Sick Colorado Fir

9 years ago

Hey all,

I planted 12 Colorado Firs last year and now 3 of them are looking sick.... I was told by my builder that they need to be moved because of the house being built next door. I removed the mulch and weed barrier in preparation for the move but the builder has delayed for a few months now... 3 of the trees have started losing needles and they are turning bright orange/brown. Im not sure if removing the weed barrier and having a few weeds growing around the trees has created this issue... any ideas? Pictures attached...

Comments (3)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
even with google.. i dont know what a CO fir is ...

the pic is surely not concolor which which google refers me to ...

looks more to me like an picea abies.. which is a norway spruce

besides an ID ..... we need a pic of the whole plant ....

we had an incredibly bad winter last year here in MI ... interior yellowing is normal and increased by such ... and yours shows some of that ... in that the growth points are less yellow than the interior ones .... [not to mention two drought periods down here in adrian this summer]

if you are talking about landscape fabric.. that is NEVER a good idea ... but i dont understand the rest of the scenario ... how about a pic of that also ...

more pix please

ken

ps: you do multiple pix by repeatedly replying to your own post ....
Dblock55
Original Author
9 years ago
Yes you are correct, this is a picea abies... sorry i didnt know the proper name for the tree... I will get pictures of the row of trees and each individual tree... the browning does seem to be occuring from the inside out and mostly on the lower branches but on the worst tree it has been working its way up.
So is this normal? From your post it seems like there is not much to worry about... I dont know much about plants and am trying to figure out whether I should taking action to prevent my trees from dying. Thanks for your help!!
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
we dont need pix of each tree... if one is representative ...

interior yellowing and shedding is normal... no conifer holds its needles forever.. and it loses the oldest .. which are inside ...

bottom problems are not uncommon due to injury.. lawnmowing... kids... weedwhipping ..lawn sprays.. etc ... have to see that ... even from digging large field grown trees ...

and it is all complicated and increased by transplanting and aftercare ...

not to mention we had one horrible winter here in MI last year.. which didnt help the whole transplant dynamic ...

tell us how big.. potted or ball and burlap .. how planted.. how watered ... and source of plants ... etc ...

and to be sure.. they are NOT hungry ... so dont fert ... in fact .. IMHO.. dont ever fert ...

there really isnt much you can do.. besides proper watering... and down here in adrian.. we have had a great amount of rain this fall ... i doubt you can do much more ... where are you in MI ... have you had the rains????

and when the trees are 50 feet tall ... the few branches on the bottom arent really going to be an issue.. so even at worse.. if we decide to cut them off to get rid of the uglies.. it isnt going to be all that big a deal ...

and finally .... the first time i planted 10 trees... i lost some.. i hope you didnt really think you would be batting 100% ... if you lose one or two.. so be it.. you are still over 80% success.. eh???

lets see the pix...

ken