Conifers

[kenny7]

   Hi Everyone,
  Wonder if anyone can help me with a problem. Moved here last year and inherited 3 large Conifers. They appear to be dying from the inside out ( so don't think it is wind damage). They are large and well established, with one  almost 11 ft tall. Internally they are turning brown, and the leaves are just crumbling into dust, Any ideas greatly appreciated

[kenny7]

[john_miller]

All conifers shed needles naturally. As the branches grow out and the trunk upwards the inside needles get progressively more shaded so the plant will eventually shed them. While most conifers are evergreen no individual needle is perpetual.
I suspect from your post that you have trees that are particularly unattractive. Species differ in how attractive they are as they grow out, some remaining compact and covering the bare branches well. Some, Scotch pine is always first in my mind here, do not. Because conifers can't be pruned back to encourage new growth there isn't much you can do to make them attractive again, unfortunately.

[kenny7]

How interesting, one certainly lives and learns! One reason that I posted was that the outside branches are now beginning to die off. Thougt it might be due to some pesky crittur. You are sure right about them looking particularly unattractive at the moment!

[john_miller]

  One reason that I posted was that the outside branches are now beginning to die off. Thougt it might be due to some pesky crittur.

If the trees are unattractive are you even sure you want to preserve them? As I said there is nothing you can do to make them regenerate from the base of the branches and they are going to get progressively more unattractive. They may be dying naturally from a number of problems. If you do wish to persevere with them another alternative would be to screen them with shrubs.

[kenny7]

   As they are in what I call "the walled garden" nobody can see them except us, so I will try to persevere with them, They are all between 6-11 feet so not much chance of screening, The previous owner had them for 12 years and they seemed to be healthy enough when I took over last year. Has made me feel a miserable failure, but c'est la vie!!!

[john_miller]

There is a phenomenon in soft wood forests over here which I have seen referred to as pine waves. Unfortunately google hasn't so I can't direct you to a web site. Imagine a mountaintop ridge, many miles long, covered by softwoods. Mountains here tend to run southwest-northeast, parallel to the Atlantic seaboard. If you were in a plane what you would see is a number of bands of dead trees crossing the forest at right angles to the ridge. It has been established that what is happening is that these bands move slowly (in centuries, not years) downwind as the trees at the northeast side of these bands, exposed to the wind by the already dead trees, are progressively weakened by windrock. This weakening makes predation by pathogens easier and will eventually kill trees successively in this downwind direction. This tree death then allows seedlings to germinate and replace the dead trees so that the forest is in a continuous state of death and re-generation. It may be your trees are at such a height that this, or something similar, is happening to them. It could have little to do with you.

[Marley Farley]

:) Give them a really good feed. People think they don't need feed, but conifers are very hungry trees in the garden situation, so go to your garden centre they will be able to recommend one. If not give me a shout & I will ask SIL as he is an arboriculturalist. I'm sure that will make a difference, but depending on the variety you have allot do tend to die off on the inside as they get older as they get next to no light down in there. A good feed really will help I think, won't work miracles overnight but you should see a difference in a few months. I don't know where you are but we are experiencing very dry weather in this area.  :)