Is My Conifer dying? (Help Please)

sam791743

Hi all, I'm new to this so bare with me

I purchased 2 conifer shrubs last year for my patio area. They survived well even during the heatwave of summer 2018. Recently just 1 of them has started to turn brown. It has been watered well and it has been raining a lot so i know I can eliminate it not being watered enough.
What could be causing this and is there anyway to make it go back to being all green again? Thanks

GravelEater

My understanding is that all conifers prefer well drained slightly acidic soil, but a lot tolerate less than perfect conditions.

I'd hazard to suggest it may have been over watered/be water logged.  Stick your finger into the soil, maybe an inch down.

Confer roots like to spread out as well as go down, looks like it's a tight space you've planted it in.  Also, that is in concrete which may, even if it is old, be leaching out some alkali/lime into the soil.  That's the opposite of acid, and not really what conifers want.

Though, if you have two and they are in similar situations, then the above can be ignored in this case.

I might be wrong, but it looks like a Thuja of some kind.  The good thing with Thuja species is that the foliage will regenerate from previous years growth.  Little shoots appear on trucks and stuff.  These are a lot better than Leylandii Cypress types for hedges, as a few seasons can be missed and then some aggressive trimming can be done, and it won't stay bare for too long, it will rejuvenate and fill out again.

Hopefully someone knows better than I.

sam791743

Thank you for taking the time time to comment.
You are correct it is some sort of Thuja. 
I checked today and it is not waterlogged. It also goes down very deep.
I did notice ants in there though. A brown sort of ant. I don't know if they somehow would damage the plant in someway.

.GravelEater said:

My understanding is that all conifers prefer well drained slightly acidic soil, but a lot tolerate less than perfect conditions.

I'd hazard to suggest it may have been over watered/be water logged.  Stick your finger into the soil, maybe an inch down.

Confer roots like to spread out as well as go down, looks like it's a tight space you've planted it in.  Also, that is in concrete which may, even if it is old, be leaching out some alkali/lime into the soil.  That's the opposite of acid, and not really what conifers want.

Though, if you have two and they are in similar situations, then the above can be ignored in this case.

I might be wrong, but it looks like a Thuja of some kind.  The good thing with Thuja species is that the foliage will regenerate from previous years growth.  Little shoots appear on trucks and stuff.  These are a lot better than Leylandii Cypress types for hedges, as a few seasons can be missed and then some aggressive trimming can be done, and it won't stay bare for too long, it will rejuvenate and fill out again.

Hopefully someone knows better than I.