There could be other issues but I am leaning to not enough supporting root structure to feed all the top foliage and thus they drop foliage and go into decline.

When dug as a b&b plant to sell 90% of the root structure is left in the ground and 10% left in the ball. Care of the ball is extremely important till they go back into the ground. Two critical factors to look for when buying is the ball must be intact and not broken. Well cared b&b stock survival rates go up when healed into compost until sold thus preventing the root ball from drying out. Stay away from b&b stock setting upon ground or blacktop waiting to be sold.

Save your receipts. Both are dead even though they pushed a little new growth.

Dave

This post was edited by Davesconifers on Tue, Sep 3, 13 at 8:08

I know these had just been delivered to the nursery, the root-balls seemed to be a decent size and intact when purchased. but picking them up and dropping on the ground off the truck could have caused some damage? who knows.... wasn't sure if it was some kind of needle disease or something. I have an excellent relationship with the nursery I purchased these from, so I don't expect any problems there. just bummed they didn't take and of the course the hassle of digging up and replacing. I've seen pictures of these firs mature, they seem to look nice. I really don't see any in landscapes around the area though, so not sure how they fair in these parts.

Z. 6 covers a large area.

Could you be a little more specific.

Abies concolor does well in cool, humid environments in Midwestern, East Coast, and Pacific coastal gardens. Your micro-climate could be an exception.

I still think it is root issues and if broken ball specimens that means all the remaining hair like follicles are broken which are the life line for this tree to survive until it develops enough roots to sustain it. Usually about 3 years.

Dave

I'm in SE Massachusetts. We had a very hot July and lately its been very humid here- almost tropical. I know its not a water thing. June had ample rain- july I kept it watered along with everything else. Dave your probably right about the root-ball. I've had some pine weevil issues with some of the nor ways- but other than that- things have been pretty much pest free this year (thankfully).

If you dig it up you will probably find that either the root-ball is dust or it is mud - this is common, the difference in texture between the original root-ball and the soil of the final planting site having adverse effects on how water moves into and out of the original root-ball. Amending of planting hole back-fill adds a third zone of differing texture, compounding the problem.

Or the summer climate killed it. Species does not do particularly well here on the coast, as with blue forms of Colorado spruce and Rocky Mountain juniper results are much better in the inter-mountain region east of here, beyond the Cascade Mountains, where summers are hot and dry and winters brisk. Spokane, for instance has tall, spectacular white firs and blue Colorado spruce that we can only dream about here.

Thetman
Are you sure they aren"t too wet concolor is not a wet footed plant like your norways and GG. Do you have a
irrigation system? Your plants also look like to much water.
Gary

It appears they were too long in the field and sheared the last several years to keep them dense and at a convenient selling size for Christmas. Notice the double leader in the second one. Shearing a few years ago caused that. White Firs keep a single leader almost all the time unless cut or injured and have a tiered growth habit unless sheared. You ended up with a tree with dense branches and a thin root ball. I'll bet the root ball has a lot of large cut off roots and very little rootmass. Those trees were grown for the Christmas tree trade and originally treated in the field as if they were going to be sold as cut trees.
That's my take on it.
Mike

I don't have an irrigation system- I sometimes use soaker hoses or just a 4-way hose and let it run slowly under the trees. I don't think they were over watered- I usually check the area before giving them a soaking. If we got rain then I would do nothing. I have some blue spruce-fat alberts i treat the same way- they always seem to be fine. I usually don't have enough time to over water anyting-too many trees to spoil any one tree..interesting take Mike. kinda makes sense. The rootballs were good size- but like you said- its quality not quantity.

If you still have the carcass do a postmortem, breaking up the root-ball to see what the situation was - you may be surprised by what you find.