green is green ... it can be planted in full sun ... or whatever ...

the only time full sun is a problem.. is when you have white tissue that might burn in full hot sun ...

or yellow tissue.. that might not yellow properly.. in too much shade ...

NY doesnt really tell us much about where you are ... so i cant go much beyond vague generalities ...

ken

Some background on Tsuga heterophylla

Tsuga heterophylla occurs in two distinct areas, on the Pacific Coast (SW Alaska to NW California), in zone 7-9, and a separate interior population in the Rockies (SE British Columbia to N Idaho and NW Montana), in zone 4-6.

If this cultivar is from the interior population, then you have no problem; if it derives from the coastal population, then probably not hardy.

Mine came from Iseli and the claim hardy to -20 to -30 F.

Up date...mine died...obviously rootstock not from interior population. Just a guess of course could have been climate or soil. As I under stand it real tough to grow in Midwest or anywhere other then its original environment but I am not ruling out exceptions micro-climate related.

Probably a good rule of thumb to go by is...Do any western hemlocks grow there? Would have to survive the total climate and soil combination, not to mention your winters which is a challenge in itself.

Dave

I live on Long Island. Would it survive in my location?

It says on the label sun to part shade.

This post was edited by StuartLawrence on Mon, Aug 18, 14 at 15:20

Hi! how is your hemlock now, how big is it? where did you finally plant it? full day sun or just half day sun? i just got mine online last month. it was going great until we get this 90 degree temps these past days here in our area. it started burning. i think its a delicate plant & mine is just a foot tall. i think i need to shelter it now.

Long Island is probably one of the better micro-climate locations on the east to give it a shot, but still will likely fail. Dave's points above about interior vs. coastal rootstock is very important for their survival in the east. In Boston, the Arnold arboretum sourced a number from Idaho and have been growing them here for over 100 years, in a micro-climate on hemlock hill. Even the most hardy have considerable dieback in cold winters. Long Island is a full zone ahead of us, so you might be ok from a cold hardy perspective.

Then the other issue... "Tsuga heterophylla is a native of the Pacific Northwest where it gets plenty of moisture; for this reason it does not do well in the East. On the other hand, the mountain hemlock, Tsuga Mertensiana, coming from the high Sierras, is a contented, although slow-growing" -Arnold

I also read several studies that indicated heterophylla was tested as a potential replacement to canadensis, due to it's increased immunity to HWA, but was quickly ruled out, as most of the test subjects failed before the full study could even be conducted.

Interesting I have heard that Tsuga Mertensiana can succeed here... which has given me the confidence to try Tsuga Mertensiana 'Bump's Blue', which I had previously ruled out due to concerns about it's adaptability to the East.

i just found the culprit, its the new mulch i put in from lowes. i dont know if the mulch is of cheap quality bec its on sale this week for 5 bags for $10. maybe the dye is corrosive? i noticed the skirts of my picea "the blues" & my weeping norway spruce have burn needles too. but anyway my thorsens were dug out & will have to stay in the pot for now till theyre big enough to go to the ground. i dont want to lose all their skirts now. thanks.

Hi enjay2014,

My Thorsen's hemlock is about 4 ft tall. This is the second year that it's been in the ground.

It gets sun from the morning until around 2 or 3 o clock in the afternoon where it gets shaded. It has a lot of new growth this year.

The tree's been losing needles on the interior (It shedded interior needles last year also). I'm not sure if that's common with the Thorsen's Hemlocks during this time of the year. Any ideas?

Around here we were very dry over the last month and a half (almost no rain) and the month of May was warmer than average (more like summer here).

hi! Stuartlawrence, my thorsen's hemlock just came last month from an online store, its a foot tall or a 1 year graft from the description, so i dont have any experience with this plant. i have another question though, did you plant your thorsen's hemlock right away on the ground & how tall was it when you planted? i guess yours made it thru the harsh winter too. im a few miles from you so we share similar climate so i will learn a lot from your input. mine just look so delicate, i think it might not make it thru the winter being buried in snow & ice out in the lawn. thanks.