Likely a goner, but a pic would help confirm it. Define "watered on time". How much water and how often?

tj

Brown and crispy = dead.

It does look brown and crispy, sigh. Watering has been the same all its life: once a week in the summer heat (in extreme heat, a bit more); if no rain during winter, every 2-3 weeks. It had been happy with that until last summer. Thanks.

if you give a pic.. we can start with confirming the ID ... do arbs THRIVE in z9? ....

then we need some history .... to ponder what happened ... when planted ... how planted ... is it watered when it needs water.. or on an irrigation system ... which waters by calendar ... rather than need ... see link on proper watering ...

also ... is landscape cloth involved ... surrounded by rock.. etc ... any further info would help ..

and .. what happened last summer.. when it started to fail?? ..

ken

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

Since California has been having drought conditions in later years it was probably done in by that - once per week may often not be enough for plants needing moist soils, during times of high temperatures in combination with little or no rainfall, low humidity.

Otherwise it is impossible to say what, exactly happened to it knowing only that it has died.

The plant is in a pot, got plenty of water. Others survived but not this one. Nothing unusual happened when it started to turn brown.

That is most definitely a lack of water issue and - sorry to say - the plant is toast!!

We feared it might not be able to be saved. Thanks.

consider it a goner ... and be done with it ....

if you are really interested with what happened... take it out of the pot.. and snap a few pix.. and let us speculate ...

something is wrong with the roots ... causing a water issue ..

either it was field grown.. and then poorly dug and potted .. with not enough roots to supply the plant ... the water it needs

or it lived its whole life in pots.. and there is basically all roots and no potting media in there.. to hold enough water for the schedule you gave it ...

ken

ps: if it were out back on my 5 acres ... i might unpot it.. cut off all the brown above... and do significant root surgery .... just to see whats wrong... and see if i might save it ... but if it were on the patio ... where i would see it every day .. pshaw.. it would be gone in the next garbage run ....

Thanks again, everyone. I haven't figured out how to reply to individual messages here. Ken, I'm going to pull it out of the pot and check the roots. And we might well do root surgery, etc. and plant it in the ground. . . . Floral UK, thanks for the tip about mentioning if a plant is in a pot.

Specimen shown is a lost cause, no point in planting it out. Also if it has a pest or disease issue you don't want to put it in a bed it might it then cause to become infested.

I haven't figured out how to reply to individual messages here. Ken

==>> i dont have that option enabled.. i prefer the conversations continue in the post ....

i was so intent on a root issue.. i didnt think of bug or disease issues as embo notes .... i would still experiment and check out what is going on with the roots ... who knows.. you might learn something.. lol ...

this is not some high value exotic one of a kind plant.. worth messing around with ... trying to save it ...

ken

We dug it up. The roots look fine.

I'd be highly skeptical that this a disease or pest issue......arborvitaes are just not overly susceptible to either. Unless one considered root rots a disease. But based on the conditions described - located in a hot, dry climate, been in a container for several seasons and watered more or less according to a schedule - it would be difficult to consider the possibility of a root rot over lack of water.

This serves as a bit of an illustration of the challenges of container gardening. Any permanent or semi-permanent plantings of woody plants in a container will need pretty consistent attention with up-potting or root pruning and repotting with fresh media. If plants remain in place too long without, the roots will expand to fill the container and the soil mix will break down, disappear or become displaced by roots, leaving nothing to retain any water. When you do water, it will run right through the container without the roots realizing any benefit. Even watering on a daily basis may not overcome this.

So yes, looking at the roots may make sense but not to evaluate if they are rotting.....I really doubt they are. You are more likely to find a very dense and congested mass of roots with very little potting soil being apparent.

btw, it only takes a day or two of very dry conditions for a potted conifer to dry out to the point where it is no longer viable. Been there, done that!