Hi, I am wondering if there are any arborists out there who can help me. We have had a drought this year, and some of my Arbor Vitaes have turned brown. Are they lost forever? If not, what can I do to save them?
If the drought were too blame, Steve, I'm not sure why only some of your trees would be affected. Check at the base of your trees and see if there is any sign that rodents may have girdled the trees. Poke around the roots and make sure it looks like they are spreading out. And lightly nick the bark and see if you see any sign of green.
Steve - I know how you feel as mine too are starting to look like that, and they're the same age as the house. I asked a similar question not too long ago, and was given a lot of helpful tips. One of them was to check your state arborist association, which for your state would be: http://www.waa-isa.org/ - from that site it'll refer you to local Arborists. I'm glad you're already getting help here. Hope this helps... Keep us updated. :)
In my experience it only takes drying out the root ball one time during establishment for these evergreens to perish.
After that time they are very tough.