r/ArborvitaeAreGarbage

We put up this white vinyl fence and planted arborvitae on the corner to create a natural privacy wall in our yard. The deer have been all over them since the first winter and I’ve wrapped them in burlap, put up temporary fences, predator piss, flashing lights, you name it. Kept them at bay for years and the trees rallied and looked great but this winter they broke through and went crazy.

What now? Rip out the trees and finish the white vinyl fence to the corner? Another thought I had was to put a 6’ privacy wall (something like Hoft - horizontal cedar) about 5’ outside the arborvitae so you only see the green tops from the road. Makes them easier to protect from deer in the winter and they’ll probably fill back in (again) after 2-3 years.

or… something else? Move to a new house?

Previous owner planted these with his house. They will get huge and are very close together. 12 trees total (one looks like a different tree).

I like the privacy and natural look of trees but I’m worried about how big they will get. Should I top them and trim them or take them all out and replace with slower growing and smaller trees?

Can they be trimmed so they maintain a tree like look or do they just become high maintenance cones or bushes?

Thanks!

Planted these 3 weeks ago. Surprisingly when i removed the nylon bag the root was like almost nothing. I may have buried too deep. Yesterday i clawed away a few inches of earth until i got to a root.

Should i replant replace? Perhaps the soil is a bit clay dominant in that area. Should i dig up add peatmoss? Maybe scraping and exposing the root flare will be enough? Thanks in advance

My wonderful neighbor clear cut a ton of majestic oaks between our houses after buying the property two years ago.

In the aftermath he planted a bunch of arbor vitae. He initially planted smaller ones (you can see them dead in the photo) but this year he wanted to plant more because he’s not convinced the dead ones are really dead and won’t pull them out (he replaced the original row last year because they died so these are the second set of dead ones).

Sorry for the rambling but onto my question - this Friday he planted one of these right next to an eastern white pine I planted post oak apocalypse (in addition to maybe 20 more that he’s planted this season - nice variety!).

I have a feeling the one he planted there will die based on past performance but anything I should do to give my pine the best chance here? I am going to mulch the area soon; was waiting for him to finish putting these beasts in….the property line is in a very unfortunate place.

I am so happy this subreddit exists. Thank you.