Leyland Cypress Problem turning brown
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I planted a row of Leyland cypress trees this past spring. I have sprayed them with fungicide several times. Some of the trees are turning brown. They are the trees mostly in the shade. Does anyone know what could be causing it and what, if anything I can do to save them. Thank you. Ken
May I know why have you sprayed them with fungicide? Based on your photos, it isn’t so clear whether they’ve got canker or not. Perhaps turning brown is their reaction to the fungicide which might have been overdosed? Which one have you used?
I sprayed these cypress trees every two or three weeks with the fungicide Daconil because I lost a few shrubs in the same area to a fungus last season. The cypress trees in the photos that I am having a problem with are new trees that I planted this past spring. Some are doing fine. Others as shown in the photos are turning grayish brown. They are the trees that are mostly in the shade and do not get much direct sun light. Is there anything  I can do to try to save them? Do you think that there is a chance that they will come back next season? Thank you for your response and help. Ken
Hi again Ken
Well, it would seem strange for it to be a fungus again because you’ve treated preventively. Daconil is recommended for leyland so that’s not what is killing it.
I don’t think it’s a canker or insect because usually those tend to have a clear difference between sick (dry brown) and still healthy branches which are green.
I looked around and found another picture on which small leylands look like yours: grayish but not outright brown, with branches kind of lopsided and falling over. look at what I found:
It’s what happens when the soil is too wet without much drainage. Don’t you think it looks the same? Is the soil around those trees often wet and moist? When I look at the soil on the left of your pics, it seems even weeds don’t really grow which is a bit typical of soil that’s often flooded. What do you say?
Here’s a closeup of the pic
Yes. The pictures do look similar and, yes,  the soul around the sick trees has a lot of clay in it and is in a low spot in the shade where soil is often wet. The area does not drain well. I dug the holes deep to try to break through clay and then back filled with good soil but I guess that wasn’t enough. Do you think that there is a chance they will survive? Nothing seems to grow in that spot. I’ve planted arborvitae there twice with similar negative results.
I think if you want to save them, you’ll have to find a way to drain the water a bit further off. It’s good that you took out most of the clay, but what probably happened in this case is that water collects in the hole, filling it up. Since there isn’t much sun, the trees can’t absorb enough of it through breathing and such.
Maybe try to dig a couple trenches to each side about a foot off, that leads to a deeper hole you can dig about 2-3 yards out. This will kind of drain the area immediately around. But I think in the long term they’ll always stay vulnerable and won’t grow to be very healthy. Just replace them with trees that do well in wet soil. How cold does it get in your area?
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