Sorry your tree is dead. I would check the soil around it to look for signs of problems such as root rot. Otherwise your nearest USDA Cooperative Extension office may be able to provide guidance if provided with samples of affected parts.

Ken,

Thanks for the informative reply.

As far as the color, the grey/green part middle/front & above is as faded as it will get. I would say completely dead. The one branch at center right is faded at the tip and still fairly green closer to the trunk. It is the only branch that is "in-process" of fading and shows what the dead part was doing while it was fading. The rest of that plant is as green as the healthy trees beside it. It may have a bit less very fresh new growth than the ones beside it but generally the bottom half looks very healthy.

If you include that one fading part and the faded parts, they all attach to the trunk above a certain line. I could make one saw cut and remove all dead/dying branches and not remove a single healthy branch. Is there an advantage to trying that?

Thanks for the confirmation about the chemical question.

I understand about diversity but that part of my yard really needs a hedge-like row. Because my neighborhood has hundreds of these that have all thrived for 40 years, I was somewhat comfortable. I planted a fruitless olive about 12' off that row and it can't go any further away. Anything in between will have to go when the olive grows for 10 years. That low spot in the wall that needs privacy is also the place the wind comes through on its way to depositing any leaves and flowers in my pool. So the Junipers are privacy and wind break. I did search for alternatives and came up empty. The south continuation of that row along the wall is Brisbane Box trees but that is where they can be much wider & taller and the leaves & flowers won't be in a direct path to the pool. The continuation of that row to the north is a Southern Magnolia and then my 5 rows of Citrus.

I tried to tug on it and it is solid but I'm 60+ and the tree with even a small root ball is 250 pounds as it's about 5" caliper. It's certainly more than doubled in weight since planting.

This might be a better overview but now looking at the row, it does seem to be the "runt of the litter".

There were 6 15gal with 5 5gal trees in between

==>>> in 3 years.. they got to 5 inch caliper and 250 pound root balls..

i guess i dont understand ... but thats not anything new.. lol ..

anyway.. ignore it.. it was a shot in the dark ....

ken

I would at least cut the dead top off and see if the rest grows.

Has the plant been getting enough water? I know some trees start to die at the top when not getting enough water.

Mike

The 15gal were huge for 15 gal - probably 2.5-3" caliper. The two 24" box that went elsewhere weren't much bigger. The 5 gal were the expected size and are still so small you can't see a single one in the row above.

The 15gal were horribly root bound and I spent a lot of time untangling roots. The one on the left is now 11' tall.

I wish I had taken a pic of them right after planting rather than trying to remember. Since the problem one is in the place where I would desire the most privacy (murphy's law), I would assume that is where I would have put the largest one. The invoice says 4/15/2013 so 3.5 years but we have only had dormancy for a few weeks each year recently. I think there was only one period in the last few years where the lawn could go for a month without needing mowing.

You helped tremendously in that I took a pic of the row, which makes it obvious that
the problem one is smaller than all the rest of the 15gal. I think you are exactly right that it has been struggling all along.

Mike,

I have been intermittently poor at watering this year. A few potted plants have shown some stress. Reorganizing business then losing key employee so 100 hour weeks and no day off this year. If a glitch in watering can cause it, why are the 5 gal on each side of it doing OK? Wouldn't they be more sensitive?

If it was water stress, does the plant "shut off" that branch and then the trunk permanently?

A larger one can suffer more from lack of water because the rootball is proportionately smaller to the top growth than the smaller 5 gal. junipers.

I have seen Sierra Redwoods, Sequoiadendron gigantea, die from the top down when their root area was covered with asphalt. That limited the available water in the root zone that had been there before. That's the only connection I can make.

I also have a weeping Giant Sequoia that the Sapsuckers have taken a liking too. They've put so many holes in the trunk the circulation is being severly limited. The top is dying. Is there an injury where your Torulosa has died?