Two years ago, I pulled out a pair of cedar trees at the West entrance
of my building because they were not attractive and they caused problems
with Apple Cedar Rust on my nearby fruit trees. I replaced them with
two young four foot Emerald Green Arborvitae. The trees looked healthy
on the outside, but the inside had some dead branches which I was told was
normal for these trees. After the first year, one of the trees died and
was replaced with the same type tree. This year, the second of the original
trees died. The replacement tree still looks ok. I talked to a
arborist who advised me to check for small mites under the branches. I
found none. The tree is watered, when necessary. The soil is black dirt
to about a foot, turning to heavier clay. I am wondering if I am wasting
time and money trying to grow Arborvitae in this spot with half a day
direct sun, or is this nursery selling me bad stuff? I have lots of experience
planting trees, especially fruit trees, so I don't think they
were planted improperly. My Ortho Problem Solver mentions leafminers, or
tip moths, but I have not seen any signs of these yet (they emerge in late
spring). I wonder if putting the leaves under a microscope now would reveal
anything? I am less inclined to think it was leafminers because
the die back occurred rather quickly over the entire tree. Any ideas?

Sherwin Dubren