FIR TREES

Hi,

Can anyone advise if you can overwater fir trees?   A few of our larger, and smaller bush type evergreens seem rather 'browny' and I'm not sure why.   All I can think of is having so much rain this year - but that seemed a bit crazy.   Some of the trees are rather tall and I would have thought they could deal with rather a lot of water going into their roots.

Any advice or information would be most helpful.

I believe conifers can suffer from 'wind burn', but am not an expert.

Fir trees have shallow feeding roots and with the wet summer washing away nutrients, adding leaf mulch now over the area of the trees will help bring back the green-ness.

Hi artjak and blairs,

Many thanks for the info and its very much appreciated.  It seems to be the very lower branches that have gone brown and upwards are ok.  I shall add a leaf mulch to help.   Is buying bags of bark o.k. for this?

Thanks once again.

You need leaf mould to produce a leaf mulch, not bark.  Leaf mould will add to the nutrients whereas bark will only help to keep moisture in and make it easier to keep weeds down.

What sort of conifers are suffering from this browning -  aphids cause browning on cypresses, frequently starting on the lower parts of the trees.  This is an extract from the RHS website 

Cypress aphid (Cinara cupressivora) is a relatively common cause of brown patches. A recent Link to information on the cypress aphid research project found cypress aphid to be associated with half of the cases of brown patches investigated.

Damage caused by cypress aphid develops in late spring and summer. It is found most often at the base of the hedge, but can develop at any height.Large greyish greenfly are sometimes found, but the browning often develops long after the aphids have left the foliage. Clues are left behind, including cast aphid skins and a black fungal growth (sooty mould) that grows on the sugary honeydew excreted by the pest."

Hi doverfromabove,

That's certainly very useful info and many thanks.  The trees may be 20 odd years old and there's a variety.   One is a beautiful 'blue tree' and it gets little blue acorn type things on it. (sorry for the ignorance0 - so I don't know the name.  I must admit I was watering once and I gave some of them a little shower and the dry dust that seemed to cloud off them was incredible!  So, yes I suppose they could have been aphids.  I haven't noticed black fungal gorwth but that doesn't mean it's not there.  I also have a tall thin 'Tuscany type 'evergreen and that is fine , green and healthy.   Thanks for the link, I shall have a look.

Most grateful to all for your time and help.