whats happened to my conifers

Hello all, I'm a new member, and could do with a bit of advice.
We planted some established conifers, we planted them approx 6 weeks ago, with advice from garden centre on care and watering etc. Within 2 weeks, the conifers started turning a white and brittle condition from the top down. 2 pics included, the small conifer on left was the colour of the big ones. many thanks, colin.

 

Hi,

Welcome to the Forum.

Can you expand on your question as to where did the conifers come from ?
Were they pot grown ones from the garden center or ones growing in the ground that you have moved, if the latter how big a root ball did you dig ?

Either way, afraid to say we would suggest they are past saving as conifers never seem to recover from such die back.

 

as Ricky has asked but little you can do now such a shame I bet dug up and not from pots

Spruce

 

They were bought from a garden centre in pots., all we wondered was, could this have been done by next door neighbour using weed killer. please put my wife's mind at rest. Thankyou, Colin

 

Hi had they just been dug up and potted up ? into pots ? or well established before you bought them .... did you water everyday ? ..

unless next door has come into your garden and put weedkiller on them other plants would of been effected which is not the case by your photo I bet that has been a expensive loss ££


Neighbours and trees/hedges/fences boundary lines best not to ask on here

Spruce

 

They seem like they were well established conifers, the problem is, how long have they been growing in containers? Container grown plants, especially well established ones will come accustom to the compost in the container overtime. When planting out, I always recommend digging a hole twice as wide as the pot and half as deep again, this way you might see if there as any evidence of rubble, like cement or plaster that was buried when the property was built.

With the soil that has come out of the ground I would mix it 50/50 with the type of compost that the plant was growing in the container and add a small amount of fertiliser. In your case I would of recommended some ericaceous compost to mix into the soil before planting , conifers tend to like a fairly acidic soil.

 

Hi,

Doubt they were affected by your neighbours as if they had sprayed them or come round and put something on the soil around the trunk, feel sure the surrounding plants would have also suffered but they all look good and healthy.

Would take those photos back to the garden center during a quieter weekday and ask for the main person, as if you had bought them and received detailed planting instructions from them, they would hopefully reimburse you or provide some new plants.

Re the neighbours - one of the easiest ways is to put up a camera but make sure it only covers your garden otherwise they might take offense.
Better if you can place one covertly , eg inside a bird box etc, as if they are doing things to your garden you will not tip them off you are watching.

Some years ago we had an very old neighbour who started throwing dog muck into our garden, ( we do not have any pets) but after putting up a hidden camera we saw that he was throwing it into other folks gardens as well, so sad.

 

How long have they been planted?
How often have you watered?
Did you soak the rootball before planting.

Just thinking, very dry April, large plants with small rootball.
Happens a lot when we get dry spells in spring, once a rootball dries out it's impossible to rewet without digging the plant up again.

Also planted on a slight mound I see.

 

Don't know which part of the country you are in; but 6 weeks ago was late March early April and my garden was cold with drying cold easterly winds day after day and a number of plants got young growth crisped.
I lost a couple of evergreens (non conifer) that I'd moved in February during a milder spell ahead of what I hoped (mistakenly) was a going to be a more gentle spring.