Why is my evergreen turning brown after winter?
Winter burn or pest damage often causes evergreens to turn brown and fail to recover despite extra watering and fertilizing. This leaves owners unable to determine the underlying cause or check for mites, preventing the tree from healing.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1FertilizingDid this help you?
- 2Extra wateringDid this help you?
- 3PruningDid this help you?
- 4Spray paintDid this help you?
- 5Returning the plant to the storeDid this help you?
- 6Accepting a standard plant mortality rateDid this help you?
- 7Checking for local environmental differences like drainage, soil pH, or animal urineDid this help you?
- 8Accepting it as natural behavior for the plantsDid this help you?
- 9Removing the dead bushesDid this help you?
- 10Breaking a limb to check for lifeDid this help you?
- 11Planning for a replacement tree to be plantedDid this help you?
- 12Scratching the tree bark to check if there is still living green tissue underneathDid this help you?
- 13Posting photos to online landscaping communities to get help identifying the symptomsDid this help you?
- 14Recognizing it as normal seasonal needle diebackDid this help you?
- 15Checking soil moisture and watering schedules just in caseDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Suddenly turned all brown - it’s 20 year old tree. How to recover it?”source ↗
“To cut down or trim down? Looking for advice how to tame this.”source ↗
“I’d like to cook (in future) using leaves but current leaf condition (per PictureThis) it’s sick; how to fix leaf health?”source ↗
“What to do with mini shoots; rip out, cut down?”source ↗
“Recently over the last few weeks I noticed browning from the inside on a lot of them. Any chance I might be under or over watering?”source ↗
“We had a very hot summer and my giant thujas evergreens all have been planted over a year ago, but the yellow wing is starting to concern me, especially in the large trees, I have no idea what to do or why is this happening?”source ↗
“There is no way back for any limb on any conifer (or tree in general), where _all_ the foliage turns brown. When _all_ limbs turn brown, the tree is dead.”source ↗
“I had one that i slightly pruned in early spring and I just assumed I hurt it. How do I identify and kill if they are mites?”source ↗
“Is that gravel bed new? Tree is dead along with the two behind it”source ↗
“Does it look alive??”source ↗
“The soil is currently pretty wet and sticky, almost like plasticine, even about 15 cm deep. I’m a bit worried about root rot because of that.”source ↗
“Not sure what to make of it. Does it look healthy to you, or is the tree already dead?”source ↗
“Do you think the ones that are still partially green have a chance of recovering, or is it just a matter of time before they die too?”source ↗
“I’ve tried fertilizing and extra watering all summer to restore this dwarf evergreen tree to full health, to no avail. It turned brown after a harsh winter (Northern Ohio) and just never seemed to heal.”source ↗
“I planted 15 Thuja Green Giants this spring. Every one is healthy except this one. Any ideas?? Same soil, water, sunlight. TIA”source ↗