Hi Mark,
I was waiting for someone else to pipe up, but nobody is responding. I have had
a similar problem with an Emerald Green Arborvitae. I had two planted on either of
my entranceway on the West side of my house. These replaced some 20 year plus
old Red Cedars, which I pulled out because of Apple Cedar Rust problems on my
neighboring apple trees. I went through a few years of replacing dead Arborvitae alternately,
and now one seems to be stable, but the newest one died this year. The surrounding plants
are healthy, and the trees were watered and fertilized, as needed. The nursery that sold me
the trees keeps replacing them, but I think they have given up. I have been told by another
nursery man that Emerald Green is not a strong variety, and I should try the Techny variety.
You may want to try the same thing.

Sherwin D.


Mark Bornfeld wrote:

I planted a row of 6-foot emerald green arborvitae (thuja occidentalis
'smaragd') in my back yard about four months ago (May 2005), and have
been careful about regular watering since then. After a one-week
vacation, I returned to my home to find one of the trees with totally
yellowed and brown foliage (no remaining green). The other trees
(immediately adjacent-- presumably with the same environmental
conditions) show slight signs of yellowing, but are on the whole faring
much better than the tree in question.

I'm located in Brooklyn, New York (zone 7), which has had a hotter than
average summer, with very little rain-- I would say drought conditions.

Should I assume that the tree is just suffering heat stress and is
dormant and will recover, or should I assume the worst and simply buy a
new tree?

Thanks in advance!

Mark
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