Conifers Turning Brown

[Scouse Lee]

Hi Guys, recently I have noticed a lot of hedges turning brown in the area of Dorset I live in, mainly conifer hedges including one of about 30 meters long x 3.5 meters high, but there are also some privet, box etc. doing the same thing although these are putting new buds out. Now we have had a cold winter for this part of the UK, like everywhere I suppose, but it seems quite unusual to see this happening. Anybody have a possible explanation? The conifer hedge mentioned looks pretty far gone although the owner says it only started happening quite recently, is there a chance it could recover? To be honest I've recommended that the conifer be removed although I think every conifer in the world should be obliterated lol.

Cheers Fellas

[armchairarborist]

are they all roadside trees? lot of salt put down this winter..

[Scouse Lee]

some are but the 30m one affected is alongside a private drive

[Theocus]

Lol, i have seen a hedge near a student house that went brown for no reason!!!! Students need to pee!!!!

Is the hedge well trimmed?

[kev7937]

Don't know for sure but I've seen alot die off when they've been clipped tight late summer and I think the frost gets to them . Cypress Aphid also causes a problem and dry summers don't help much either. Mainly seems leylandii and maccies are affected worst. hope this helps.

[tommer9]

Pics please mate....

[Graham]

Are they Thuja plicata doing their normal brown/bronze winter thing?

[slack ma girdle]

this was mentioned in an other thread not so long ago, and the the most plausable reason was the long period of cold winds desicating the leaf tips causing the ends to go brown.

[Stephen Blair]

salt, frost and snow damage. you will notice the waxy leaf stuff is all ok. hebbi, rosemary and small leafed shrubs have all been affected too.

[Dean Lofthouse]

Southern Conifers are not as hard as our Northern Conifers