These Emerald Greens (Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd') were absolutely cooked this past Spring when the refrigeration in the semi malfunctioned & they traveled for days in a really hot trailer without water or air flow.
Remarkably, they've leafed new growth out through some of the sections that seemed browned out past the point of no return & so I thought I might attempt to do something fun with them.
What do you guys think? Would it be better to only cut out the worst browned out sections? Or perhaps we could lop off the entire browned sections, as much as 50% on some of these? Any other thoughts?
We'll end up with some pretty bizarre looking topiaries regardless, but I'm impressed & stoked that they appear to be recovering. How great are trees??
by DRUNK_PIANO
13 Comments
plant them planning to use for a back row. If you hedge it, I don’t think it will matter much. just give them some fertilizer.
Toss em on the bon fire 🔥
Bonsai
Plant them.
Hello, I would and have, prune the larger dead and plant them.
Get them planted and cut off any dead stuff. At that size they should fill back out.
Plant them, they will recover
Throw them out
Stick em in a hole and forget about them, expect them to die. If they don’t you’ll have a lovely surprise.
They will fully recover with time.
They will fully recover with time.
They will fully recover with time.
Where are you at? You can keep the dead stuff to protect the live stuff.
General rule is to remove the dead stuff. And that’s solid.
But if you often get hail, the dead stuff acts as a layer for the hale to go through. And if you have loads of sun, the dead stuff shades.Â
Share deets on soil, sun, microclimate, etc.
But really, plant them as close as they are now. They’ll overlap and cover any holes or brownspots.