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Fir Tree help needed

Aphid303Aphid303 Posts: 12
in Problem solving
Hi all

Please see attached photos of a couple of my Fir Trees.
I bought them very small for about £3 each around 10yrs ago.
One of them has turned out quite nice and is about 7ft tall.
The other one doesn't look so healthy.
It looks a little emancipated. Is it worth keeping and persisting with it?
Should I be feeding it any specific treatments?
I have given them miracle grow and recently bone meal.

How much taller will they get?
 
Thanks

Posts

  • Aphid303Aphid303 Posts: 12
    Anyone please?
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited June 2021
    My first instinct is that it's likely to be a drought issue ... how deep can its roots reach?  What sort of compost is it planted in?  How often is it watered and with how much?  To me it looks as if the one with the browning is sheltered more by the house than the one at the other end, and consequently it doesn't get as much benefit from whatever rain there is.  

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





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    The brown bits won't recover, so just prune those out. Once they die back like that, they don't produce new green growth, although sometimes other stems/branches can cover them a bit. 
    A good mulch of compost or bark is more beneficial after watering than a chemical feed like Miracle Gro. In the ground, conifers need no feeding. Better to feed the soil.  :)
    As they're in a confined space [raised bed ] they'll dry out a bit quicker anyway, so make sure they don't get dried out in long hot spells. They're shallow rooted so the other planting is also competition, but they've clearly done well. 
    They'll keep growing, but they won't really reach their full size because of the restriction in the beds. It's difficult to say without knowing what variety they are, but many can keep growing indefinitely, and can reach in excess of ten to twenty metres. It might be one of the Thujas, an occidentalis perhaps, but there are so many varieties, it would take an expert to ID it. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Aphid303Aphid303 Posts: 12

  • Aphid303Aphid303 Posts: 12
    edited June 2021
    It’s deep as a “regular” garden.. there are no blockages. I mostly water my garden during dry period otherwise it’s just rain. I’m sure the roots go deep as it’s a regular garden with paving in the centre. I’m considering buying a mature Silver Birch so I am thinking about replacing it with that or extending the area to add it next to it. 
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