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tide28

blue atlas problems

tide28
10 years ago

I live in arkansas. Have 90% needles loss...pine cones are still on the tree...blue needles on the ground....is it dying orwhat do I do to save it...i planted it about 5 years ago.

Comments (9)

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    10 years ago

    probably ...

    hard to guess any better.. w/o a pic ...

    even if it didnt .. whats it going to look like for year after year.. if it could struggle back ... a charley brown xmas tree at best???

    ken

    ps: get some pix of a cedar with pine cones ....

  • ogcon
    10 years ago

    Don't "needle" the poor guy,Ken.LOL

  • tide28
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    The needles on the ground are still blue...no sign of disease...and this seemed to happen overnight...the needles that are still on it will fall off in your hand. Please help!

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    10 years ago

    i wouldnt look at it for another minute ...

    perhaps.. improper planting .. improper watering after .. or poor stock to begin with..

    of which.. i never blame myself... so its the growers fault ....

    ken

  • Sequoiadendron4
    10 years ago

    That's dead...

    I don't know what happened to it but it looks eerily similar to one that died last summer not too far from my house. it was probably 25' with a 9" trunk and it started losing more and more needles and then they were all gone. The 'cedar cones' being on the tree doesn't mean anything as they will remain if they haven't matured yet.

    I'd really like to know what happened to your tree and the one I described because we have a Blue Atlas Cedar that I love and want nothing to happen to.

  • j0nd03
    10 years ago

    Evil demented squirrel damage?

  • abciximab
    10 years ago

    It's dead. Could've been multiple things. I've seen this from too much water.

    Are there any small holes on the trunk? They can be unnoticeable, without sap leaking from them. I've seen small atlas cedars be infested with deodara weevils. A lot of the time it only affects the top portion or terminal branch of the tree, but not always. There is documentation showing a connection between weevil damaged trees and fungal infection from Botryosphaeria dothidea. It could be a different fugus as well.

    Sorry about your tree! I really like atlas cedars.

    Patrick

  • tide28
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks everyone for replying. Patrick you seemed to know a lot about them. Thanks so much for your help. After your reply I noticed several lil holes near the bottom..has a lil sap on them leaking out. looks like them weevils got it. Is there any hope it could possibly come back? Anything I could do?

  • abciximab
    10 years ago

    Unfortunately it won't come back.

    I'm just assuming that some type of borer/weevil killed your tree. I'd have to see it myself. As I said before, over watering will do the same and is the usual culprit.

    I would remove the tree and destroy the remains. Before destroying, you should get a sharp pointed knife and cut around in the area of the small holes and see what you find. See if you notice any borers or weevils under the bark. Sometimes you will see the extent of damage under the bark layer as the cambium layer is destroyed and the tree is partially or completely girdled. The bark will sometimes be dead, loose/brittle.

    This post was edited by abciximab on Fri, Oct 4, 13 at 18:30