Hard winter for Dwarf Albertas?

[Stonehenge]

Just visited a client's house this AM. We transplanted 3 Dwarf Albertas last fall, and all three have one side that is looking brown. It's not brown all the way through, just the outermost needles. And the same side isn't brown on all three, making me think we clipped large roots when transplanting...

But as I drove around today I noticed Dwf Albertas everywhere suffering from the same thing.

I wondering if the very cold winter coupled with virtually no snow cover led to the Albertas getting burned.

Has anyone else seen something like this?

[Bexter]

Dwarf Alberta Spruce is finicky at the best of times ... Transplanting can be tough and I like to cover/shelter them in the fall.

[Bexter]

Here is a small one I tried to salvage last summer ...looked like it was going to make it before winter came and now it looks like it's toast. It was worth a try.

[diginahole]

Around here it was a tough winter all around, I imagine a lot of Dwarf Albertas took a beating. I know the freeze came real quick here last fall, many leaves didn't fall off the trees at all. I thought that was pretty wierd. My dad has a beautiful jap maple at his place and the leaves just turned brown and stayed on all winter. I hope it pulls through. After a long and cold winter we got a really warm week then it went right back to the deep freeze, that seemed to kick the crud out of a lot of evergreens. I have a nice blue spruce and a cypress that looked great all winter until the great temperature fluctuation. Now they look just like your Dwf Alberta, the cypress even worse.

[Stonehenge]

I did notice that at the very tips of many of the branches that had browning, there was a little green. Almost looked like new growth.

So I guess I'm still hopeful. These ones were big enough that you know they weren't youngsters...I hate to see nice Albertas go bad, knowing how slowly they grow. :cry:

[PSUscaper]

Albertas = problems.

At least that's been my luck lately.

I don't understand really either.....they are supposely hardy plants....however, I really am having bad luck with them.

The biggest problem with them is that if they brown out in one spot, they never seem to fill back in......so in other words, if you lose a little spot, they look like crap forever.....

The second problem is they seem to just die........is there something going on with them that we don't know......

Could there be a problem with their genetics???? I firmly believe the azaleas have been so over cultivated that they have lost there hardy genes.............they do nothing but die around here. I wonder if alberta's are following behind them............lets face it, they are a very 'popular' plant that is being mass produced......could the plants have lost something in their gene type to be less hardy???????

No matter where I plant them, they die....full sun, part shade, full shade, next to buildings, middle of beds., etc. etc. Some irrigated all the time, some irrigated occasionally, some never irrigated......no matter what, same results.........they start to brown out a little, then a little more, then just DEAD.

I had a job where I planted about 10 of them.....anywhere from 3-6 ft size.........and I bought them from 3 diff't nurseries.........and guess what.....they all died about 1 year later.....I was puzzled.

I know spider mites are a HUGE problem, and wonder if that is part of the cause.....however, I even had treatment plans on new ones for spider mite control, and still, dead!

I just don't understand, and quite frankly, am starting to not use them anymore.......but that's difficult as they are very popular and fill a certain 'niche' that is very difficult to fill.

I mean, what substitute is there for a dwarf alberta..........really, none!

On a side note, I really laugh at this one project I drive buy quite often.

A person with a long driveway had the the great idea of lining a driveway with dwarf alberta's (all 4 ft tall).....................they planted them about 2 feet off the edge of the drive......................

Well, we got a lot of snow this winter and you can guess what happenend........what a ugly mess. Every single one of them got 'destroyed' from the snow being plowed against them. On the drive side, they all lost about the bottom third of branches.

There has to be at least 20 of them on each side of the drive........

I would HATE to be the contractor to explain this one.........40 4-5ft dwarf alberta's is not a 'cheap' replacement. I really wonder what the hell people/contractors are thinking sometimes!

steve

[scl]

Our ALbertas down here are looking the same. Scary considering how many I planted last year. I'm thinking a lack of appropriate moisture in the fall but I could be wrong. Don't know what to say.
Scott