The main thing is to protect them from winter dessication. Make sure you water them very thoroughly in the fall before the ground freezes. Protecting them from the wind would probably be good too, more than from the sun.

And ask your neighbours what they do... ;o)

Janet's Garden

I would not apply any fertilizer. In fact some people feel that conifers don't really need fertilizer, or if they do just a light fertilizing. But not for newly planted ones.

I would water them well, then let dry out before watering again. It's especially important to water around where the roots are. Even though the cedars are now in the ground, it's sort of like they are still growing in pots because the roots haven't really spread out much from the original potting mix which is also usually very light and dries out quick.

It is somewhat normal for the plants to go through an adjustment period so a bit of browning is okay. In general smaller trees transplant better and suffer less transplant shock than larger trees. Six foot high cedars aren't huge, but they are bound to suffer more from transplant shock than, say, two foot high cedars. It could also be that the browning is delayed winter damage (while they were at the nursery) or that the plants dried out severely (even once) while at the nursery.

For winter it might benefit if you wrap them, especially for the first year or two. Check with your nursery or others in your area. I have some cedars I wrap every winter, more because they are in a poor location (south side of the house with reflected sunlight off the house stucco.)

It's especially important to ensure that they go into winter freeze up with moisture around their roots but also important to provide supplemental watering all summer and fall on a regular basis.

Another factor on whether they need winter wrapping may depend on what cultivar of thuja occidentalis they are. Example, one called "brandon" is very winter resistant. If I can go by what is sold here, most of the cedars sold here are appropriate for our climate. Some handle winter better than others, however.

Regards,
glenn

I'm in Calgary and just bought some tall junipers to plant. I am searching around for info but I can tell you that the brown is probaly because they are drying out (or dried out before you bought them). If it's rust coloured, it's a fungus of some sort, either way you can cut brown or rust off.

Meanwhile, they are finicky things to grow here and as far as I know the key is to keep them out of the wind in a sheltered area. Apparently they also grow better in certain areas of the city while they don't do well in others. As I recall, the closer to the centre of the city (river) the better.

If you do have some neighbours around who have nice ones, note which side of the house they are on (N, S, E, W). I think they probably grow better on the south or west side since a lot of our wind comes from the north (but then Chinooks seem to come from the west which is why I am looking for more info before plantng mine). My mom's were on the north side of her house and did well but they were very sheltered from the wind.

Also, water/mist the tops as they absorb a lot of moisture through their leaves.

As far as wrapping goes, I wrapped mine one year and they ended up with rust. After that I heard the wrap holds too mcuh moisture so again, I am not sure. My mom's always grew well and she just planted them where they didn't get the wind, kep them moist, and gave them whatever Ross root feeder food there is for everygreens.

Also know, some folks just regard them as annuals and buy and plant new ones every year. Expensive, but it works.