New gardener - Japanese Cedar - need help!

Hi there, I'm hoping that I could get some friendly advice with regards to a problem I have in my new garden.

I recently moved into a new house where the previous occupants were avid gardeners and have created a beautiful garden over the last 40 years. Unfortunately the previous owners had both passed away so I wasn't able to speak to them about anything whatsoever, and now find myself attempting to maintain the garden that they had invested so much time in. We have 3 young children so weren't not able to dedicate the same amount of time as the previous occupants, but we're hoping that we can stay on top of it and maintain once we get to grips with a few things.

The most pressing issue I have is some browning of what I believe to be Japanese Red Cedar trees. I noticed it in the weeks following the recent heatwave we had - although it could possibly have been occurring before then without me noticing.



Once I spotted it I gave them a good water at the base, but in the last few weeks they seem to be slowly getting worse. I'm guilty of not regularly watering the border areas in general, and I fully expect to be told that needs to change! (irrigation soaker hoses are being explored)

I've closely inspected the leaves and I cannot see any insects or anything that looks suspicious, so I'm left wondering whether I need to water them very regularly or if I need to 'feed' them with a fertiliser of some kind? For all I know, the previous owners may have regularly 'fed' them, but I haven't done anything like that in the year since we've moved in.

Any help and guidance would be greatly appreciated. It's a beautiful garden and I'd like to do them justice considering the effort the previous owners put into it.

Many thanks,

Phil

 

@mk2phil As they appear to be fairly well established I doubt if it's shortage of water. although it does depend where you are in the country. Filling in your location would be a help.
It could just be part of the natural cycle of growth, although cedars are evergreen they do lose "fronds" as they age. My Cupressus often have some brown patches on them and lose inner/lower greenery so as long as overall they are producing new growth I'm fairly happy.

 

Thanks @NigelJ. I'm in South Bucks btw, sorry should have mentioned that. I've noticed that all my them - I have around 10 in total - all have some browning at the inner bottom, and if I touch them they very easily fall off. Shall I just keep an eye on them to see how they progress?

Would you advise any feeding regime for them rather than simply leaving them without any attention?

Many thanks

 

Not much help, but there are some fairly large specimens of these at Bedgebury pineatum.
As I remember they also had quite a lot of browning in places.
I think as long as the new growth looks good and healthy it might just be what happens to them once they reach a reasonable size.

 

@mk2phil I'd just keep an eye on them. I wouldn't feed them either.