Les said:
can anybody advise me re my ailing cryptomeria (Jindai sugi). Various
branches turning reddish brown, seems to have stopped taking up water
from the soil. I have moved it to a shady spot and stopped watering
it.
Still misting it, though, and I have sprayed it with a sulphur based
fungicide on the suspicion that this is the infamous cryptomeria
blight
I have read about.

I say:

Les, is this plant outdoors? I only ask because you say you are
misting it, and I can't imagine why anyone would mist an outdoor tree.
At any rate, if you *do* have cryptomeria blight, misting is the
worst possible idea- the disease spreads in water droplets, and
everyone universally advises good air circulation to control this
problem.

Look at the diseased foliage and twigs for little embedded black
spots; that's the key sign of the disease.

If it's clear that the tree has blight, sulfur fungicide is OK, but
I'd stop misting, and prune the tree to remove diseased foliage
(sterilize the tool between cuts with 70% alcohol or 10% bleach, and
certainly sterilize before using on any other conifer!). If weather
is rainy, I'd provide shelter during storms to keep the needles dry.

Obviously, if the plant is indoors, being indoors is the problem, not
blight. Cryptomeria will not survive indoors unless you have a good
set-up for it.

Nina Shishkoff