advice on measuring the water etc. I will likely proceed with these folks in an attempt to save these trees...

I was really hoping those were not green giant. In that case they are planted WAY to close.

The installer is not a professional. He oversold you, you prob only needed 1/2 those trees. GG get huge

Your trees look like Arborvitae Nigra, not Green Giant, and in either case, they were planted too close together and probably not deep enough as well. I hope you were able to save them!

looks like the 2 green giants that turning lime green to yellow to brown might not make it. looks like theyre the weakest link of the bunch, we cant get all of them that healthy. The rest looks healthy with seasonal shedding on the inside leaves. I agree theyre planted much too close together, if you dont plan to replant & give them space, then you have 2 to replace. I woud water everyday only during long stretch of heat wave like last summer, if no heatwave, i water every other day or every 2 days or when the ground looks too dry.

These are in fact Thuja occidentalis 'Nigra', recognized by is short blue foliage sprays. The completely non-blue ones are history and should be pulled out, have the balls opened up to check for dusty interior dryness, sodden wetness, or inadequate stubbed off roots - any of which can result in not enough water getting to the tops.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=thuja+occidentalis+nigra&FORM=HDRSC2

I'm in zone 8 where there is red clay and loam and is impervious so good drainage isn't the best. I learned last year that when these GG's and Leland's get "wet feet" they do this as you pictured. I had an issue with water just below the surface holding up in the root ball holes. I went back and dug up the dead ones and got them refunded and this time, knowing what I was working with what I had to devise a plan so it didn't reoccur. First, my trees were the size of yours, but spaced 8-9 foot apart with a back row of Leland cypress as a back screen. I staggered the trees when planting them. Here's the trick I devised for my application as I wasn't about to put in a expensive french drain in the whole length of the property to catch subsurface water from heavy rain runoffs or a shallow topsoil water table.

1. The holes were dug twice (or more) as wide the root ball.

2. I slashed the roots vertically all around the ball and across the bottom.

3. Added Milorganite (from Lowe's) and a fruit tree slow 8-9 month release fertilizer in the back fill dirt that came out of the hole. (Wildlife Mgt. Group makes the fruit tree slow release locally)

4. I dug the hole just deep enough to allow 2" of root ball to be exposed once it was set and done. I gashed the sides of the hole with a maddox so the roots could work their way into the walls later down the road.

5. In the "dead center" of the planting hole, I used a post hole digger and made a hole 3-4' deeper than the bottom of the planting hole.

6. I put small to medium sized river rocks from Lowe's into the hole and just enough to cover the planting hole bottom. ( I made a sump for water to collect in so, no wet feet issues)

7. I set the trees into the holes and back filled the holes.

8. I didn't stomp the dirt down around the root ball but packed it in by walking it in or using the end of a shovel handle.

9. I made sure the root ball was exposed 2" above the ground level once the holes were finished being back filled.

10. I didn't water them in right away because the ground was saturated enough already. I watered the mulch and left them for a few days then watered them in.

11. I added 2-3" of wood mulch around the root ball and out to the edge of the hole width. I DID NOT pile up mulch around the tree trunk or on the root ball. Just enough to cover it to stay moist when watered later.

12. I do not use a drip line to water them and I have at total of 31 GG's and Leland's planted. Depending on the weather (rain, heat) down here determined how or frequency I watered them. I use the old water hose technique when I water them. I usually water them (if not rainy) by watering them at the base of the tree (deep root watering) counting up to 90 and then soaking the remaining drip line around the tree and always shower the greenery on each one then move on.

13. I might do this once a week if no rain or a week and a half in duration.

The whole key to my success was the planting hole design, drip line cultivated and fed with the mix I made up, mulch depth, root ball height above ground level, back fill dirt replacement, tree spacing and watering techniques.

The saying goes, 1st year sleep, 2nd year creep and 3rd year grow! I accelerated it quite considerably as some are only 2 years old and were 3' tall and now are 6.5 foot tall in 1 year! I was blown away. I have posted on here before when I first planted the GG's and then replanted everything after. I did a post in the Spring of 2016 showing when they woke up and just a week or so ago on how much they've grown just one year.

I can't say this fits your zone as you have a winter we never see down here. I would make sure you have those babies mulched in good for the cold blast and freeze you have up there coming soon.

Browse the posts and find my posts and images of my screening I have going on for an example.

Good luck as well, but I think some of those are toast by what I experienced concerning trees with "wet feet" Expect some browning inside in the fall but not to where the whole tree looks like its fried.

I hope this helped you out. Here are the links to my other posts.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3884765/thuja-green-giants-2-month-growth-z8?n=6

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3850094/green-giant-leyland-cypress-zone-8-pics?n=3

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3850082/green-giant-leyland-cypress-zone-8?n=4