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Help please, conifer going brown

TraceyRTraceyR Posts: 5
edited October 2020 in Problem solving
I’m a total newbie so not sure what this conifer(?) is but the 3 years we’ve lived here it’s always been spindly. This Summer we removed a while load of decorative stones and membrane from the patch it is in and we've added compost and top soil to the patch it is in and dug the ground over. Now the tree has started to go brown. I wondered if we’d piled the soil/compost too high around it? Is there anything I can do to save it or is it at a point of no return?  It has never really grown much the time we’ve been here, I think probably due to the ivy on the wall behind, but it’s never had brown patches. Picture added, hope you can see where I mean. Also, would be good to know what kind of tree it is! 
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  • TraceyRTraceyR Posts: 5
    Couple more photos....
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    edited October 2020
    The brown bits won't regrow - they're dead.
    It's possibly struggled for moisture - with the other conifer, and the wall, nearby.
    It doesn't always happen quickly - conifers can actually manage for quite a while in dry conditions, before succumbing. Survival of the fittest. 
    It's certainly not a good idea to pile soil too high around a trunk of anything, but it was probably struggling anyway.
    See it as a chance to plant something more beneficial and attractive there instead  :)

    It looks like one of the Cypresses. Chamaecyparis.
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • TraceyRTraceyR Posts: 5
    Thank you, I’ll be sad to see it go 🙁. Am I right thinking cutting the brown bits off won’t make any difference to its chances?
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    No - it won't  re grow from those dead bits. It'll never be attractive in any way unfortunately. It shouldn't look like that   :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • TraceyRTraceyR Posts: 5
     :D it’s has always looked a bit sorry for itself!
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Hello @TraceyR  😊 
    Hoik it out ... dig some manure and/or compost into the area and choose something lovely to plant and enjoy ... we can give you some ideas if you’re not sure ... we like a project 😉 

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





  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    Personally, I would also remove the nearer conifer at the same time as that is also showing browning and nothing will grow well while that is sucking all the nutrients and moisture from the area and is what probably led to the demise of the other.
    I suspect it was originally 'cloud pruned' at some point in its past but as everyone has said, it has likely suffered from drought and is now probably beyond recovery.  A shame as it could have looked like this:

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • TraceyRTraceyR Posts: 5
    Feel sad, don’t like things dying off ☹️. Both confers are at the front of our house and provide some privacy from the many people that walk past being nosey, any ideas for what to put in their place that will grow quick but not succumb to the same problems?
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Anything that grows 'quick' won't stop growing, so it will need continuing maintenance.

    There are plenty of easier evergreen shrubs though, which will give flowers and/or berries - Viburnum [not all types are evergreen] Eleagnus, Mahonia, Holly [Ilex] Osmanthus. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • SydRoySydRoy Posts: 167
    At a pinch, you could try pruning away the dead bits and give it some shape - then address why it got stressed.
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