conifer conundrum

[Dean O]

promissed a client i would try and get a second opinion.....

 

several conifers in a village have suffered from browning - having been walked around the village by said client - they are at various stages from a little yellowing to dead.

Luckily for this particular chaps tree his isnt very far gone (barely so infact)

 

but he's worried that it might go the way of the others and wants to jump in early and do anything he can to make sure it survives as its a single tree trained into a hedge that screens his house from the busy road if it goes it will leave him completely exposed

its short and squat due to its location under leccy lines and as such recieves a trim from our friendly neighbourhood utility arbs from time to time.

 

a screem of - cut it down and plant a propper hedge wont go down well with him so please take a look and see what you think.

 

my opinion is a little bit of drought stress.

 

background info:

has stream running adjacent to it (though im sure that the water level will have been lower than usual this year)

no signs of canker or any signs of phytophera etc

no signs of insect attack

one side is exposed to the wind and most of the yellowing is found on this side - but not exclusively

client has done a little bit of research and worried about cryptospiridium

(i cant find much info on this and thought it to be unlikely due to rarity??)

unlikely to be anything associated with road salt due to position, and if linked to the other conifers probably nothing to do with any sort of run off in the stream as the others are a not near it.

 

thanks any thoughts welcomed

[Paul Jenks]

Could be salt damage. Lots was used this year

[travis]

i thought it was an aphid that was attacking all the conifer hedges near me.

[Peter]

This is conifer aphid damage, it looks quite distinctive. On of my clients reckons Bio Provado (active ingredient imidacloprid) controls the aphid.

 

[Dean O]

Thanks for the responses guys

unlikely to be damage from road salt due to distance from and geography of the land.

fast flowing streem between it and the road, verge etc i think helps too

And although not a scientific way of putting it - just doesnt seem to look like aphid damage.

[toprotter]

If it was aphid damage there would be sooty deposits on close inspection

[scottythepinetree]

Would most likely agree with you as to drought stress if most of the browning is on the side of the prevailing wind. Pretty rare in this part of the world. Never stops raining here.

[Frankie Lawrence]

This is conifer aphid damage, it looks quite distinctive. On of my clients reckons Bio Provado (active ingredient imidacloprid) controls the aphid.

 

leart about these today.

 

aparantley there are two types to buy oil based or water based If this is the problem then buy the oil based as its the one that actually acts as a deterant/killer to it.

[Gareth Dalzell]

What ever it is, it seems to be growing through it now as the growth tips all seem fine. Is it adjacent to an agricultural area - could be glyphosate drift or similar herbicide damage earlier in the season, we had some pines that looked like this last year after our neighbours sprayed there barley

[Dean O]

interesting idea about the drift, hadn't thought of that!