Trees Dying in the Garden

[Reemul]

The trees in our garden have started to diue slowly, we have been here 3 years and as per one of the pictures below the trees on the left have all died and teh last large tress is now dying.

At the bottom of the garden a couple on the left side have started however there was nothing on the right side. We have been away a week and on return we find the far right tree has gone from green to brown within a week.

This is a bit of a nightmare as there is no fence at the bottom of the garden and our house backs on to a boys grammar school and a fence won't block out the building line like the trees do.

Anyone have any thoughts on why this happening?

 

[jim8flog]

If the weather where you are is anything like South Somerset it is proably down to the very dry summer (yet again) I have lost quite a few thing in the past few years.

They look like a variety of yew which can handle substantial pruning to help reduce the need for water

 

[jim8flog]

Ps I see you have got some bamboo in there - watch out it is a thug of a plant which spreads every where, best to plant a clump forming variety rather than a spreading variety.

 

[rulefan]

Possibly Cypress Aphid damage or Pestalotiopsis fungi
The former more often seen in Leylandii hedges.

 

[RichA]

Possibly Cypress Aphid damage or Pestalotiopsis fungi
The former more often seen in Leylandii hedges.

Leylandii haven't liked the droughts of the last couple of years followed by this wet spring and summer plus they don't live that long anyway.

 

[jim8flog]

Just had a light bulb moment

Rather than a variety of yew it is probably thuja which can develop similar problems due to dry conditions.

My neighbour had one on the boundary between us and it used to get a regular very hard pruning to keep it in check. (best done in spring)

from the web

Why is my Thuja occidentalis turning brown?


Too Little Water. In most soils and conditions a good rule of thumb to follow is that most established plants need about 1 inch of water per week. If your area isn't getting regular rainfall and you're not offering your arborvitae supplemental water it will begin to become stressed out, often showing signs of browning.

 

[rulefan]

Leylandii haven't liked the droughts of the last couple of years followed by this wet spring and summer plus they don't live that long anyway.

I planted mine 52 years ago. We have had a beutiful green display every year since.
Although I am now beginning to regret it, as although closely trimmed every year, we can't now walk on the path between the hedge and a flower bed as it has put on over a meter of width over the years.

 

[Crazyface]

The Muppets next door have a monster horrible green thing that blocks our sun in the afternoons. It got so big they had to get a team in to trim it back. It was half way over their next doors, it's on that side. Our hopes were that it was to be removed, but no. I hate them both and would gladly watch them boil in hot oil.

 

[jim8flog]

I planted mine 52 years ago. We have had a beutiful green display every year since.
Although I am now beginning to regret it, as although closely trimmed every year, we can't now walk on the path between the hedge and a flower bed as it has put on over a meter of width over the years.

We had a similar problem (not my doing) the original next owner planted trees (yews and thuja) and kept them to a shape that made them look like the ones you see abroad, straight up and very narrow. Subsequent neighbours did nothing to them On my side I had to regularly take them right back to the trunk (they looked awful my side) so I could get down my path.

Luckily the most recent owners agreed to take them out completely.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Unless you have I very big garden it is never a good idea to plant trees.
Most folk have no idea how fast and tall they can grow.
You would have thought folk would have learned from the 1960's planting of millions of Leylandii fiasco.
Our neighbours planted a Beech tree 25 years ago, cost them a pretty penny to take it down last year.

 

[Robster59]

When we moved into our house the previous owners had planted conifers along the fence but never controlled them so they were over twice the height of the fence, was pushing it out and keeping the sun off the garden. In the end we got them all taken out, the stumps trimmed down and then had to get the fence posts reset otherwise the fence would have been destroyed in the high winds. It's made our garden look lighter and larger.
This is it before.

 

[rulefan]

When we moved into our house the previous owners had planted conifers along the fence but never controlled them so they were over twice the height of the fence, was pushing it out and keeping the sun off the garden. In the end we got them all taken out, the stumps trimmed down and then had to get the fence posts reset otherwise the fence would have been destroyed in the high winds. It's made our garden look lighter and larger.

What about now?

But can you give some idea of what it cost to remove the trees (and stumps?) and erect a fence (like the back one?).

 

[Fade and Die]

Unless you have I very big garden it is never a good idea to plant trees.
Most folk have no idea how fast and tall they can grow.
You would have thought folk would have learned from the 1960's planting of millions of Leylandii fiasco.
Our neighbours planted a Beech tree 25 years ago, cost them a pretty penny to take it down last year.

Agree, trees whilst nice to look at are a pain, we have a large sycamore about 100ft from our back door, as well as a very tall silver birch, both were here when we moved in 22 years ago, they need regular expensive pruning and suck all the moisture out of the ground leaving the lawn brown most of the summer, every autumn they dump a ton of leaves and helicopter seeds everywhere which fill two ton builders bags that need to be got rid of. Thing is though I don’t feel I have the moral right to chop them down.

 

[Robster59]

What about now?

But can you give some idea of what it cost to remove the trees (and stumps?) and erect a fence (like the back one?).

Removal of the trees was surprisingly cheap. About £200. To fix the fence and put a second layer of privacy fencing around two sides as about £700.

 

[rulefan]

Removal of the trees was surprisingly cheap. About £200. To fix the fence and put a second layer of privacy fencing around two sides as about £700.

Were the stumps/roots ground out?

 

[Robster59]

Were the stumps/roots ground out?

No, but they were chopped down really low and then we were able to cover with gravel. The missus is working on getting the background more colourful now.

 

[rulefan]

Thanks for the info. Another question if you don't mind.
How did you handle new fence posts? Drilling new holes or attaching to existing posts or ?

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Were the stumps/roots ground out?

We had a massive conifer removed a few years ago. The grounding of the stump, approx 4-6" below ground level from memory, cost more than the downing of the tree

 

[Crazyface]

No, but they were chopped down really low and then we were able to cover with gravel. The missus is working on getting the background more colourful now.
View attachment 54665View attachment 54666

Sorry, but I prefer the before picture. We have a hedge and evil neighbors wanted a fence. Approached us when we moved in but wife refused, I blame her for everything since lol. Glad she did though

 

[Robster59]

Sorry, but I prefer the before picture. We have a hedge and evil neighbors wanted a fence. Approached us when we moved in but wife refused, I blame her for everything since lol. Glad she did though

All down to personal choice, but that fence backs on to a road and so with no fence we have no security. The trees would have eventually destroyed the fence so we had little choice but to take them down. It's still early days on brightening the fence up with plants.