I bought two of these evergreen trees to place around my door. They have recently been turning a little brown and are brittle to the touch. If you barely brush your hand again the needles they fall off. I water them every day or sometimes every other day. What am I doing wrong?
The probably need more sun. Many evergreens need full sun or at least 4-5 hours a day. They also need water every 3-4 days if there is not enough rain. I would try watering them well first and then putting them in more sunlight. Also, are they in pots--the pot might not be big enough. If you decide to plant then in the ground (looks like they are in pots now), here's a good read on planting shrubs
http://www.oldhouseweb.com/gardening/how-should-i-plant-a-tree-or-shrub.shtml
Poke your finger into the top of the pot / soil, then bet you will be surprised to find the soil is as dry as a bone, in summer, pots dry our very fast, what little water you are giving them will evaporate fast in the heat, I would knock them out from the pot with care, stick them in a large tub of water, leave for about an hour, go back and as you lift them from the water, place them back in the pots, look at how little water is left in the tub you filled with water.
I would agree with Allison and advise potting them into a larger pot with nice new fresh compost, add some general plant feed, as directed on the packet, mix this into the compost you are going to use for re-planting, again water them, slide them closer to the front of your porch where a little more sun can reach them and in winter you can move them back against the wall for protection if needed.
Also in the hot weather it can help IF you can mist the foliage and make sure you mist the underside of the greenery too, this helps stop the greenery loosing all it's moisture in the heat of the day.
I would suggest in summer, you will never be able to add enough water to keep the plants healthy, so either every 3 / 4 days. sink the pots into the tub of water as before for an hour or over night, OR, when you re-pot, sink a clear plastic bottle (empty Juice bottle) into the soil, upside down, cut the bottom off first, then as you water, pour water into the upturned bottle and this way, you get water to the roots where it is needed, right now when you are watering, you either are not wetting all the soil in the pot or just the top inch. Remember these are BIG, old trees and are expected to grow in a tiny amount of soil, next year you might find you need to trim the roots to prevent them getting pot / root bound in such a small pace / pot. good luck. hope this helps you out a bit. Weened.
Thank you both so much. I am definately going to try taking the trees out of the pots and putting them in a tub of water. I just recently put them in the pots they are in now...i only bought the trees about 3 weeks ago. The pots are 26" which was plenty of room for the rootball. I thought I was watering enough but i'm going to try to water more and see if that helps along with putting them in the sunlight more. They are only getting evening sun right now. Again thank you both so much.
Overwatering and underwatering can have similar symptoms, so before you change your watering practices in either direction I would suggest checking to see whether the soil is wet or dry...best thing to do is stick your finger down a few inches into the pot. If it's still wet, then watering more often will hurt rather than help, but if it's bone dry then watering more frequently may help. I would also wait on increasing their sun exposure until they've adjusted to their new pots--transplanting is stressful, and adding a bunch of sun on top of that isn't going to help them. When they've re-established themselves in the pots then you can give them more sun, but if you're making a significant change in the amount of sun they're going to get, it's best to work them up to the higher amount of sun gradually or else they can sunburn.
The pots are a size 26" and much bigger than the pots I bought them in. The trees are more brown on the bottom than the top...the bottom receives more sunlight than the tops. The entire bottom is almost brown. I have been giving it a ton of water since it was suggested but it still seems to be turning brown and brittle. I am also misting the actually greenery too but it doesn't seem to be helping.
What if my pots are not draining?? They did not come with drain holes so I had my husband to drill me three small holes in the bottom. Could this possibly be the problem? I stick my finger in the top of the soil everyday when I get home from work and it doesn't seem bone dry but also isn't extremely moist either. Ahhhh...what have i gotten myself into.
