A multiple leader conifer that heavy snow and ice loads will splay them to the ground. A big box store specialty item.

You can do better.

Google Hetz Wintergreen as one option. Much better alternative.

Dave

3' is perfect for spacing and that plant would work well for you. Start large though. It'll take 8-10 years for a 4-5' plant to get to 12+ feet. And no plants do not stop growing. Those figures given (on plant tags are for 10-year specimens)... for 20 years, double those figures.

Dax

How fast does the Hetz Wintergreen grow in comparison to the Emerald Green? And can I buy single leader emerald greens? We get a lot of snow out here.

Fast! 3 or 4 times faster. The thing though is, is that Hetz Wintergreen also doesn't become very wide. An expected specimen or row of them will be in 20 years 35 feet tall and at the most, 8' wide at the bottom. It's a hell of a tree.

Dax

Dax, can you recommend a good mail order source for Hetz Wintergreen? I'm not having much luck in my search.

Evergreen Nursery in Tennessee (Google the name for their website) currently lists 20-28 inch plants for $8.95 plus S&H. They provide very good plants for the money and I've ordered a number of things from them - always satisfied. Look for Wintergreen in the Juniper group

link to the other post ... ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

The mature size of a 'Smaragd' arborvitae would be expected to top out at around 12-15'. Seldom do they get much larger, although they could. While trees, conifers in particular, never stop growing, they do have a genetically programed size and once maturity and that size is achieved, further growth slows to the extreme. 40 year old screening hedges - left unpruned - of 'Smaragd' here in the PNW are typically right around this 12-15' marker, infrequently as much as 18-20'. And this is a part of the world where vitually any conifer grows big and grows fast :-)

And the single vs. multiple leader issue is not so much of a factor with snow loads as is the habit of American arborvitae, especially the very narrow columnar forms, like 'Smaragd', 'Techy', 'Hetz Wintergreen', to have upward growing, almost vertical, branches. These are what typically collect the snow loads and are then prone to splaying or breakage because of the weight. Tying or wrapping the branches each fall can prevent that.

Interesting too...I went back to Home Depot to check to verify I was talking about the right tree. It does in fact say Thuja Occidentalis Smaragd and it says 8' to 10' tall as the max height, but also says partial shade/sun. Lowes has the same tree--make and model--but theirs says 12' to 14' full sun. I know many of you would suggest staying away from the box stores, but they are nice looking trees and are selling for between $11 and $24 for 4' to 7'ish trees. It seems like a pretty good deal. Thanks for all the input everyone!

I am still looking at potentially getting those much faster growing Hetz Wintergreens if I could find a local seller. With those by the way, are they like the others that take about a year in new ground before they really take off?

It has been my experience that most conifers are not ready to put on good growth till the third year of planting.

I have planted a few here and there so to say.

How fast they grow depends on your micro climate. It sounds like you want a instantaneous screen and that's just not going to happen with Smaragd. It will take time. Buy several extra because invariably 1-2 will have problems and not make it.

Again I caution you to stay away from these multi-leader plants. Yes, you can wrap them to prevent winter damage but what a pain in the butt. What are you going to do when they grow beyond your reach...some fun. I don't mean to be harsh with you but you asked for advice and I am not beyond giving it and neither are a few other hard core participators on this forum.

I wish you well in what ever decision you decide to make.

Dave

You might consider mixing your hedge up a bit; say, have a boulevard cypress or two in the mix? Or perhaps some arborvitae with some golden/yellow coloration for variety & to add some color/impact - say, yellow ribbon arborvitae (though there are others, too).

Richard.

Get the Green Giants. You can shear them to keep the width in check. you will be disappointed with the screening ability of the Emerald Green and slow growth rate. I bought 25 of them at 7-8' tall and they have not grown at all in 2 years. I do have to tie them and wrap them every winter to keep the deer off them and to stop the snow from splaying them. I wish I had planted green giants.

Recently purchased a home on Fox Island, WA with over a dozen of these trees. Two of the trees are completely brown and appear to be dead. The others appear to be dying on the inside because they all have brown branches. Do I need to cut all the trees down? Did they get infected with a bug of somekind?

Just planting 6 of these trees on the property line about 1.5 feet near a 5 feet high concrete block retaining wall, and the neighbor is concerning about the root my someday will damage the retaining wall, is it safe to leave them there?

I wouldnt think so. Thuja's have a very fibrous root system.

start your own post.. and show us the wall ... not all walls are created equally ...

ken