Leylandii dying 18 months after planting

[William Clifford]

Hi all,

 

A gardener friend planted this row of Leylandii for a client of mine. 18 months on and they are having problems. There might be 15 of them in total. Around 6 of them are fading and dying off a bit on the extremities and more in the inner parts nearer the stem. One is completely gone.

 

The trees have been doing ok until 'recently'. I'm wondering if it's climate / they're quite hemmed in and have competition from other plants also. The lady noticed they were struggling and that they might be dry so started watering. The healthiest one is to the right in the raised bed - I'd have thought would struggle the most if it was lack of water.

 

The Fatsia to the far right has quite a few leaves going brown and dying off. I'm also not sure if I can see a bit of yellowing on the two nearby cypress trees.. so wondering if something fungal could be going on?  Am going to go back and have a look with Kabatina shoot blight in mind.

 

Does anyone have any ideas? The lady is very worried she's going to lose her hedge just before they rip out the one the other side of the fence and start building houses!

 

Thanks.

[Peasgood]

Best guess is lack of water but they do suffer from phytophthora. Poor choice of plant for that space anyway.

[William Clifford]

I was asking the lady if the Fatsia losing it's leaves was just after a late frost that we had here, but she couldn't remember. I've just had another look and can't see anything to suggest its fungal - no indicators for Kabatina or Coryneum canker for example.

[Dan Maynard]

I was thinking if they are 18 months old then they were probably quite big going in, then would still be establishing really and so could easily be short of water as only second year?

[Stubby]

20 hours ago, Dan Maynard said:

I was thinking if they are 18 months old then they were probably quite big going in, then would still be establishing really and so could easily be short of water as only second year?

They would benefit IMHO from an irrigation pipe ( like in commercial nurserys )  I have planted them before , a row of 20 odd . Put an irrigation pipe in connected to the external tap . Can be left on just a crack or turn it full on for an hour or two twice a day in dry times . You can feel the leaves and tell if they look dry .