Recently planted 7-8' Green Giants

[chi gala]

I had multiple 7-8' green giants planted 3 weeks ago. A few of them have some die off on some branches and browning in spots on the leaves/needles (pics). I have upped their watering as a result. Is this normal new planting stress that will abate or cause for concern? Some of the trees have no browning whatsoever, so it makes me think it is not normal. I'm worried that I'm already losing them??

Will they bounce back with adequate watering? Is there something else I should be doing to help them?

Zone 6b/7a

Thank you in advance for all help!

Pics:

 

[ElevatorGuy]

Bad time of the year to plant them, keep them watered well.

 

[chi gala]

Bad time of the year to plant them, keep them watered well.

Thanks for the reply. How frequently/much should I be watering them right now? They are irrigated with Netafim drip. I read different information online and so not really sure if I should be doing daily right now or deep watering 2/3 times a week. Located in Northeast zone 6b/7a.

 

[Raintree]

You may have leaf minor browning the needle tips.

 

[chi gala]

You may have leaf minor browning the needle tips.

Thanks for the reply. Didn't realize arbs could get leaf miners. I'll look into it. Thx

 

[Snatchy]

Did they come from nursery or box store....
Usually normal when transplanting, especially if they were in black pots. Some branches die off because some roots may have been damaged during transplant. Or even minor ph shock to some root tips, depending on the soil they were in, I've seen solid clay in black pots from box stores baking the roots, they're tough trees.

Depening on soil conditions they won't grow much first 1-2 years til roots are able to spread/dig in then they'll put on 2' plus/year. If concerned or to be safe, add a bacteria bacillus amyloliquefaciens will take stress off roots & make them very happy can spray on tree itself to prevent bad fungi. Also Mycorrhizal fungi for roots, being in a yard it could be lacking. Always use un-clorinated water when using bacteria/fungi.
And as elevator said water daily deep & outside root ball to promote roots to spread. Basically don't let surrounding soil dry out. And to be safe don't water the trees themselves hot & wet will promote bad fungi.
The sooner/easier roots can spread the faster they'll dig in, the faster they'll put height on. Sorry if I got wordy trying to cram ton of info in short

 

[pdqdl]

I'd look a bit closer at the bushes.

Those green giant arborvitae were almost certainly B&B stock from a nursery, and were probably dug by a tree spade. That means the root ball was huge and heavy.

When three or more guys are muscling a 3-400 lb tree around, it is quite easy to damage the foliage with over-firm grips and perhaps using flawed planting techniques.

Another problem related to transplants is when the ball gets dropped, or the tree is grown in sandy soil that doesn't hold together when transplanted. The fine roots are shredded, and you end up with a tree that cannot absorb enough water, no matter how much you over water the plant.

It is also pretty easy to drown those plants with too much water. They don't get enough oxygen on account of soil too wet, and the plant declines. Many plants don't like too much water, and arborvitae fall into that group.

Is your soil heavy clay, or do you have good drainage? Is the problem plants perhaps placed too deep in the soil? These will cause problems, especially if over watered.

Better pics would help.

I was looking at a very similar situation yesterday. A very nice row of recently transplanted large junipers had one tree that obviously wasn't going to make it. My guess for that tree's problem was "transplant shock", which usually means they were rough as hell with that plant when they placed it.

 

[chi gala]

Did they come from nursery or box store....
Usually normal when transplanting, especially if they were in black pots. Some branches die off because some roots may have been damaged during transplant. Or even minor ph shock to some root tips, depending on the soil they were in, I've seen solid clay in black pots from box stores baking the roots, they're tough trees.

Depening on soil conditions they won't grow much first 1-2 years til roots are able to spread/dig in then they'll put on 2' plus/year. If concerned or to be safe, add a bacteria bacillus amyloliquefaciens will take stress off roots & make them very happy can spray on tree itself to prevent bad fungi. Also Mycorrhizal fungi for roots, being in a yard it could be lacking. Always use un-clorinated water when using bacteria/fungi.
And as elevator said water daily deep & outside root ball to promote roots to spread. Basically don't let surrounding soil dry out. And to be safe don't water the trees themselves hot & wet will promote bad fungi.
The sooner/easier roots can spread the faster they'll dig in, the faster they'll put height on. Sorry if I got wordy trying to cram ton of info in short

Thanks for the detailed reply.

They came from a nursery with the root ball wrapped in burlap. I'll look into the bacteria bacillus amyloliquefaciens. Thanks!

 

[chi gala]

It is also pretty easy to drown those plants with too much water. They don't get enough oxygen on account of soil too wet, and the plant declines. Many plants don't like too much water, and arborvitae fall into that group.

Is your soil heavy clay, or do you have good drainage? Is the problem plants perhaps placed too deep in the soil? These will cause problems, especially if over watered.

I'm not sure how to classify my soil. I don't believe it is heavy clay. I'm not sure what to do regarding watering as both my landscaper and irrigation guy are telling me to water daily right now given the heat and that they have only been in the ground for 3 weeks. My irrigation guy told me that green giants are hard to over water??

While taking additional pics, I did notice some type of fly (reminds me of leaf miner flies that go after boxwoods) going to the tips of the needles. I took a picture. The pic makes it look like a small bee/wasp but it definitely wasn't. It was some type of small fly similar in size to a mosquito. Any thoughts on this?

The trees did come from a nursery and the root ball was large. There was some limited damage here and there where a few branches were broken. But, there seems to be more die off beyond broken branches. The last couple of pics below are showing some of that die off in progress.

There may be more than one thing going on... I'm not sure what to do at this point.

 

[chi gala]

You may have leaf minor browning the needle tips.

I saw some small flies (similar in size to a mosquito) going from needle tip to needle tip this morning. It looked like they were injecting something into the tips. It reminded me of boxwood leafminers. When I look up arbovitae leaf miners it shows that it is a moth. Are there fly type leaf miners for green giants?

 

[Snatchy]

Those are good wasps/flys, they lay eggs in & harass aphids (and more), they won't harm they'll poke around for victims. If you're seeing swarms of them then it's possible there's something their after, not sure what different insects pests you have there. Southern ag has a pretty cheap good baccilus product, it does work.
Like pdql said root balls sometimes take a beating. A heavy clay soil will be hard, will hold water & suffocate roots because they can't breath. if you can squeeze a handful of soil & it keeps it shape it's likely high clay low organic matter.
For example lf you got 1"-2" rain & you were to shovel, probe etc soil/yard but it's hard to do & dry under the top layer that's what the roots are fighting.
The branch in the pic with brown tips was broke/bent and healing. If the whole trees have burnt tips could be excess nitrogen.
In my area cedar typically grow in fertile swamps/peat bogs with standing water for long periods.
I have 6' cedars in large pots that I'm growing to plant in reed canary grass, they'll go through 3-5+ gallons water day, our temps have been crazy hot 85-90 very sunny no clouds with severe drought. End of day soil will be little damp too dry next day. Other states could have different issues,probs,pests. Our climate is hard on stiff but Deer are the hardest on cedars.

It's normal for some branches to die off especially inner ones, something else to consider is they are now sitting different relative to sun at the nursery so the tree will kill least productive branches
If you see issues worsen or declining then maybe worry by the pics they dont look bad, there's new growth which means your roots are healthy enough to produce growth
Overall I wouldn't be concerned now, it's only been couple weeks, if the brown branches are worrying you snip them off....problem solved.

 

[chi gala]

Those are good wasps/flys, they lay eggs in & harass aphids (and more), they won't harm they'll poke around for victims. If you're seeing swarms of them then it's possible there's something their after, not sure what different insects pests you have there. Southern ag has a pretty cheap good baccilus product, it does work.
Like pdql said root balls sometimes take a beating. A heavy clay soil will be hard, will hold water & suffocate roots because they can't breath. if you can squeeze a handful of soil & it keeps it shape it's likely high clay low organic matter.
For example lf you got 1"-2" rain & you were to shovel, probe etc soil/yard but it's hard to do & dry under the top layer that's what the roots are fighting.
The branch in the pic with brown tips was broke/bent and healing. If the whole trees have burnt tips could be excess nitrogen.
In my area cedar typically grow in fertile swamps/peat bogs with standing water for long periods.
I have 6' cedars in large pots that I'm growing to plant in reed canary grass, they'll go through 3-5+ gallons water day, our temps have been crazy hot 85-90 very sunny no clouds with severe drought. End of day soil will be little damp too dry next day. Other states could have different issues,probs,pests. Our climate is hard on stiff but Deer are the hardest on cedars.

It's normal for some branches to die off especially inner ones, something else to consider is they are now sitting different relative to sun at the nursery so the tree will kill least productive branches
If you see issues worsen or declining then maybe worry by the pics they dont look bad, there's new growth which means your roots are healthy enough to produce growth
Overall I wouldn't be concerned now, it's only been couple weeks, if the brown branches are worrying you snip them off....problem solved.

Thanks for the detailed reply.

That's good to know about the flies/wasp thing. I don't see a lot of them at this time. I'll look into the Southern Ag Bacillus product.

The soil does clump together when moist, so I guess it does have a lot of clay.

I looked at some of the dead/dying branches and definitely quite a few are damaged from installation. There is new growth on most of the trees, so as you suggest, I'll take that as a good sign. I'm still going to stress over a couple of the trees, though. lol.

I do get a lot of deer, but they seem to be leaving the Green Giants alone for now (fingers crossed).

Thanks again! i appreciate it.

 

[Snatchy]

Thanks for the detailed reply.

That's good to know about the flies/wasp thing. I don't see a lot of them at this time. I'll look into the Southern Ag Bacillus product.

The soil does clump together when moist, so I guess it does have a lot of clay.

I looked at some of the dead/dying branches and definitely quite a few are damaged from installation. There is new growth on most of the trees, so as you suggest, I'll take that as a good sign. I'm still going to stress over a couple of the trees, though. lol.

I do get a lot of deer, but they seem to be leaving the Green Giants alone for now (fingers crossed).

Thanks again! i appreciate it.

Yes it's easy to worry because you're always looking at them, if they were in trouble you wouldn't see new growth on the whole tree.
A test you can do with soil is put 1 part soil in 2-3 parts water (no need to be precise) in a clear jar leave sit day or so & see how it separates in layers, lighter organic matter will be on top (do a search to understand what you're looking at). Sticky clumpy soil is typically low in calcium.
Clay sonetimes makes it hard for trees to eat but the trees came from a nursery so they should have a nice soft soil root ball they were planted in/with.
If you're concerned with hard clay soil add gypsum. Hope that makes sense in short. Good luck!