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Conifers going brown

ruffn3ck1986ruffn3ck1986 Posts: 6
in Problem solving
So I have 2 conifers in the front garden that over the recent few months have started to turn brown from the inside out. 

Can see things online about water damage etc how they can't cope - puzzled as they have been in and established for around 7 years but just started to change.



Posts

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    edited August 2020
    They are brown on the inside as they grow. Do you mean they're brown on the outside as well?
    Once they get dead, brown areas, they don't grow back from that. It's usually down to lack of water. In the last few years many areas have struggled with that, and if not really well established , conifers will die back if the ground has become parched. 

    A photo would help though. The icon that looks like a mountain is the one to use for uploading  :)  
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • ruffn3ck1986ruffn3ck1986 Posts: 6

  • ruffn3ck1986ruffn3ck1986 Posts: 6
    So these are what the look like,  soil where they are is very wet and bing in the North East water isn't an issue due to the amount of rain but this is what I thought maybe killing them off
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    The older they are the bigger they are, the more water they require, and the sooner they succumb to drought.  I'm afraid that yours has been affected by this year's high temperatures and lack of water ... and it won't regrow from brown areas.  

    I would dig it up and replace it with something more attractive.  

    Sorry  :(

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Crammed too close together, right against a fence, and the grass is so near as well - all competition.
    A bamboo in that 2nd pic - big water thief. 
    The brown bits won't regrow. 
    The smaller one in the first pic might be ok if you took the one on the left out. It looks like it's been pruned back a bit too hard anyway, and is never going to be bonny. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    edited August 2020
    I agree.  That is fast on the way to becoming an ex-conifer.  On the bright side, it's also a great planting opportunity but do work in plenty of goodness to the soil before planting an attractive replacement.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
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