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My yews lost all their needles this winter (I'm in New Hampshire). I planted them 3 years ago and this is the first for this. Will they be ok? Will the needles grow back? I hope so- I really do love them.

Alina
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laurie
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  • I don't know about yews, but I know that my buxus lost all its leaves last autumn, and fully recovered in the spring - and I did not do anything, just waited for recovery. – VividD Mar 23 '18 at 22:45
  • Thank you! Fingers crossed- will feed them in late spring! – laurie Mar 24 '18 at 02:46
  • Yews do not usually lose needles unless situations are dire. They do not come back well. We are in charge of proper fertilizer formulations and additions for all the plants we grow. Fertilizer is not a cure all. Where are these yews, have you ever applied fertilizer? Are these Yews in the shade or sun? I doubt you have a chemistry problem. Did anything happen a month or two ago? More likely a major environmental stress such as Bamboo described. – stormy Mar 24 '18 at 05:50
  • Well, they have thrived every year with new growth so I had to assume their location was good. I live in my so we get snow, ice and temp flucts in winter but they have survived all this prior. Very strange. – laurie Mar 24 '18 at 10:49
  • Did the needles fall on the ground or did they just seem to disappear? I used to live in deer country, and in hard winters deer eat everything, even plants (like yews) that they usually leave alone. I remember seeing one garden that contained bristlecone pine, yews, many junipers (some on standards, others not, chaemacyparis, and a border of mature Emerald arbor vitae. It was a beautiful evergreen garden. After one night in March, everything except the tops of the arbs was gone. – Jurp Mar 24 '18 at 13:54
  • I think that is called "dead". – blacksmith37 Mar 24 '18 at 17:24
  • Very interesting- I never thought of animals. I have had a lot of deer in. My yard this year. Thank you for the inside :) – laurie Mar 24 '18 at 18:07
  • My buxus was eaten by some bug (that attacked the whole area just that single year), but recovered next season. – VividD Mar 24 '18 at 19:36
  • Hi laurie! I live in Massachusetts and the same thing is happening to me this year for the first time, although yours sounds more severe. We still have some healthy needles as well as some typical winter-brown needles. Our local arborist said the crazy weather patterns we've had over the last few months can cause all of this. Right now mine are laden with snow, and when that melts we'll see what we're dealing with. I do wish you luck, they're beautiful bushes and it would be sad to lose them. – Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL Mar 27 '18 at 01:55
  • Thanks Sue! Glad to know I'm not solo :) I do have some needles left, yellow and brown. Mine are not covered in snow, been this way for a while cuz they get enough sun to melt off the snow but I wondered if it was the wind :( I hope our bushes recover!! Let me know if your arborist had any recommendations! Thanks again :) – laurie Mar 27 '18 at 12:25

1 Answers1

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The Yew might put out more needles, it's a wait and see. Usually, winter burn shows itself by yellowing needles, which turn brown and eventually fall off, they don't just drop off in their green state. Winter burn is aggravated by the ground being frozen for a length of time, which means the trees cannot take up water, and that may cause the needles to discolor and fall.

I suggest you give the trees some time to see if they start putting out new growth, at which point you can decide whether any dead parts need pruning out completely.

Bamboo
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