Leyland Cypresses are dying

As everybody know, we have the worst summer in Texas since 50 years. Every plant is stressed. We have a hedge of 10 Leyland Cypresses , they are meanwhile around 7 feet high but start getting brownish at some parts of the tree. I'm reading different suggestions about watering now. Some gardener experts say ,only water once a week, even in a drought and others say keep it even moist. I'm aware of standing water or overwatering that this will cause problems. We just have given them new mulch and we laid out a soaker hose, but we are just not sure , if we are supposed to use it every day and for how many minutes/hours? I'd be grateful about every hint you could give me!

Thank you!

My 20-foot Leyland cypress is doing well in spite of our drought but my young approx. 4-foot one has suffered some. I pruned out the dead part and watered it well and it's holding it's own. You might try that with yours and, hopefully, as they continue to grow, the limbs will droop into the pruned areas enough to fill them in. I'm hoping mine will. Maybe all of us across the south need to have a mass rain dance? This drought has gotten ridiculous!

good luck with yours too, yes this weather sucks alot, special when I are used to Europeen weather since more than 40 years:-) But I think we are far over the hill and hurrican season will bring some moisture!

Oh gosh, this type of weather would be a shock for someone who spent 40 years in Europe! I've lived in the south all my life so I'm used to our "hot enough to fry an egg on the road" weather :-} I hope your trees make it. They are beautiful trees, especially when they reach maturity.

in my first TX summer they have seen me in the ER 3 times in a row., but now I'm adapted to the heat.When this killer summer only comes every 50 years, then it's ok for me.

It's not hard to end up in the ER when you live in this climate. As I said earlier, I've lived in the south all my life (grew up in Bossier City, LA) so I'm used to it. But I can see where you'd run into some problems since you weren't familiar with it. I'm glad you have adapted. You're right too--this isn't an every summer event--it doesn't usually get quite THIS hot and we normally have more rain that we've had. I'm ready for our "normal" summers to return. BTW, my sister used to live in Copperas Cove. When my husband and I visited her out there, we were surprised to see all the turkeys that roosted on the roof tops during the nights. Guess they don't like those short scrub oaks.

See if this helps. The extreme heat may only be part of the problem.

http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/pests/plant_pests/trees/hgic2004.html

BSD, thank you, but there is no sign of any of those diseases or pests. It's just the f.., frying sun, which knocks us down again special this weekend.I just wonder, if I wouldn't prefer Irene!

You would have loved Irene. She brought a cool breeze and lots of rain. It was so nice for 24hrs. We were thankful that it was not as bad as was predicted earlier.

Lot's of folks over our way are quite jealous of the rain, BSD! But, typical humans, we just want a nice soaking rain for a couple of days--not a downpour :-} Wish this blasted heat dome would leave our part of the world and allow some cool rainy weather in.

IF you have the energy, find some empty clear plastic juice bottles, cut the bottom off them, dig a hole at the root area and place the bottles UP-SIDE-DOWN into the holes, then when you do water, fill the bottles up a few times and this way you know the water will be going way down to the root area and not evaporating on the hot soil. this also saves waisting water and only goes where required, I would leave the bottles there till you know several years down the line the trees are OK.
Good luck. WeeNel.

thank you all, there are thunderstorms on the way, hope they come right here! The sky is dark but no sign of rain or thunder.

I would not wait for the rain, even IF it arrives, you are not guaranteed the soil at the roots will get wet after being dried to a cinder with summer heat, so you would be better making your own problem solver now, should the rain come it wont cause the trees any harm, these trees are in desperate for water and not just a shower of rain, you need to get water way down to it's roots, good luck. WeeNel.

just keep it watered. there probably isn't much you can do to turn it around now, but on a good note, i don't think any bugs have gotten into it

no bugs are here anyway, not even mosquitos:-) just some ants