Arborvitae Blight?

9 years ago

Hi,

My new arborvitae have a new issue. I think its blight, but before I cut off a huge section of the plant, I wanted to check. Of the eight trees (planted in May), two have sections that look like the below. On one tree, the browning is 6-12 inches wide and runs ~4ft down the tree. The other is smaller, maybe 8in x 24in. The browning is occurring on the same side of both trees, and they aren't right next to one another.

I have already been told that the trees were manhandled prior to planting. Any possibility its damage from that?

With blight, I've read to cut off the spoiled leaves & try a fungicide to stop the spread. I can do both, but I'll leave a huge hole on both trees. Thoughts/Help?

Trees · More Info

Trees · More Info

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Comments (3)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
blight is a technical term.. and that isnt blight ...

digging.. wholesale shipping .. shipping home.. and or planting damage.. otherwise know as mechanical damage ..

water properly.. and otherwise ignore..

if you care to discuss.. add location.. .. how planted.. how they came.. ball and burlap or potted.. root surgery if any ... and how you water them ...

jumping to spraying new stock.. imo.. is an attempt at trying to love them to death... water properly.. and ignore...

why dont you throw in a pic or two.. of the whole plants ...

ken
hilphillips
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks Ken. I agree I'm loving them too much. Every brown twig looks like imminent death!

They are ~8ft tall & were burlap wrapped. They were not gently removed from the truck by the grower, and it took us ~5 days to plant them, so they leaned against the fence or the house. The ground was full of gravel (new build + possible old gravel driveway), so we had to bring in top soil (I know this isn't recommended, but the alternative was a hole full of rocks) & at a local nursery recommendation, we added soil conditioner to the top soil + ~1/4 original dirt. We removed the burlap on top of the soil & added 3in of mulch.

Unplanted, we watered them twice with a slow hose. Once planted, we tried the soaker hose for a couple of weeks, but the top tips started browning. We switched to a slow hose for 5-7 minutes at the root base each one, every other day unless the soil was wet from rain.

We're in middle Tennessee, so its been 80+ degrees most days. I'll post more pictures soon.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
see link.. read the part about proper watering ...

i dont care about temps.. i want you to insert finger.. or use a tablespoon or trowel.. AND FIND OUT HOW MUCH MOISTURE IS INT EH SOIL...

not only the root ball planted ... but also the surrounding soil ...

have you ever perked the soil ... find out how much drainage.. is below what you did??

you can start to relax.. when you find out whats going on underground ... most trees.. like a drink.. then drainage and near drying before the next good deep watering ... and a few inches down.. air temps become irrelevant ... eh ...

knowledge is power ... and cuts down the anxiety ...

if you feel you could use some exercise ... go dig out some more of the burlap .... wish you would have removed it all ... just dig one quarter of the plant.. remove burlap.. refill .. repeat 3 more times per plant ...

ken

https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub

perking

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=perking+drainage+garden+soil&t=ffcm&ia=web