Arborvitae help

Hi everyone-
I have 17 emerald arborvitae that I've had for 2.5 years that I'm trying to grow into a privacy hedge. The first winter I wrapped them in burlap and they seemed to do fine through winter however we had some really warm weather that spring and I unwrapped them but we then had a cold snap shortly after and they got rather brown in some spots.

Last winter I didn't wrap them with burlap and they did well all winter long until we had a similar situation where it got really warm early and then got cold again. They browned again, this time it seemed more like a sunburn.

So I come to all of you for advice, should I wrap them in burlap for the winter? And if I should, when should I do it and when should I unwrap them?

Thanks in advance!

jess

jessb_55, I live in zone 5 which is similar to Minnesota's climate and our thujas do well in winter without being covered-even the saplings.

DoGooder

Thanks DoGooder! That's good to know! I just have a lot of money invested in these darn things and want to make sure i'm taking care of them as best as I can! I think another major contributing factor is that I live on main road and I think the wonderful salt off the road affects them greatly and may be why wrapping them might be smart as the hedge I'm trying to grow is about 7 feet from the road.

jessb_55, I agree you should do as you see fit because though we may live in the same zone ecosystems can be different. We have an emerald green thuja that grew about 1 ft. in the past twelve months and it is about 8 ft. from our walkway which we put a lot of salt on during the winter. Also, some thujas naturally turn bronze in the winter then they change to green again in summer, which is the case with the emerald green thuja which is perfect green during the warm season but has bronze leaf tips in winter. We have a Hetz Midget that turned brown on one side last winter I think because the neighbor's dog used that area as a bathroom but it was all-green in the summer.

DoGooder

If the winter is really dry, or they salt the road I would water your Arbovitae, even in the winter.
The water will wash away the salt.
If you have a short, sudden warm spell and the soil it too dry the plants can sunburn, even in the winter.

Thanks everyone for the great advice! Is it fair to say then that a little brown on them they can possibly recover from then? Any other steps necessary to get them ready for winter? How late into fall should I be watering them?

Thanks

A small amount of brown here and there is to be expected. That is the way they get rid of their old leaves.
Too much brown (especially crispy brown) suggests the plants got too dry. If this goes on recovery will be slow. Often brown like this also means some roots may have died off.

If the fall rains take over, and there is good deep soaking rains as often as the plants need it then you may not need to water much at all.
Plants a couple of years old ought to have their roots spread out in the soil enough not to need to be kept too wet all the time.
It is very young plants, in their first year or so that have limited root spread that need more careful attention to the water.

So... how often to water:
Water enough to deep soak them then allow the soil to dry some between each watering.
A light sprinkle of rain or from the hose is no good. Does not count as a proper irrigation.

jessb_55, our thujas range in age about 1-10 years. I normally water them one month beyond the first frost (32 degrees). Then I don't water them even during warm spells in winter because in New England we have erratic weather, therefore the next day could be freezing and I don't want the water around the roots to turn into a block of ice. Our average annual precipitation is 49 inches and we often get several feet of snow in the winter, so the thujas are getting a significant amount of water from nature during the thaw times.

DoGooder