What's wrong with my Cypress Trees? (Pics)

[ProfMcGonigle]

I recently bought a pair of Cypress trees from Wowcher and am planning to plant them in my garden ( I was planning to keep them in pots in front of my house - I quite like that look and the 'ad' said I could do that), however, after 2 weeks in the pots they came in, they are starting to wither.

It's now lack of water, I have ensured they are moist in the warm weather.

Is it some kind of disease? If so, I don't want to plant them.

Is it that the pots are too small? I bought them planning to leave them in pots.

They are approx 1 m high at this stage.

Any ideas?

Above should read 'it's not lack of water'

Hello Prof,

I'm no expert by far (as my name kindly suggests), however I do think the pots are too small. A plant that high would need more soil in my opinion. I have shrubs and plants half the size of yours and the lovely lady at the nursery told me to get pots which are 1ft sq minimum. And that too she told me to change within a year or two.

Hopefully someone with more expertise and knowledge will come along soon and help.

Are they not just Leylandii under a more acceptable name? The rate they grow, a small pot won’t be enough to sustain them for long.

Thanks both.

The name Leylandi scares me. Don't they grow sky-high?? Oops.

I thought if I kept them in a smaller pot, it would inhibit growth. Obviously not.

I'll assume it's not disease and plant them in the garden, I think

I think with root pruning you can keep them small in pots.
If they are like other leylandi type it’s best not to prune the actual foliage as it doesn’t regrow and your left with brown twigs.

And yes, they grow enormous given time and space.

You might as well prune the brown tips, and then it will look better. The foliage doesn't look like leylandii to me (I can remember when Cupressus x leylandii had first been bred, and it seemed almost every week that Gardener's Question Time were recommending it for all hedge woes), more like one of the species. But I'm not an expert and have no particular fondness for any of the cypresses.

Despite what you say, that does look like lack of water, perhaps combined with wind which increases the transpiration from the leaves and increases the demand for water.