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Something wrong with my C. leylandii Golden Rider

18 comments


This is the thesis worth of skright. As I promised earlier, I would like to know, what happened to my Cupressocyparis leylandii Golden Rider. I made photos of it today in my garden.
I have this one for 4-5 years. It is situated on the sunny place. It grows well, has very nice lime yellow colour – until this year, which was very dry since July. At the autumn I noticed a lot of brown areas, which are almost exclusively distributed along the central trunk (branches at the limb are not touched).
I am curious if it is disease or just exchange of leaves…
Any idea rkwright?

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Comments

 

What a pitty it's gone like that. Maybe you could put it on the questions page. Some people don't look at the blogs, and might give an answer if you put it on there.

29 Dec, 2011

 

skwright knows where to look :)

29 Dec, 2011

 

I just hope, he will return to GOY. :)

30 Dec, 2011

 

Katarina ... ask Bluespruce for advice ... he is an expert on this type of plant ... :o)

30 Dec, 2011

 

Thank you. I did :)

31 Dec, 2011

 

And what did he say, Katarina? Not my specialist area, conifers, unlike Bluespruce, but it just looks to me as if its not had enough water at some point(s) in the past - given the older needles are affected and there is plenty of nice new growth, that seems to me to be the most reasonable explanation.

2 Jan, 2012

 

Bingo! That could be the reason. I really do not have water source in this garden (not close to my house) and the summer and autumn were quite dry. So I am happy you have this opinion, as I was worried about some form of plague...:)
Thank you!!!!

2 Jan, 2012

 

Bamboo, rkwright thought it could be just natural exchange of leaves, but when he said that he did not have my photos yet.

2 Jan, 2012

 

I'm sticking to what I said...

3 Jan, 2012

 

I think you are right.

3 Jan, 2012

 

Sorry I have been very busy lately so haven't been able to get online much! Likely it is just shedding the inner scales, especially if it is something you noticed in Autumn. Some conifers only shed needles every few years, so it may not be something you notice every year. If it has been too dry then you will see more brown then a tree that gets watering in periods of hot weather and drought.

6 Jan, 2012

 

Thank you, rkwright :)

6 Jan, 2012

 

Could it be cold wind that has caused this? I know it can - Wind scorch is one name for it.

12 Jan, 2012

 

I am not so sure. This C. leylandii is sheltered from north and is turned to the south.

12 Jan, 2012

 

Does it get full sun there? If temps get very cold and it is exposed to sun the foliage can burn. Wind can certainly do it too. The damaging winds where I live are usually out of the west. If it's been in the ground less than 2 years that could be another cause. Some conifers will burn more the first couple of seasons until they're well established.

13 Jan, 2012

 

After all I think Bamboo is the one who is closest to the true. I just read in a special German magazine for gardeners that exactly this is what evergreens do, if they suffer from not enough water. That means, they get rid of older leaves, which are close to the central part - and it can happen on sunny places, as evaporation is there more intense, even by leaves themselves. This C. leylandii shouldn´t suffer from sun burns, rkwright, as it is the sort with yellow shades which likes the sunny places. Also C. leylandii is known as a pretty resistant to strong winds, that is why it is used along roads as wind barrier.

13 Jan, 2012

 

I had the same thing happen to a huge Juniper that I`ve had in my garden over 25yrs, a couple of years back I cut off all the dead and dying branches right back to the main trunks, I`d read somewhere that it would not grow back but thought it was worth a try anyway, I`m pleased to say that it has new stems growing all healthy looking so I`m hoping it will keep going for a few more years...

15 Jan, 2012

 

I am not horticulturist, but in Juniperus it could have been different problem. They extremely rarely have problems as they are able to adapt very quickly to dry weather. If there are long dry periods, they extremely slow down their metabolism. So if the Juniperus grow in dry and sunny places, it would not have brown spots all over like other more sensitive conifers, will be green, but smaller.

15 Jan, 2012

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