Bought this house a couple months ago and want to get these trimmed up before it gets cold. Not sure where to start? What equipmentt do I need? Everything on google is for much smaller Arborvitae’s than mine. Seems like the previous owner hadn’t trimmed in awhile. First two pictures are of inside my yard and last two are of the sections on the street and facing someone else’s yard (not sure yet if he trims that or not but from the looks of it he doesn’t). Also not sure how to deal with the huge dead spot from previous owners parking their trailer there. Thanks for any advice.
by Pay_Pay1
12 Comments
Leave em alone, they’re awesome. Trimming these without them looking obviously trimmed and hacked up is next to impossible. They’re doing their job. When they start to kill eachother you can consider replacing them entirely and starting over but enjoy them while you can.
Don’t trim arborvitae. They don’t grow well from old wood
I generally dont trim them. They have a pretty uniform shape that they grow on their own. They were just planted too close to that fence (or the fence was installed too close to them). You can try trimming them up if you want, but it is unneccesary in my opinion.
You could trim them slightly off of the fence. But less is more with these beauties. I have customers ask me to trim them all of the time and I usually will refuse to do it unless they are really shaggy. I typically stay away from arborvitae. Also I’m very surprised deer haven’t eaten these 4ft or so from the ground. In my area ( north of buffalo NY) these are an all you can eat buffet for the deer.
Complete agreement. I do whatever I can to avoid trimming Arbs.
Don’t worry they will die soon enough
I wouldn’t trim them. I would remove every other one. The ones that are dying should also be removed.
Leave them alone. They are beautiful. If they are trimmed they will be an eyesore and you will regret it every time you see them
Jeezus, how close are these planted?!?
Dead spot: cut it out and let it breathe – it will grow back in due time. If you leave the dead wood there, it will stay dead and not have room for new growth.
Other trimming: only trim if you have a specific shape in mind that you want to achieve. They look just fine IMO
I wouldn’t trim them. If u hit brown which you will it will stay that way. Pretty sensitive shrub considering its hardiness
I had Yews that big – I cut them back to the height I wanted, cut them 1’ away from the fence, and allowed them maybe 16” to the front, whackety whack, and they are perfecto – takes a season to fill back in, but wow, just need to trim to this once a year.