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Conifers/Italian Cypress branches drooping

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Expert: - 4/20/2011


Question

Italian Cypress
The branches of the Italian Cypress trees I planted a few weeks ago are drooping and turning yellow (see attached picture).  

How do I know if this is from too much water or too little water?  

Could something else be wrong?  

What should I do to the branches that are drooped?  

If these branches continue to die, will foliage eventually grow back in these areas?

Answer
Drooping branches on Italian Cypress trees are often caused by over-watering. So if you have an irrigation system, try altering it so you are irrigating less frequently. Use not more than 1 inch of water per week and then only if it does not rain. Place a pan under the tree and turn the sprinkler on and when the pan has 1 inch of water in it stop.


Pick up the drooping limb, follow it back to the trunk, and cut the limb from the trunk, leaving about 2 to 3 inches of the unhealthy branch. If the drooping limb is branching off a healthy one, cut the drooping branch about 2 to 3 inches from the Y where the two limbs intersect.

No if a branch loses it needles it will not grow back new ones along the branch it may on the end of the branch.  

Jim Hyland

Expertise

Registered Forester in the Southern US with 30 years experiance in managing pines. Expert in pine forest health from management to control of pests to ID of species.

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