Brown Lelands

Good morning-

What is happening to the lelands? Is it the drought that is making them turn brown or is it a disease? My neighbor's started getting brown areas and then it all just went brown all over.

Needless to say that is worrisome if it is a disease that could spread to ours. We have a wonderful privacy screen with very large lelands and the possibility of losing them is heartbreaking. We ran soaker hoses along our line but now that even soakers are banned the concern has doubled. The other question is can you trim lelands? Some of ours are encroaching on our porch and the walkway between porch and leland is shrinking!

Love the blog - love the advice!
Taylor

Anne's response:

As long as you do not trim the Leyland Cypress back to bare wood it is fine. It is not a plant that will put out new green needles on a bare branch. There are several causes of gradual browning and death of the plant. Plants watered with pond water often develop Phytoptera root root just as camellias and azaleas do. There are some dieback diseases that you can diagnose by looking for "oozing" cankers or sores on the bark of the tree. There are also mites that can cause severe damage, especially in hot dry weather. The county cooperative extension offices can usually provide information on what is causing problems in specific counties.