Conifer problem
spainman
Posts: 2
I have a conifer at the back of my garden which is about twelve years old. It is approx 25 feet tall by 12 feet wide and the house behind us has a higher elevation this conifer has served us well as a privacy shield! Unfortunately I have noticed over the past 18 months or so a gradual thinning of the branches and it is now possible to see through the tree which means loss of privacy. When you stand next to it and look up it looks quite skeletal, the tips of the branches are green but most of the foliage "inside" is brown and lots of the "spines" fall off. A few years ago approx 6 feet was cut off the top, could this be the cause does anyone know?
0
Posts
Hi Verdun
Thanks for your quick response -no its not a leylandii, its grown to a height of 25 feet or so over approx thirteen years so not a fast grower. I did wonder if our neighbour had poisoned it as it is very large! When we moved into the house over 10 years ago the tree was quite tall and the foliage very dense - its within the last three years its becoming progressively see through! No its never been pruned but it is loosing lots of its foliage - there is a carpet of brown all around the base which is the result of the thinning out I guess.
Had similar problems with my conifers over the last year. Thought it was a disease, but a lovely rep from the Forestry Commission came and said it was because they were planted too closely together. Had about 12 in an area 35 ft by 10ft. So have had about eight removed, including some that so that were waving as good as any palms. Hope the remaining few will responde although they are still quite sparse up to about 25ft, they are probably some 40ft in height. If not, they will probably all have to come out and I will have the joy of starting again to plany a really exciting forest area!!
Conifers do die out from the centre and with trees they often look very sad and shabby. Guess it is all that fast growth!