italian cypress

[mikcruiser]

several italain cypress trees at my home are turning brown, loosing their growth and must be dying. is there anything i can do to save them ie,top them so they might fill out, spray them with something.

 

[Stumper]

Can you supply pictures? topping is out-That never promotes good health-Cutting out dead portions is appropriate but we need to try to figure out what is going on. It. Cypress are pretty hardy in my experience but Spider mites can be a problem. To check, take a white sheet of paper and shake live limb tips over it. You'll get a bunch of specks. Watch them . If the specks run around then spray. Insecticidal soap works quite well and is very safe. If much of the tee is brown it may be too late for that one.

 

[Ekka]

I found some links that might help.

We had a severe problem of that here about 5 years ago, it was a fungal attack. But do some basics first.

Check you soil is well drained, check the PH is right for the plant (6.5 is always a safe bet), check that there's a sufficient amount of watering going on (deep watering), check that there's some mulch around the the tree but not on the trunk (about 2" thick is good).

http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/pi/enpp/pathology/pathcirc/ppcirc397.pdf

http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-1160/ANR-1160.pdf

http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/lls/coopext/articles.asp?articleID=68

http://www.forestpests.org/nursery/graymold.html

Good luck