The Space Boss wrote:

I just had some cypress trees dry out and die on my property. I was
told it was a root fungus, but who knows, because two other arborists
told me something completely different.

But I got to thinking, these particular trees I once had to water by
hand since the sprinklers weren't working for a while. And when I was
watering them, it wasn't just at the base, I was also spraying water
up into the tree itself, into the bark, etc.

Could it be that this somehow washed away a protective coating or
something that caused them to die?

I'm not an expert on cypress trees but most of the ones that live down
here in Louisiana grow along water courses and get beaucoup water all
year around. I would expect that they didn't get enough water where they
were.

George