I don't know if I can help you, but the weather here in upstate NY has been terrible for all my plants this year. In June, it was cool and very rainy; I even turned on the heat several times in the morning. Then July got really hot, still more rain, and the horrific humidity. We normally get into the 60's at night for most of the summer, but not the last couple of weeks. Nothing I can do, unfortunately, but look at a lot of plants, annuals and perennials, and all different trees and conifers, none of which look at all happy. I'm hoping mine survive.

Perhaps similar conditions have really shocked the larch. I'm quite sure they aren't fond of hot, humid nights.

Could be due to drought conditions before the Larch established. Could also be due to one of the fungi taht target Larch such as Larch Needle Blight?

My Euro X Japanese larch at 25' tall is still vulnerable to drying out. This is not a very drought-tolerant tree, tho the soil there (beside the road) is part of the problem -- very poor, compacted & overlaid w/crushed limestone. A Japanese larch nearby but away from the road has no problem. I'm thinking of replacing the hybrid larch due to poor performance.

Keep watering it & try mulching the root-zone.

horrible heat and drought last year on my 5 acres ...

everything 5+ years established...

i went total free range.. they were on there own ...

only 3 otherwise healthy looking things died... and they were all foo foo larch ... the species never sneezed ...

you dont tell us what larch... so i cant really compare ...

a few other things.. that were weak previously ... also perished ...

all that said.. i came to the conclusion.. that they simply hated me ... tough luck.. i showed them ...

i would suspect improper planting.. or bad stock to start with ... or improper aftercare ... but that would be laying a lot of blame... so i suggest we go with.. it hated you .... and decided on suicide .... like mine did ....

ken

i think mine were blue rabbit.. blue sparkler.. and my favorite name in the universe.. wolterdingen .... but i cant explain how to say it funny ...

I also put in 2 larch last fall ,one a Tamarack,forget the other name one planted in a dry hillside,the other in a moist area both have thrived on this same weather with very little supplemental watering.Gave them both a couple treatments of THRIVE root stimulator.

Normally, when the needles are gone, so is the tree. Since this is a decidous conifer, could it come back after such a denudation?

Scratch the bark a bit, if it's stil green underneath the needles will come back again...

Ignoring the pathogen possibility for a moment, the weather conditions you've described should be acceptable, perhaps even excellent, for your larch tree. I planted hundreds of the hybrid marschlinsii over the last four years and have never seen them so happy. The foliage is especially lush and fully-developed, especially on those which are three and four years old now. The tallest of these is aprox. twelve feet in height, at least as of two weeks ago! My weather conditions this growing season have been similar to what you report.

If this is a blight, then an individual control regimen for that pathogen on that host need to be followed.

I agree that larch-all larch-are not plants for xeric conditions. But above all, I urge you to not give up on the tree. I've seen native tamaracks looking very poorly midway through a dry summer, only to completely bounce back the following season and beyond.

+oM

thanks all for your thoughts. I have posted a pic with what appears to be a green fungus on the trunk/branches. Water is not the issue for sure, and it was thriving up until now! Any further thoughts? I have checked under the bark, seems ok.
Ken...I refuse to believe your suicide theory; my garden is too loved for that ;) !!

Bald Cypress the southern deciduous conifer can come back from a complete defoliation. Do not know if that applies however to Larch.

The green stuff isn't a fungus, it's just a kind of moss...
Is it planted in a moisty enviroment?

It is planted in normal situation, but we did have lots of rain early
Spring/summer , than heat wave...we r located southern Ontario...

Polly, the lichens and mosses growing on it indicate that the air in your locality is not too badly polluted. That's a good thing, for you and your tree!

But I see nodules or twisting, contorted growth in one of those pics. Not really sure what I'm seeing there-is this a twisty, weeping cultivar of some type? All my larches, all 1700 of them or so, have more or less normal straight, smooth trunks. But again, I'm not sure exactly what that pic is showing us.

Above all, I again urge you to wait and see with this tree. I've seen native larch-tamarack-looking very poor during drought or sawfly larvae attack, only to bounce back the following year like nothing happened.

But I know...I already said that!

+oM