[pacifistart]

We bought 6 cedars at the end of June this year and planted them along the fence in order to start creating a hedge along that fence.

The plants are in full sun and get at least 6 hours of sun during summer. We kept watering them every 2-3 days and made sure the trunk is not burried. The grond slopes underneath the fence right behind them so I would think there should be no drainage issues.

We bought them from a farm and replanted them in a few hours in the same day. We haven't added any fertilizer -we just used the local soil.

After 1 month or so, they started to develop brown patches here an there - see pictures.

Any idea what may be wrong with them ?
Are these patches normal just because of the summer ?

I intend to plant about 30 more cedars but now I'm worried about them dying....

Any advice would be highly appreciated.

[pacifistart]

Attaching a second picture.

[trees]

Some browning on Arborvitae is to be expected, especially newly planted ones and what I'm seeing in the pics doesn't seem like anything other than transplant shock.

One thing to consider when doing a large-scale planting of Arbs is the bagworm factor. That is the one pest that tends to get problematic with that plant, so keep your eyes open and get ready with the spray / systemic insecticide.

Monoculture plantings are often problematic. Imagine 5 or 6 years from now, when they have had a chance to grow to a size that's difficult if not impossible to locate from a grower and one dies in the middle of the line. Now you've got to replace it with a new plant that will look puny and out of place for a period of years. I'm not a big fan of monoculture plantings for that reason, plus... imagine further if a disease comes along that wreaks havoc on that particular species... your nice green screen is gone and you're starting from scratch. Diseases like that aren't all that uncommon (See Dutch Elm Disease; Dogwood Anthracanose; Emerald Ash Borer... among others) so most of us horticulture geeks are big on diversifying the plant pallet so as to avoid the unpleasantness of devastating disease/pest outbreaks.

Not to mention, a well-designed mixed planting beats a wall of green every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

[pacifistart]

Thanks for the reply Jesse.

Avoiding monoculture - I haven't thought of that but this is a very good suggestion actually.

I have to create a privacy hedge around a raised patio - that's why I will need to plant some more and I would like to stay with a coniferous kind of plant. The desired height varies from 4 feet to 6 or 8 feet and the width of the bed is around 3 feet

What other plants would you choose to create a good mix ?

[dsamuelson]

Watering every 2 -3 days may be too much I dont know your location but these plants dont like wet feet . Having said that the photos do not look alarming.

[jwholden]

Jesse,

I agree 100% that hedges of plants are boring. I often find when designing that they are a neccesary evil. I am a victim of planting boxwood hedges to screen air conditioners and planting staggered rows of different vaireties of evergreens to screen unobtrusive views.

My fault with this situation is planting arborvitae in the first place. They grow very quickly and may become an eysesore in 5-8 years once they take off. Deer also love them, if that is an issue.

For the hedge above what route would you have taken?

Pacifist,

Is the burlap still on the balls?

Did you put any mulch around your plants but not touching the truck (keep back 5-6")?

Do you let the plants dry out slightly between waterings?

It looks like a case of transplant shock and/or shedding of the previous seasons needles to me. Though evergreens are 'ever green' they will lose needles that are farther in the plant. I don't get too concerned with needle drop unless it is at the outside of the tree near the new growth.

[Laineygal]

I had 20 arborvitaes die at the same time - it was terrible! I would say if those brown spots continue spreading, you are going to lose the whole tree. I agree some browning occurs with transplant. I tried the process again with 5 trees; this time I made sure my ground was level (mine were also on a slope); I took the root ball out of the burlap, added peat and some root stimulator. Did not overwater - this is important. Every 2 days I think is too much, even if they're newly planted. I did get some browning on the inside branches, but "normal" - the browning didn't continue on a regular basis. The moths! Here's what I did the second time around - get your hose to a good jet stream and blast the trees of moths - keep examining the trees looking under leaves, etc for brownish/whiteish shrivled bags - those are the bag moths, just pick them off. They will devour your arborvitaes. Remember not to overwater. Good luck!

[GLAN]

I see that all the time

and we plant hedge rows all the time.

Mostly what you are seeing is damage caused by handling......nothing to worry about

[pacifistart]

The trees weren't burlaped. We dug them out, put them in plastic bags and we planted them within 3 hours.

The weather was pretty hot and dry and I believe that the soil may have lost the water despite the watering.... because of the slope.

Thanks for all the feedback.